fredgpops and I have traded over the years, but his most recent shipment really amazed me. Here is a 9' Th. aristatus he sent me that he got in a 4" box without any breakage!

That is a great idea!!!
Pack the new culm before it hardens!!!!
COOL!!!!!!

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40 miles N.E of st louis

Actually, it was a mature culm, but I understand that fred just bent it gently over a period of a couple days and held it in place with wire plant ties. Obviously, this doesn't work with all species, but some culms are just less brittle and more pliable.

Geneious!
Hopefully the unique packing will make for a hardy division.
The leaves look great in the box!!!
Looks like you have it planted and it is doing well...
Question.
What is more important the Culm or the root mass when digging Bamboo?
Say I wanted to dig some but did not have a large viehicle.
Could I top the Culms and taks as much root mas + rhizome as possible?
How close to the ground should I cut the culm???

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40 miles N.E of st louis

Tony,
I like to get a root ball as big as I can. I leave all of the top as I can, do usually top it some. When I transport I wet root ball I wrap the whole plant in a plastic reflective tarp and let it hang out the back with a red flag. Also put a strong cut clum that with it to keep it from dragging going down the road.
Jerry

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Redneck Bamboo Plantation
Sheridan, Arkansas

Root mass is way more important.

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Bamboo...Please note... This plant is seriously addictive and you may lose interest in other, less rewarding plants!

So, what are peoples favorite packing techniques? Any stories of packing jobs going horribly wrong, like having a rhizome puncture the side of the box?

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Southern Indiana.
My Bamboo List.

The legal issues that will arise when the undead walk the earth are legion, and addressing them all is well beyond what could reasonably be accomplished in this brief Essay. Indeed, a complete treatment of the tax issues alone would require several volumes.

The main problems I've had are mishandling by FedEx or the Postal Service, leading to destroyed culms and branches. To minimize/eliminate problems like this, I use a couple of techniques. First. the root ball gets wrapped securely in visqueen which goes up around the base of the culms, where I tape it tight with packaging tape. Then I get one or two old culms that I cut to the exact inside height of the box; these get securely taped to the rootball with multiple wraps of tape. Also, at the end of the box where the root ball will be, I pierce the box bottom in two places so I can get the ends of a sturdy piece of twine through to the inside. Then I lay the bamboo in the box and tie the twine around the root ball in such a way that it can't slip off. Between tying the root ball in place and having the root ball also wedged in place by being attached to the old culm(s) spanning the length of the box, it shouldn't go anywhere, even if it gets tossed. If you use the twine technique, you need to place a piece of tape over any twine on the outside of the box so it doesn't get caught by the processing equipment of the carrier. I also make sure that I use heavy duty cardboard, which I usually get by raiding the dumpster behind a local furniture store. I've had a couple of instances where lighter cardboard got crushed in handling by the gorillas that do the sorting.

I had someone a couple years ago send me a boo, then get it back 3 days later because of an "unknown substance leaking from the box". it was a bit of water that had not soaked in to the newspaper. apparently it freaked out someone in the USPS, and they sent the box back rather than sending it on to its destination!

You also got a box covered in blood. Damn that serrated saran wrap cutter is sharp.

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Bamboo...Please note... This plant is seriously addictive and you may lose interest in other, less rewarding plants!

I forgot about that one! moral there is that beer and wrapping boo in the dark for shipping DONT mix

then there is the package I got today from Alan_L....
looks like it got ran over by a truck, the box was then put back togeather and shrink wrapped... amazingly, all the boos are fine!

I had to run the truck over it in order to get it closed it was so packed!

I probably should have drop tested it a few times before sending it -- it was pretty heavy. I know you said you didn't take any photos, but I wonder if the box actually ripped, or did it just open up? I should have gone extra-extra heavy on the tape I guess.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

no, not just opened up- it exploded from the one side outward. the top was whole still it was the sides that got turned into confetti!