The Hippie's B⊙⊙mboom Threap
 

[QUOTE=xilman;87114]Yes, I am comparing apples with apples.

Brief response: cladistics.

Longer response, grasses and bamboos are very closely related from an evolutionary and genetic standpoint. Classification into families and classes hasn't really caught up yet.

Paul[/QUOTE] To be honest, biological classification of bamboos is a complete mess. There are good reasons why it is a mess, but nonetheless it is a mess.

Over the last few decades genera have been invented in profusion and species have been moved around like crazy. Some species disappear and others merge and yet others split into two or more species.

A large part of the reason why it's in a mess is that many bamboo species flower only very infrequently, if at all. Because of the economic importance of bamboo,many species and, indeed, individual plants have been observed for centuries. Some of them have never been seen to flower. An important part of the definition of a species is that individuals can interbreed to produce fertile offspring. If the individuals go for centuries or more before breeding ...

If you want to get seriously confused, track the membership of the Arundinaria genus over the last century. If you want to get only slightly confused, investigate why what is currently known as Phyllostachys nigra is almost certainly mis-named. Nigra, of course, indicates that blackness plays an important role. Indeed, most P. nigra individuals have stems which are very dark, some almost black. However, the "Henonis" variety has pure green stems. There is extremely strong evidence that Henonis is the true form of the species and that the black ones are mutants which have been propagated because people think they look nicer. P. phyllostachys "Henonis" is just another green Phyllostachys and rather hard to distinguish from other such species in the genus. I have 3 other such green Phyllostachys plants. I'm fairly confident that they are P. humilis, but it's hard to be certain.

I also have at least four species of Fargesia, a clump-forming temperate bamboo in my garden. (Incidentally, Fargesia species are extremely hardy, many shrugging off temperatures of -20C or below). I've undoubtedly got F. robusta, F. rufa, F. murielae and F. nitida. I have three other plants which are fairly clearly from the Fargesia genus.

Fargesia nitiida started flowering just over 25 years ago and almost all of its generation is either dead or flowering. I've a row of very nearly dead individuals, all of which started flowering three summers ago. Mine didn't set seed but I collected a goodly number from the plants in Pembroke College Cambridge.

I also have one plant which is almost certainly F. nitida of the old generation which hasn't begun flowering yet. I've another young Fargesia which looks very much like F. nitida but might just be from the next generation. The fact that it hasn't yet put up any new culms this year (Fargesia are generally autumn sprouting) makes me worry that it may flower in the next year or so.

The final plant was sold to me as Fargesia "Jui" (the quotes were part of the original description). It looks extremely similar to F. nitida, but it put up 8 culms in June or so, and another 4 in the last 2-3 weeks. The bamboo experts seem to be moving towards a consensus that various individual plants sold and/or collected under this or similar names probably form a species (or possibly several species) that is (are) distinct from F. nitida.

Not until a large number of grasses and bamboos have their DNA fully sequenced will the correct classification and interrelationships become apparent.


Ok, so this is probably vastly more information about the biological classification of bamboos than you wanted. The message to take away is two-fold: classification into different genera, phylla and classes can be [i]hard[/i] and (partly because of the first) a published classification doesn't always tell you very much about how closely related two organisms are to each other from a genetic and evolutionary standpoint.


Hmm, perhaps this ought to be in a "Happy bamboo" thread.

Paul

At Paul's semi-suggestion I split this thread off from the evolution thread which spawned it - but as is often the case with bamboo-oriented webforum discussions, I fear the potential for panda-monium. If indeed some rowdy melanoleucid Ailuropod comes stalking around, eats, shoots and leaves (as they are [url=http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592400876]wont to do[/url]), I suppose we'll have to simply grin and bear it.

[url]http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm[/url]

Search Google using "calfee bamboo" for tons of images and links. They have even made a bamboo tandem.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;89756][url]http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm[/url]

Search Google using "calfee bamboo" for tons of images and links. They have even made a bamboo tandem.[/QUOTE]That is beautiful!


Paul

[url]http://www.ifloor.com/articles/bamboo/foryou2.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;96613][url]http://www.ifloor.com/articles/bamboo/foryou2.html[/url][/QUOTE]

A nice page, and thanks for posting it. I learned something.

However, please beware: it is a very clever and very informative advertisement. It is not entirely correct in many ways.

In particular, the statements about growth rates, height, and so forth are very misleading.

For instance, very few temperate bamboos grow more than five metres high or have culms more than a few centimetres across. The floors that site is trying to sell come from tropical bamboos which are indeed as big as good sized tree trunks. At the other end of the scale, I've two different species of bamboo in my collection which never grow more than 30cm high.

Another claim made on that site is "Bamboo is actually a grass", which from a biological point of view is just plain wrong. Bamboos are closely related to grasses, it is true, but they are also quite distinct and easy tio distinguish. (In case you're interested, bamboos have branches, grasses have a single stem.) The claim made is analogous to saying "spiders are actually insects" --- both are arthropods and are closely related in many ways but are quite distinct in others.


Paul

Thanks for the clarification.

We have a little fenced in plot of grass out back of our townhouse. We're very tempted to plant some crazy bamboo there and let it make a forest. A friend of ours who is a landscape architect told us that would be a dumb idea because the bamboo would take over the whole neighborhood. (We wouldn't mind that!) Our only goal is to create some shade and block the view.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;96688]Thanks for the clarification.

We have a little fenced in plot of grass out back of our townhouse. We're very tempted to plant some crazy bamboo there and let it make a forest. A friend of ours who is a landscape architect told us that would be a dumb idea because the bamboo would take over the whole neighborhood. (We wouldn't mind that!) Our only goal is to create some shade and block the view.[/QUOTE]More clarification is in order, it would appear.

Some bamboos run like crazy. Some bamboos are clump-forming and are very well behaved. Some bamaboos are technically runners but in cool climates as we get here in Britain they tend to behave as if they are clumping bamboos.

The Fargesia genus, which contains several very good species for temperate gardens, are exclusively clumping. You'd have no trouble with those.

Phyllostachys bamboos are well-behaved here and need no special controls. Where you are in NC is markedly warmer and you'd have to keep an eye on them but they could be controlled fairly easily.

Sasa, Sasaella, Pseudosasa and Pleioblastus genera are all runners and the Sasa species especially so. If you're going to grow them, you [b]must[/b] take appropriate precautions. There's no way I'm going to grow Sasa palmata or Sasa nebulosa in my garden and I'd be wary of keeping them in tubs --- there are several horror stories of them having escaped through the drainage hole and going on to infest the neighbourhood. My Sasaella and Pleioblastus specimens are all in a constrained area and my Pseudosasa japonica (which is not quite as virulent as the others) has a comprehensive inspection every spring and all wandering rhyzomes rigorously removed.

You really, really don't want a Sasa infestation. Not only would your neighbours feel like shooting you and/or suing you into insolvency, you would find that the only way to clear up the mess is with heavy earth-moving machinery and large quantities of very toxic chemicals.

If you're serious about growing bamboo, I can give further advice on what would be suitable and what you can expect from them.


Paul

Awesome info! (And scary too! Are you sure we aren't talking about ferrets?)

What I want is a clump of "something" in each corner of my minute plot of land. It is fenced in with a 4ft fence. I'd like it to be kind of tall, to block noise, and I'd like it to be hardy, with very little maintenance required. I'd like whatever is planted there to last for years if possible.

Basically, I want to add a little shade and privacy. Everyone around here uses this really whacky decorative grass that grows like 12ft tall. I want to be a little different.

On one of my rides I pass by this really fancy house that has a literal bamboo forest in front of it. You can't even see through it, which I expect is their intention. I can't guesstimate how tall it is, but it is surprisingly tall.

Is bamboo for me?

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;96796]Awesome info! (And scary too! Are you sure we aren't talking about ferrets?)

What I want is a clump of "something" in each corner of my minute plot of land. It is fenced in with a 4ft fence. I'd like it to be kind of tall, to block noise, and I'd like it to be hardy, with very little maintenance required. I'd like whatever is planted there to last for years if possible.

Basically, I want to add a little shade and privacy. Everyone around here uses this really whacky decorative grass that grows like 12ft tall. I want to be a little different.

On one of my rides I pass by this really fancy house that has a literal bamboo forest in front of it. You can't even see through it, which I expect is their intention. I can't guesstimate how tall it is, but it is surprisingly tall.

Is bamboo for me?[/QUOTE]Sounds like baboo is for you, but please go into it with your eyes open.

Based on what you say, I think that Phyllostachys bamboos would be most suitable. Black bamboo (P.nigra) is especially beautiful and will grow to about 5 or 6 metres high (mine is well over 4m at the moment). P. aureocaulis generally has bright yellow stems with pronounced 45-degree kinks in them. The one I have, unfortunately, remains a juvenile and is only about 1.5m high with thin stems but with lots of them. I expect it to grow up eventually, whereupon the stems will be 3-5cm thick and 4-6m tall. P. aurea is a good, easy to grow and easy to obtain bamboo and has very beautiful dense foliage; it reaches 4m or so here. P. bambusoides is the Japanese timber bamboo and will easily reach 10-12m in a good climate (as I guess you have) but only around 6-7m around here. Its culms can easily be 8-10cm thick. The downside of this species is that it tends to wander a bit more than the other three.

If you plant running bamboos, I very strongly recommend that you dig a trench about 50cm deep around the boundary of your property. Then put in an impenetrable plastic barrier to the full depth, leaving a few cm above ground level and refill the trench. Pay particular attention to where pieces of the barrier overlap --- make sure there is a goodly overlap and that the material is pressed close together without gaps where wandering rhizomes could escape. The heavy-duty butyl-rubber sheet sold for lining fish ponds and swimming pools works well.

Once you've stopped them escaping onto neighbouring land, it's relatively easy to keep the wandering rhizomes under control. All you have to do is observe where the shoots are coming up and decide whether just to snip off the shoots or to dig down and prune the rhizomes. By and large, bamboos are easily propagated from lengths of rhizome and if you pot them up you'll end up with new plants either to use elsewhere or to give away. The new divisions won't grow as big as their parents for a few years, but they'll get there.

Of course, if you stick to clumping bamboos you won't need the barriers to keep them constrained to your own property but neither will you get a thick grove anywhere near so quickly and it will cost you much more money to buy a number of plants if you want instant ground coverage.


Paul

In case this helps:

[URL]http://picasaweb.google.com/michael.vang/Bamboo[/URL]

As you can see, we have very little land to work with. The ground tends to be very wet back here due to the runoff from the hill. Even after a week or so after a rain the ground will be a bit soggy. We don't know if that is going to be a problem or not. There is no shade back here other than from the house, so from noon until sundown it is straight sunlight. We're not allowed to let anything grow outside the fence. Personally, we don't care if the "forest" takes up the whole darn area inside the fence. We just need to leave a little room around the air conditioner, for maintenance access, and room to get in and out. The gate opens outward. Our electrical and gas meter is read via radio so no access is needed there.

Our climate:

[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh%2C_North_Carolina#Climate"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh%2C_North_Carolina#Climate[/URL]

We're looking forward to your analysis of our bambooability.

An Alternative.
 

:rolleyes:

Hey Mike that is a neat little plot you have got there.

I also appreciate the impressive account given By Paul ,who surely has a green thumb, and who is a master of more than one subject.

Having lived in India (and Africa) Honestly I have not been in many bamboo forests -the type rhino's and elephants tend to habitate. Not exactly though and more often in Elephant grass which Jim Corbett writes about in his many 'jungle books'.

I have seen many sugar cane plantations grow in Mauritius and the Fiji Islands besides in India itself and often have waded thru them.

I wonder if this could be an alternative to bamboo, Paul? They grow quite tall on average about 5-6 ft. and provide quite a dense cover to preening eyes.
But they might attract rodents. I dont suppose there are any wild pig around as it is a favourite ground for them too.

Besides they can be periodically cut down and with a powered juicer can provide health giving sugarcane juice which in these parts are claimed to cure jaundice. The overflow can be used to serve neighbours and friends or perhaps make a business out of it.

Just a suggestion as I ramble thru the threads.

Mally :coffee:

[QUOTE=mfgoode;97397]:
I have seen many sugar cane plantations grow in Mauritius and the Fiji Islands besides in India itself and often have waded thru them.

I wonder if this could be an alternative to bamboo, Paul? They grow quite tall on average about 5-6 ft. and provide quite a dense cover to preening eyes.
[/QUOTE]It could be, if it grows well around Raleigh and if Xyzzy fancies trying it.

However, I have no personal experience of growing sugarcane. I'd like to try, but it's unobtainable over here. I've no real idea how frost-hardy it is. Raleigh seems to have winters about as harsh as Cambridge though with much more snow. The summer there seems to be noticeably warmer.

I grow several other grass-like species which reach about that height. I've at least three different Miscanthus species, a Cortaderia selloana (aka pampas grass) and an Arundo donax (aka Provencal reed). I even have a small reed-bed full of Norfolk reed which lives in a couple of large glass tanks rescued from a lab clear-out. The papyrus lives indoors overwinter because it's only barely frost-hardy.

Mike: I must write back to you with more details about options and requirements for growing different types of bamboo in your garden.


Paul

Sugar cane
 

[QUOTE=xilman;97399]It could be, if it grows well around Raleigh and if Xyzzy fancies trying it.

However, I have no personal experience of growing sugarcane. I'd like to try, but it's unobtainable over here. I've no real idea how frost-hardy it is. Raleigh seems to have winters about as harsh as Cambridge though with much more snow. The summer there seems to be noticeably warmer.

Paul[/QUOTE]

:smile:
I think you are quite right Paul.
From my experience sugarcane grows favourably in tropical climates and will never survive in the temperate climes.

Mally :coffee:

Here are two pictures of "native" bamboo we found today, growing very well. We've never seen bamboo grow to such heights, especially the type in the second picture. Do you have any idea what these are?

Bamboo!
 

:unsure:

Well Mike I have seen the second type also in the foot hills of the Himalaya's near Siliguri at the base of Darjeeling.

Jim Corbett the veteran Scotsman and sportsman who spent his life in Kumaon hunting man eating tigers writes about this species of Bamboo.

They grow very tall about 20 -30 feet.

This species when dried to a yellow colour in the sun are widely used for scaffolding in the construction of modern high rise buildings in India, when they are extended to greater lengths tied together by hemp ropes

Shorter versions are used in making musical instruments and in martial Arts training.

I am unable to put my finger on the genus

Mally :coffee:

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;103174]Here are two pictures of "native" bamboo we found today, growing very well. We've never seen bamboo grow to such heights, especially the type in the second picture. Do you have any idea what these are?[/QUOTE]
The left hand one is a Phyllostachys --- the deep sulcus and the two large branches are a dead giveaway. Deciding on the exact species can be difficult, even when the plant is available for detailed inspection. "Another green Phyllostachys" is a term commonly used among bamboo fans. It could be most everything, but it's not P. nigra (which has darker culms) and very probably neither P. aurea (which has very compressed internodes near ground level) nor P.aureosulcata (which usually has zig-zags along the stem). From the relatively wide spacing between the culms I'd guess it's a youngish P. bambusoides but it could be any of a dozen different species. If it is bambusoides, I reckon it's not fully developed because the culms don't seem to be very thick.

The other bamboo is not quite so obvious. I'll examine it more closely and see if I can provide some clue as to its species. Given its location, it's almost certainly a temperate bamboo, possibly Himalayan or Chinese but that doesn't narrow it down very much.

I bought another bamboo on Friday --- a young a vigorous Fargesia murieliae --- this is getting to be a bad habit.


Paul



Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;103280]
The other bamboo is not quite so obvious. I'll examine it more closely and see if I can provide some clue as to its species. Given its location, it's almost certainly a temperate bamboo, possibly Himalayan or Chinese but that doesn't narrow it down very much.[/QUOTE]I've still not come up with a convincing identification. There's not really enough to see on the photo --- identification is easier if branches and leaves are included, as well as a view of the plant as a whole.

The lower internodes are significantly smaller than the higher ones, which makes me guess it might be a Phyllostachys aurea but a few doubts arise. First, the compression is not as marked as is typical for the species. Second, the culms are a much darker green than is usual, but not impossibly so. Perhaps the lighting and/or image processing used may be misleading me. Finally, there's indication of slight mottling on the culms, which is not typical of P. aurea but might be insect damage (though I'm doubtful). Quite a few bamboos have mottled culms and by itself is not enough to give me much of a clue as to its identity.


Paul

Next time we go to the zoo we'll chop one down and bring it home for further analysis.

On a bike ride yesterday we encountered yet another dense bamboo forest. Too bad there is no way to lug along a camera. As it is, all of our pockets are full and drenched with sweat.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;104141]Next time we go to the zoo we'll chop one down and bring it home for further analysis.[/QUOTE]Last time we were at the zoologic gardens, we noticed etchings in the bamboo by the local fuana, [I]homo gangus tagi[/I].

[url]http://gerbilsuk.proboards15.com/index.cgi?board=care&action=display&thread=1112822949[/url]

"Native" bamboo.
 

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;103174]Here are two pictures of "native" bamboo we found today, growing very well. We've never seen bamboo grow to such heights, especially the type in the second picture. Do you have any idea what these are?[/QUOTE]

:unsure:

The first picture seems to be of Dendrocalamus strictus. This is the most common species of India. In English it is commonly known as Male bamboo.

They reach upto 8-16 m in height and to 2.5 to 8 cm. in dia.

The second clump may be Dendro... giganteus.

They are tall reaching 24m -30m and 20-30 cm in diameter. In English they are generally referred to as Giant bamboo.

For more information there are a federation of national European bamboo societies. These are the EBS in Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, and Switzerland apart from several societies in India.

I am sure there are many in the U.S. also.

Bamboo cultivation is big business in India.

Mally :coffee:

[URL]http://www.bigagnes.com/str_bags.php?id=bm[/URL]

[quote]The Battle Mountain uses two insulation materials to insure it's -15° temperature rating: 600 fill goose down on the top portion and bamboo synthetic on the bottom portion.[/quote]

[url]http://thegoat.backcountry.com/blog/2008/02/21/bamboo-composite-frame-looks-like-carbon-fiber/[/url]

[url]http://www.ecospace.cc/activism/bamboo-bike-project.htm[/url]

"Pedal Powered Snowplow Great for Commuting, Too"
[URL]http://thegoat.backcountry.com/blog/2008/02/27/pedal-powered-snowplow-great-for-commuting-too/[/URL]

What we need this winter is a good bamboo snowplow.

We have recently discovered tin whistles here at mersenneforum.org headquarters, much to the dismay of the Trolls and the Gerbil. Since the whistles are keyed in "D" (whatever that means) the music we use for Joey's violin works without modification.

(The Gerbil is convinced that the squeaking we are making is his long-lost brother communicating from beyond the grave.)

Anyways, here is a neat page about bamboo whistles:

[URL]http://www.chiffandfipple.com/olwell.htm[/URL]

Bamboo Article in American Airlines Magazine
 

[url]http://www.americanwaymag.com/tabid/2855/tabidext/3778/default.aspx[/url]

[QUOTE=masser;131435][url]http://www.americanwaymag.com/tabid/2855/tabidext/3778/default.aspx[/url][/QUOTE]I read that article while flying from San Diego to Chicago on my way home. I'd planned on checking out the supplier when I got back but had forgotten the details. Thanks for reminding me.

Incidentally, that particular AA flight was on a MD-80. AA's entire fleet of that model was grounded for safety checks a few days afterwards...

Another bamboo arrived on Thursday --- a slightly late birthday present. It's a really beautiful Himalayacalamus hookeriana.


Paul

Spring is here!
 

Planted two more bamboos two weeks ago --- the Himalayacalamus hookeriana birthday present and a H. asper that had been languishing in a pot since buying it last summer.

Most of the other spring-shooting bamboos are doing nicely now, especially the Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Kew Beauty' which has at least a dozen new culms coming up, some of which look as if they should be enormous when fully grown.

The one I'm really pleased about, though, is the Chusquea culeo, a South American bamboo with canes and leaves that look like foxtails when fully grown. Mine had to live in a pot for two years as there wasn't enough space cleared for it. These bamboos [b]really[/b] don't like living in pots. The leaves turned yellow and the plant died back to the point where there were only three culms, each about 30cm high. It languished last year but this spring there are four brand-new bright green shoots coming up, one already 50cm high. t's going to be a few years yet before it reaches its adult beauty but it's obviously well on the mend.


Paul

New laptop
 

I'm very, very tempted to get one of these. [url]http://event.asus.com/notebook/bamboo/uk/[/url]


Paul

Very cool!

[url]http://gearjunkie.com/the-gear-junkie-scoop-bamboo-tent-poles[/url]

Green shoot of recovery
 

We had an unusually severe winter in these parts and some of the more tender bamboos suffered. The blue bamboo (aka [i]Himalayacalamus hookerianus[/i]) not only lost all its leaves but all the branches died and all of the culms suffered badly. However, some remained green along at least some of their length and so I didn't give up hope.

Sure enough, a green shoot of recovery has made its appearance and is now about 15cm high. :smile:

If this year's winter looks like being particularly cold, I'll have to see how best to protect this plant.

Strangely enough, all the tree ferns ([i]Dicksonia antarctica[/i] mostly) came through with only very minor damage and are now sprouting again.


Paul

[SIZE=1][URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Jacquard-Blend-Duvet-Cover-Shams.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Office-Chair-Mats.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Pillowcases.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Quilted-Coverlets.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Quilted-Shams-Two.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Sheet-Sets_7994113_2.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Woven-Blankets.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Yarn-Bathrobe.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Yarn-Towels.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Reversible-Bamboo-Bath-Rugs.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/bamboo-coverlet_7808769_2.html[/URL][/SIZE]

[QUOTE]To be honest, biological classification of bamboos is a complete mess. There are good reasons why it is a mess, but nonetheless it is a mess.[/QUOTE]

The whole classification of plants and animals in general is a mess... scientists cannot agree on the number of kingdoms, phylums, classes, etc.

[QUOTE=Primeinator;181480]The whole classification of plants and animals in general is a mess... scientists cannot agree on the number of kingdoms, phylums, classes, etc.[/QUOTE]Sure. However, some of the classification is in better shape than others. At least, there is more widespread agreement in some places than other.

However, the classification of bamboos is particularly messy. Far from being the worst, but messier than many,


Paul

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;181021][SIZE=1][URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Jacquard-Blend-Duvet-Cover-Shams.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Office-Chair-Mats.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Pillowcases.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Quilted-Coverlets.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Quilted-Shams-Two.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Sheet-Sets_7994113_2.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Woven-Blankets.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Yarn-Bathrobe.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Bamboo-Yarn-Towels.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/Reversible-Bamboo-Bath-Rugs.html[/URL]
[URL]http://www.brookstone.com/bamboo-coverlet_7808769_2.html[/URL][/SIZE][/QUOTE]Beautiful. I wonder if they ship to the UK and, if they do, at reasonable cost.

Paul

Since the title of this thread was obviously changed (by our favorite gremlins?) from bamboos to bimbos, looking here by me was obviously
barking up the wrong tree. Oh well, still hoping some pretty females
are interested in numb3rs.

I ache, therefore I am.
 

Two of us spent about 4 hours today moving a Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Kew Beauty' plant that had outgrown its original spot.

When we bought it about 5 years ago it was 30cm across at the base with half a dozen culms. By this morning it was about 150cm in diameter with a hundred or so culms. It's now in three large pieces and three small ones. The largest, about half the original plant, has been moved about 2/3 the length of the garden. The remainder have been / will be given away.

Digging this thing up and dividing it was not entirely trivial. Tools used included spades, axes, a mattock, loppers, pruning saw and doubtless others I can't remember. The plant was far too heavy when in one lump for two moderately strong men to drag, let alone lift.

I am already feeling some of the consequences of the exercise. The after effects will almost certainly be worse in the morning.

Oh well, all part of the varied life of a bamboo grower I suppose.

Paul

[quote=xilman;87121]A large part of the reason why it's in a mess is that many bamboo species flower only very infrequently, if at all. Because of the economic importance of bamboo,many species and, indeed, individual plants have been observed for centuries. Some of them have never been seen to flower. An important part of the definition of a species is that individuals can interbreed to produce fertile offspring. If the individuals go for centuries or more before breeding ...[/quote]... but there's maybe a good reason for that ...

Speaking of evolution, have any of you seen the PBS "NOVA" show about the 48-year bamboo-flowering-and-rat-plague cycle in southeast Asia? (I just saw a rerun.) Every time the [I]Melocanna baccifera [/I]flowers, there follows an explosion in the rat population.

Or perhaps you've all known about this, already.

[URL]http://www.assamtimes.org/editorial/1350.html[/URL]

[quote=Assam Times]“When bamboo flowers, famine, death and destruction follows”, says a tribal legend in Mizoram. ... Back in 1959, bamboo flowering in the state set off a chain of events in the rugged hilly state that ultimately led to one of the most powerful insurgencies against the Indian union spanning over two decades.[/quote]

[URL]http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/beta/evolution/plant-vs-predator.html[/URL]

[quote=NOVA]Once every 48 years, all hell breaks loose for the farmers living in the State of Mizoram in northeast India. As for farmers in other parts of the region and in different years, a plague of black rats appearing seemingly out of nowhere sweeps through their fields, gorging on their crops. The cause? A species of bamboo called Melocanna baccifera. After millions of years of predation on its seeds, this species evolved a neat defensive trick: flower and fruit only every half-century and at exactly the same time as your neighboring Melocanna bamboo, and produce one mother of a seed (for a bamboo). In this interview, noted ecologist Daniel Janzen of the University of Pennsylvania describes how this plant's strategy came about and what's in it—both good and bad—for the bamboo, the rats and other predators, and anyone living nearby.[/quote]

[URL]http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/famine200712[/URL]

[quote=Vanity Fair]... The rats go on to eat everything. They wipe out the villagers’ crops and grain bins, and Mizoram is gripped by famine. The last time this happened, in 1959, thousands of Mizos (as the region’s inhabitants are called) starved to death, and the Indian government’s failure to respond with adequate food aid sparked a guerrilla war that lasted 20 years.[/quote]

In reference to the OP (as usual),
are bamboos and bimbos apples and oranges?

Just checking.

[QUOTE=davar55;240775]In reference to the OP (as usual),
are bamboos and bimbos apples and oranges?

Just checking.[/QUOTE]Nope. They are Fargesiae, Phyllostaches, Himalayacalami, Semiarundinariae, etc and Homines sapientes, not Mali domesticae and Citri x sinensium.

Most are still doing just fine, despite temperatures never rising above 0C for the best part of a week. I expect the Himalayacalamus {hookerianus,falconeri} to lose their leaves when the weather warms up but everything else should come through unscathed.

Paul

Botanical Erudition Teaches Common Heritage.

Evolution rocks !

Green shoots of recovery
 

After three unusually hard winters in a row some semi-tropical plants in the garden have suffered badly. The [I]Agave americana[/I], for instance is looking very sick but might survive. For something which is native to Mexico, it is actually doing remarkably well to live outdoors all year round up here in the sub-arctic. I'm hoping my pomegranate bushes are still alive. It is hard to tell, but they are not obviously dead.

The early sprouting bamboos, i.e, the [I]Fargesia[/I] species, have definitely decided it is spring. The [I]F. robusta[/I] has many vigorous new shoots and the [I]F. mureliae[/I] are doing nicely. The [I]Phyllostachys[/I] bamboos should start showing signs of new culms over the next six weeks or so.

I thought you might like to know that ...

Paul

Sex!
 

[QUOTE=xilman;255083]After three unusually hard winters in a row some semi-tropical plants in the garden have suffered badly. The [I]Agave americana[/I], for instance is looking very sick but might survive.[/QUOTE]Actually, it died. However, the pup in the same pot seemed to come through unscathed.

The real news, though, is that the [I]Pleioblastus variegatus[/I] has burst into flower in the last few days. For the first time in its life it gets to have sex, which I guess makes it a happy bamboo. Explicit full-frontal pictures of its genitals may be posted later, unless Mike decides that such things are not sufficiently family friendly.

Unfortunately, it may die afterwards but I'll try to collect seed if any is produced and not eaten first by the local wildlife.


Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;258770]Actually, it died. However, the pup in the same pot seemed to come through unscathed.

The real news, though, is that the [I]Pleioblastus variegatus[/I] has burst into flower in the last few days. For the first time in its life it gets to have sex, which I guess makes it a happy bamboo. Pornographic pictures of its genitals may be posted later, unless Mike decides that such things are not sufficiently family-friendly.

Unfortunately, it may die afterwards but I'll try to collect seed if any is produced and not eaten first by the local wildlife.

Paul[/QUOTE]Hmm, it may in fact be a [I]P. shibuyanus[/I] after I conducted a Google search to see if others have reported any recent flowering of the Pleioblastus genus. It can be quite difficult to distinguish between different bamboo species at times and my memory of which specimen was planted in which location could well be faulty. I'll see if the original label is still on the plant. If not, more careful investigation is indicated.

Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;255083]The [I]Agave americana[/I], for instance is looking very sick but might survive.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=xilman;258770]Actually, it died.[/QUOTE]Did you allow it to "serve a greater good"? [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave#Uses[/url]

Since agave appears only in certain climes, its paraphyllaticity
(in and above its contabulatory monophyllatic natural relatives)
requires that its inprovatization never be replanted (IIRC).

So its preferred interservilaticuse should probably be left to
the choice of its owner.

[url]http://www.aerostich.com/bamboo-charcoal-socks.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;292206][url]http://www.aerostich.com/bamboo-charcoal-socks.html[/url][/QUOTE]The bamboo socks are mentioned[URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17568088"] here[/URL] along with many other uses.

The quote I particularly like is [i]"You can see the little holes where the bamboo has been planted. At this moment the bamboo is like the young girl with the pimples that has not overcome puberty,"[/i] It's the first time I've ever come across the words "bamboo" and "puberty" in the same sentence!

I'm going to have to do something about the accumulated canes that have built up here over the past few years. Perhaps the local [URL="http://uk.freecycle.org/"]freecycle[/URL] group can help out. They've supplied and taken a remarkably wide variety of (to the suppliers) junk since I joined in.

Paul

At one of the Scout camps we visited they had a gigantic pile of ten foot long bamboo poles. Each pole was four to six inched in diameter.

With the trend towards "[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_No_Trace"]Leave No Trace[/URL]" it is becoming increasingly difficult to find wood to build catapults, towers, monkey bridges and other [URL="http://www.buckskin.org/resources/Outdoor/Pioneering.htm"]pioneering projects[/URL]. The bamboo poles are a really good alternative. Plus, they weigh a lot less.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;295291]At one of the Scout camps we visited they had a gigantic pile of ten foot long bamboo poles. Each pole was four to six inched in diameter[/QUOTE]Those will be tropical bamboos. Up here in the sub-arctic bamboos rarely reach even two inches in diameter. Ten feet n length is no problem.

My collection, which must amount to a cubic metre in total, have sub-centimetre diameter canes in the main. They still make perfectly adequate bean poles and, presumably, firewood. It seems a shame to put them to the latter use.

Perhaps I could put them through the shredder in front of my friends and then make terribly trendy paper from the fibres and sell it to the terribly trendy bleeding hearts and artists.

[url]http://crackberry.com/check-out-literati-bamboo-case-blackberry-playbook[/url]

[url]http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/07/going-green-with-impeccas-hand-carved-bamboo-keyboard-and-mouse/[/url]

Sex!
 

Another of my Pleioblastus species has started flowering. This is the
beautiful bright yellow&green leaved [URL="http://www.findmeplants.co.uk/plant-pleioblastus-auricomus-0661.aspx"]Pleioblastus auricomus[/URL]. Only three flower heads are visible at the moment on a rather large clump of bamboo so the plant will probably survive for another year.

That's now two I'm going to have to replace.

Paul

[url]http://www.nhsfunfactory.com/item/11112685/santacruz/9.7inx33in-Bamboo-Inlayed-Shark-Cruzer[/url]

Memo to self: do not remove dead leaves and culm sheaths when holding a pint glass of [i]Old Peculier[/i] (or any other beer in any other amount within an open-topped container). Otherwise a rather interesting collection of invertebrates and vegetable matter (garnish?, salad?) is added to the beverage.

It's food Jim, but not as we know it.

A new addition to the family.
 

It was SWMBO's and my weeding anniversary last week so we went out and bought some plants. She now has a prostate rosemary and I have a [I]Phyllostachys violescens[/I] which was planted in its permanent home this afternoon.

[QUOTE=xilman;356309]It was SWMBO's and my weeding anniversary last week so we went out and bought some plants. She now has a [U][B]prostate rosemary[/B][/U] and I have a [I]Phyllostachys violescens[/I] which was planted in its permanent home this afternoon.[/QUOTE]

That is rather versatile for a person of a presumably female persuasion.

[QUOTE=kladner;356310]That is rather versatile for a person of a presumably female persuasion.[/QUOTE]Thanks for picking up my speeling misteak.

OTOH, you may find [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate#Female_prostate_gland"]this wikipedia link[/URL] illuminating.

Paul

[QUOTE=xilman;356313]Thanks for picking up my speeling misteak.

OTOH, you may find [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate#Female_prostate_gland"]this wikipedia link[/URL] illuminating.

Paul[/QUOTE]

I think my Facetious Meter is malfunctioning. I didn't even pick up on the "Weeding Anniversary."

And thanks for the anatomical enlightenment! It makes sense, since male anatomy, as I understand, develops from embryonic organs which are more feminine in nature. I had not known that the corresponding female organ had been so renamed.

Nor I. It's funny having one's insides renamed by others. How is one to
know what one is?

[url]http://www.hasegawausa.com/product-pages/hsgs7539.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;390814][url]http://www.hasegawausa.com/product-pages/hsgs7539.html[/url][/QUOTE]
I thought that this should be filed under, "Things that make you go, Hmmmmm.".

On the first day of Christmas
 

SWMBO gave to me

six bars of bamboo charcoal soap
[SIZE="1"][COLOR="White"]
five cold things,
four cauliflowers
three french letters
two turtlenecks
and a cartridge in a fir tree.
[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[QUOTE=xilman;356309]It was SWMBO's and my weeding anniversary last week so we went out and bought some plants. She now has a prostate rosemary and I have a [I]Phyllostachys violascens[/I] which was planted in its permanent home this afternoon.[/QUOTE]The bamboo has settled in very nicely and has been putting up culms of ever greater height and diameter. One of this season's is over 3cm in diameter.

Another culm came up about 3m away from the main plant and well within the boundaries of the lawn. I broke it off today when it was about 25cm high.

It was peeled, sliced lengthwise into three pieces and them boiled for 4-5 minutes. Absolutely delicious!

It is now another member of the veggie garden and everyone is under strict instructions not to chop off new culms wherever they appear until they are ready for harvesting.

I need to prevent bamboo from growing in some areas. I don't have control of the main planting. There are parts that come under concrete and invade my place. Short of a constant battle with a pick, shovel, and cutting tools, any advice?

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;578503]Short of a constant battle with a pick, shovel, and cutting tools, any advice?[/QUOTE]

You could go "systemic" with your attack, but that would kill any plant exposing leaves and having connecting roots.

2-4-D, for example. Or Roundup if you want to go nuclear.

If you have time on your hands, you could paint a herbicide on the weed's leaves.

[QUOTE=chalsall;578506]You could go "systemic" with your attack, but that would kill any plant exposing leaves and having connecting roots[/QUOTE]I tried a kilo of NaCl over about 2.5 m[SUP]2[/SUP] topically to the area. No good results so far. I thought if it was good for the Romans....

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;578503]I need to prevent bamboo from growing in some areas. I don't have control of the main planting. There are parts that come under concrete and invade my place. Short of a constant battle with a pick, shovel, and cutting tools, any advice?[/QUOTE]The only reliable one with which I have any experience is to put a barrier in place.

Dig a trench 50cm deep or so around the bamboo (ideally, but it sounds like you can't do that) or the area to be protected. Line it with rhizome-proof material. Poured concrete is by far the best but thick plastic liner works well in practice [b]if you ensure that any joins are well-overlapped and secured with adhesive[/b]. When digging the trench follow and remove any rhizomes which are beyond the pale.

Another approach uses a trench and back-filled with gravel rather than an impenetrable barrier. Makes the rambling rhizomes easier to find, cut off and dig out. Not in favour of this one myself because eternal vigilance is still the price of freedom from infestation.

I've tried chemical warfare, without much success. It might work for taking out the entire plant but doesn't seem to dissuade one from spreading.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;578503]I need to prevent bamboo from growing in some areas. I don't have control of the main planting. There are parts that come under concrete and invade my place. Short of a constant battle with a pick, shovel, and cutting tools, any advice?[/QUOTE]I think a physical barrier is the only reliable option to keep the bamboo out of your part of the garden.

Bamboo is a grass, so to kill it you need glyphosate (Roundup) or another "nonselective" herbicide. With liquid herbicides, adding a wetting agent (I use an El Cheapo liquid "drying aid" for dishwashers) helps the stuff stick to water-resistant leaf surfaces. But since the roots are all connected, poisoning the part affecting you would also poison the main planting. If you construct a barrier, you could poison the bamboo on your side of the barrier.

Someone who had once laid in clay pipes underground for a wastewater system on a farm, told me they covered the joints with something, and put rock salt under the covering, to discourage penetration by tree and shrub roots. If you construct a barrier, you can supplement overlaps with salt under sheets of waterproof material covering seams.

There are also products that are supposed to discourage "suckering" from trees. I don't know if they would discourage underground runners, but I don't know that they wouldn't. I do know they're much more expensive than salt.

Another idea occurs to me. It sounds like the bamboo might be an "invasive alien." If you know or can find out what species of bamboo you're dealing with, you might check to see if it's officially classified as a noxious weed designated for eradication. Many plants on official "hit lists" were originally sold as horticultural or landscaping plants.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;578503]I need to prevent bamboo from growing in some areas. I don't have control of the main planting. There are parts that come under concrete and invade my place. Short of a constant battle with a pick, shovel, and cutting tools, any advice?[/QUOTE]You could try what I do.

My [I]Phyllostachis nigra[/I] is now mature and is a beautiful, much loved plant by SWMBO, me and our neighbours. Unfortunately, it is a friendly plant which likes to pay visits.

In late spring every year I go next door armed with a mattock and loppers. Any unwanted interlopers are removed, leaving those culms which are deemed welcome.

You could try asking your neighbours to grant you the same courtesy.

I think that I need to convince those who control the source plant that it is costing them more that it is worth and other species will provide the same benefit.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;578523]I think that I need to convince those who control the source plant that it is costing them more that it is worth and other species will provide the same benefit.[/QUOTE]You could, and should, try.

You may find out, as I did, that they decide the additional cost is worth the benefit.

No luck on state agriculture "hit list." I finally looked up [url=https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/IPC/encycloweedia/weedinfo/winfo_table-sciname.html]California Noxious Weeds[/url]. I did a text search on "Poa" (for the grass family Poaceae). Thirty entries. No bamboo species.

In the spirit of the revival of this thread, I come bearing bamboo-related questions! I've just cleared out some dying rose bushes on the side of our house and Mike wants me to put something there to replace them; he mentioned bamboo and now I've gone on a spree of research.

It seems that a running bamboo isn't out of the question if we put a liner in place as xilman mentioned, but a clumping variety would likely be the most convenient as far as maintenance. River cane ([I]Arundinaria gigantea[/I]) is native to this general area which would be cool but I don't think the conditions are wet enough for it or its smaller sibling to grow properly (Arkansas Delta but not near a body of water, USDA Zone 7-8). Some kind of [I]Fargesia[/I] would be perfect but I think it's too hot and wet for those species. I think the conditions here are similar to where many species of [I]Phyllostachys[/I] are native to/thrive in, but they'd probably get too big.

I'll be planting along the south side of the house which always gets lots of sun (very hot in summer), the drainage here is poor so whenever it rains the ground is soggy for days afterwards, and I believe our soil around here has a lot of clay in it. My mom would prefer it stay on the short side, so maybe no more than 15-20 feet tall (I don't know if there's a way to limit vertical height)? She does eat bamboo shoots sometimes so a tasty variety would be a plus. Are there any bamboos that sound perfect for this environment/situation?

[QUOTE=jvang;578610]<snip>
I'll be planting along the south side of the house which always gets lots of sun (very hot in summer), the drainage here is poor so whenever it rains the ground is soggy for days afterwards, and I believe our soil around here has a lot of clay in it.
<snip>[/QUOTE]If the drainage is poor in that particular area mainly due to compacted clay soil, you might want to consider reshaping the surface and/or amending the soil (plenty of organic matter and perhaps some sand). You want water to drain away from structures and away from ornamental trees.

[QUOTE=jvang;578610]In the spirit of the revival of this thread, I come bearing bamboo-related questions! I've just cleared out some dying rose bushes on the side of our house and Mike wants me to put something there to replace them; he mentioned bamboo and now I've gone on a spree of research.

It seems that a running bamboo isn't out of the question if we put a liner in place as xilman mentioned, but a clumping variety would likely be the most convenient as far as maintenance. River cane ([I]Arundinaria gigantea[/I]) is native to this general area which would be cool but I don't think the conditions are wet enough for it or its smaller sibling to grow properly (Arkansas Delta but not near a body of water, USDA Zone 7-8). Some kind of [I]Fargesia[/I] would be perfect but I think it's too hot and wet for those species. I think the conditions here are similar to where many species of [I]Phyllostachys[/I] are native to/thrive in, but they'd probably get too big.

I'll be planting along the south side of the house which always gets lots of sun (very hot in summer), the drainage here is poor so whenever it rains the ground is soggy for days afterwards, and I believe our soil around here has a lot of clay in it. My mom would prefer it stay on the short side, so maybe no more than 15-20 feet tall (I don't know if there's a way to limit vertical height)? She does eat bamboo shoots sometimes so a tasty variety would be a plus. Are there any bamboos that sound perfect for this environment/situation?[/QUOTE]I need to research the matter more before commenting further. Prior to that, Phyllostachis species sound like a good bet but, as you mention, you will need to find a way of keeping them under control.

AFAIK most clumping versions are not worth eating.

Limiting vertical height is utterly trivial, but you have to wait until the desired height is reached by any particular culm. Hint: secateurs.

[QUOTE=xilman;578664]Hint: secateurs.[/QUOTE]
We'd been hoping for a solution using lasers at least! :wink:

[QUOTE=xilman;578664]<snip>
Limiting vertical height is utterly trivial, but you have to wait until the desired height is reached by any particular culm. Hint: secateurs.[/QUOTE]Maintaining the stated limitation of 15-20 feet with pruning shears (or even loppers) might be difficult unless you can reach out from a second-story window or roof.

You could probably maintain such a height from the ground with the snipper on a pole pruner, though.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;578681]Maintaining the stated limitation of 15-20 feet with pruning shears (or even loppers) might be difficult unless you can reach out from a second-story window or roof.

You could probably maintain such a height from the ground with the snipper on a pole pruner, though.[/QUOTE]:smile:

The species with which I am familiar have stems flexible enough for their tips to be bent almost down to ground level. The algorithm should now be easy to see.

For each culm which is too high, estimate by how much, find out which one it is near the ground, bend it down and snip off the excess.

Works for me.

So I spoke with a professional plant guardian. After ruling out the nuclear option, they suggested ascetic acid. Using as concentrate as possible, spray it on the plants. Is not the chemical burn, rather the desiccation that is the goal. I have acquired some 30% (at the local emporium of construction, sold as a cleaner) and put a few drops of a grease cutting dishsoap in i~800 mL. I have made an initial application of different degrees on different parts of the infestation. I will monitor the results. I also have about 4L of 5%.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;578839]So I spoke with a professional plant guardian. After ruling out the nuclear option, they suggested ascetic acid. Using as concentrate as possible, spray it on the plants. Is not the chemical burn, rather the desiccation that is the goal. I have acquired some 30% (at the local emporium of construction, sold as a cleaner) and put a few drops of a grease cutting dishsoap in i~800 mL. I have made an initial application of different degrees on different parts of the infestation. I will monitor the results. I also have about 4L of 5%.[/QUOTE]Good luck.

I suspect that it will take 2-4 years to kill the plant completely. Much of its resources are underground, where it has ample access to water. Eventually it will be the lack of photosynthetic sugars which will kill it.

Cutting off each and every shoot as soon as it appears is likely to be just as effective.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;578503]I need to prevent bamboo from growing in some areas.[/QUOTE]
Have you tried buying** a Panda? :razz:

[QUOTE=LaurV;579328]Have you tried buying** a Panda? :razz:[/QUOTE]My Phyllostachys violascens is now officially a crop. The new shoots are delicious and harvesting them each spring will keep the main plant under control.

Still no word from Uncwilly as to the species with which he has issues or whether he could treat it likewise.

[QUOTE=LaurV;579328]Have you tried buying** a Panda? :razz:[/QUOTE]
That does not prevent the dread plant from growing. :richd:

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;579333]That does not prevent the dread plant from growing. :richd:[/QUOTE]
No, but the panda will enjoy eating it and, and he will be happy. That was a joke anyhow. I bet the most people here didn't know that you can't, actually, [U]buy[/U] a panda. You can only rent one. That's why the stars after buy. All pandas in the world (with very rare exception, mostly illegal) are Chinese gov property and you can not buy one. If you have a zoo and prove you can create conditions, they will lend you a family, and if they prove naughty and have any offspring, the offspring is still "Chinese citizen". When you don't need them anymore, you return them to mamma-China. In few parts of the world, "buying a panda" is synonym to doing something very illegal, or outrageous, or stupid.

We also didn't know that, until Chiang Mai started their [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai_Zoo#Animals"]panda-adventure[/URL] in 2003. For about 15 (wiki is a lot outdated) years there was a panda-craziness here, which you can google about, as the local zoo brought in a pair, then the pair had a baby, they built a huge "refrigerator" for them (too hot here, they would succumb in days), people paid VERY expensive tickets to go and stay half hour in the refrigerator and see panda doing absolutely nothing, not mentioning queuing for hours in the sun to enter there, and max craziness, few people even paid large sums of money to have their "panda plates" for cars (which are now obsolete since 2019 or so, I have seen the new "luxury" and "eco" plates have no pandas on them anymore, just rice fields, and other things which are "representative" for CM area or city).

[QUOTE=LaurV;579341]I bet the most people here didn't know that you can't, actually, [U]buy[/U] a panda.[/QUOTE]Maybe [SIZE="4"][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][COLOR="red"][B]I[/B][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE] can buy a panda and [B]you[/B] can't. :razz:
How do you think I realised that it won't prevent it?
:huh2:

Haha. :tu:

I have a vague recollection from around 1980 of seeing a story on the national news about bamboo and the giant panda. The bamboo in one region in Sichuan Province where the giant panda lives was flowering. This was of huge significance for the pandas.

Some species of bamboo, including some of the staple foods of the giant panda, like arrow bamboo [i]Fargesia spathacea[/i], and blue fountain bamboo [i]Fargesia nitida[/i], grow for decades, undergo synchronous flowering over entire regions if not the whole world, and then the plants all die. (The news report said the bamboo had last flowered there 60 years previously IIRC). The mass flowering event mentioned on that long-ago news report led to the starvation of hundreds of giant pandas.

I've also heard of a species in India that flowers synchronously every 48 years. The fruits provide a food bonanza for the local rodent populations, whose numbers explode, resulting in severe crop damage in the area.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;579357]I've also heard of a species in India that flowers synchronously every 48 years. The fruits provide a food bonanza for the local rodent populations, whose numbers explode, resulting in severe crop damage in the area.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mautam"]Mautam[/URL]

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;579357]I have a vague recollection from around 1980 of seeing a story on the national news about bamboo and the giant panda. The bamboo in one region in Sichuan Province where the giant panda lives was flowering. This was of huge significance for the pandas.

Some species of bamboo, including some of the staple foods of the giant panda, like arrow bamboo [i]Fargesia spathacea[/i], and blue fountain bamboo [i]Fargesia nitida[/i], grow for decades, undergo synchronous flowering over entire regions if not the whole world, and then the plants all die.[/QUOTE][I]Fargesia nitida[/I] flowered about 2005. My specimens died and I never got a round to replacing them with current-generation seedlings. For this species the flowering cycle is around 100-120 years.

[QUOTE=xilman;579375][I]Fargesia nitida[/I] flowered about 2005. My specimens died and I never got a round to replacing them with current-generation seedlings. For this species the flowering cycle is around 100-120 years.[/QUOTE]The ornamental [i]Agave americana[/i] is commonly known as the "century plant," although it usually only grows for 10-20 years before it flowers and dies.[sup]†[/sup]

[i]Fargesia nitida[/i] seems much more deserving of the name.

A plant that only flowers and goes to seed once in its life cycle is called a "monocarp."

[sup]†[/sup]In 2015, a specimen at the University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens bloomed and died after having lived for 80 years.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;579381]The ornamental [i]Agave americana[/i] is commonly known as the "century plant," although it usually only grows for 10-20 years before it flowers and dies.[sup]†[/sup]

[i]Fargesia nitida[/i] seems much more deserving of the name.

A plant that only flowers and goes to seed once in its life cycle is called a "monocarp."

[sup]†[/sup]In 2015, a specimen at the University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens bloomed and died after having lived for 80 years.[/QUOTE][I]A. americana[/I] flowers much younger in optimum growing conditions. At the limits of its range it can indeed take a century or more to flower.

Some plants are growing happily in gardens outdoors only 2km from here; some of mine are kept out over winter in their pots. The species survives overnight temperatures down to -10C and daytime max of -3C for a few weeks at a time as long as they are kept dry. It's ice that kills them, not sub-zero temperatures per se. The variegated variety isn't as hardy as the glaucous blue but it mine still stay out for most of the winter, being dragged under cover only when particularly cold nights are predicted.

It's a shame that [I]A. attenuata[/I] isn't really frost hardy and has to be brought undercover each winter. That said, a brief excursion as low as 0C doesn't seem to do them much harm.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;578620]If the drainage is poor in that particular area mainly due to compacted clay soil, you might want to consider reshaping the surface and/or amending the soil (plenty of organic matter and perhaps some sand). You want water to drain away from structures and away from ornamental trees.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately this is kinda just a result of the area in which we live. Very flat land with no proper drainage. Plus we're near the bottom of a local ridge that has a lot of runoff during big rainstorms...

It could be a good idea to mess with the soil though! I'm not sure how I would be able to find out what the current composition is but perhaps I could just replace a large portion of it?

[QUOTE=xilman;578664]I need to research the matter more before commenting further. Prior to that, Phyllostachis species sound like a good bet but, as you mention, you will need to find a way of keeping them under control.

AFAIK most clumping versions are not worth eating.

Limiting vertical height is utterly trivial, but you have to wait until the desired height is reached by any particular culm. Hint: secateurs.[/QUOTE]

Have you heard of this barrier material before? It claims to be specifically designed for keeping bamboo contained: [url]https://bambooshield.com/products/bamboo-shield-for-colder-climates-60-mil-thick-x-24-depth[/url]

In my research I found a nice looking site that seems to have a lot of useful information: [url]https://www.gardenia.net/compare-plants/bamboos[/url]

I punched in the following parameters: Hardiness zones 7 and 8, and Full Sun. This brought up a few [I]Fargesia[/I] varieties and many [I]Phyllostachys[/I]. In particular, this one looks like a perfect match: [url]https://www.gardenia.net/plant/fargesia-rufa[/url]

It matches the temperature range of our area, it fares decently in a lot of sunlight (will be planted on the south side of the house), it likes wet soil, and it may like the type of soil found here (lots of clay content). Plus, it's a clumping variety so no barrier would be needed. Not likely to be very edible but that's not a big deal. Any thoughts?

[QUOTE=jvang;579827]
Have you heard of this barrier material before? It claims to be specifically designed for keeping bamboo contained: [url]https://bambooshield.com/products/bamboo-shield-for-colder-climates-60-mil-thick-x-24-depth[/url][/quote]
I've never seen that particular site or material before, but that is exactly the sort of stuff that is is recommended by the experts.
[QUOTE=jvang;579827]
In my research I found a nice looking site that seems to have a lot of useful information: [url]https://www.gardenia.net/compare-plants/bamboos[/url]

I punched in the following parameters: Hardiness zones 7 and 8, and Full Sun. This brought up a few [I]Fargesia[/I] varieties and many [I]Phyllostachys[/I]. In particular, this one looks like a perfect match: [url]https://www.gardenia.net/plant/fargesia-rufa[/url]

It matches the temperature range of our area, it fares decently in a lot of sunlight (will be planted on the south side of the house), it likes wet soil, and it may like the type of soil found here (lots of clay content). Plus, it's a clumping variety so no barrier would be needed. Not likely to be very edible but that's not a big deal. Any thoughts?[/QUOTE]F. rufa is a very nice bamboo. I have one myself. It is well behaved and supposedly edible though I've never tried eating it.

You're in much the same hardiness zone as I, though likely have hotter summers, so Phyllostachys sp. should be very happy. With these you will almost certainly need a barrier, or eternal vigilance.