Too much stress in everyday life, a real Zen garden is in demand? Then the “lucky bamboo” from the furniture store will no longer be enough, then of course a real real bamboo must be planted. You don’t need to worry much about caring for it, but you should urgently find out whether the variety you have chosen needs a rhizome barrier, for example in the following article.
Table of Contents
The care of the bamboo plants
Right at the beginning there is something good to report: the care of bamboo plants is really no problem, bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world.
plant
When planting the bamboo you would have to do a few more things. The location must be chosen carefully, and the bamboo requires a special soil. Here are the key points to consider when planting bamboo:
- Bamboo plants need a lot of space
- more than one square meter per individual plant and enough free space around it
- Planting place should be in partial shade
- in cooler areas a very sunny position is also accepted
- plant in bamboo soil
- a soil enriched with clay minerals and slow-release fertiliser, which can absorb and drain water well
- dig a mighty planting hole
- about half a meter larger than the diameter of the container
- Dig deeper than the plant container is high, fill in a layer of bamboo soil at the bottom
- Bamboo only as deep into the ground as it was in the container
- Then fill the planting hole with bamboo soil or a mixture of bamboo soil and garden soil
- With good, humus-rich and nutrient-rich soil, it is sufficient if you mix the soil dug out of the planting hole with the same amount of bamboo soil
- Replace sandy, lean or loamy garden soil with pure bamboo soil as much as possible
- now distribute the selected substrate and press a little on/into the root ball
- First fill the rest of the planting hole with bamboo soil or bamboo soil mixture, then with the remaining excavation
- Thoroughly water freshly planted bamboo
- Top up soil as it settles
You can also keep most bamboos in planters. Planting works exactly as just described. In this case, however, you should use pure bamboo soil. The same applies to the tub: a location in the semi-shade is best, the bamboo can only stand unprotected in the sun in cool areas.
This is because most bamboo plants are sensitive to sunlight in the root area. If you place a bamboo in full sun in one of the friendlier regions of Germany, it should therefore be covered with pine bark in the root area.
watering and fertilizing
Once the bamboo is in the ground, the rest is no longer difficult:
bamboo must always be well supplied with moisture, without exposing it to stagnant moisture. This is particularly important when it is hot, no type of bamboo tolerates prolonged drought. But even in frost-free winter times you must not forget to give the bamboo some water.
When the freshly planted bamboo plant has been planted in pure bamboo soil, it is initially taken care of by the slow-release fertilizer it contains. A little later (immediately in the case of bamboos planted in soil mixtures), however, the first fertilization with bamboo fertilizer is due, in the case of planting outdoors also in the area surrounding the bamboo. From now on, the bamboo gets bamboo fertilizer every year from the beginning of vegetation (in March or April), fertilizing at least three times at intervals of about 4 weeks with bamboo fertilizer.
pruning and overwintering
If you want to prune your bamboo, just do it, all bamboo plants are extremely pruning tolerant.
You usually don’t have to worry about overwintering a bamboo either. A good two-thirds of all bamboo varieties sold in Germany are not very sensitive to cold. They tolerate temperatures down to minus 20 degrees for a short time (for more details, see the bamboo varieties below).
In principle, the culture of a bamboo is very easy. However, you would have to study the varieties thoroughly, otherwise you could be dealing with a completely different problem. Your bamboo is growing well, even growing well enough to take over and outgrow your garden. Some bamboo plants can easily do this with their strong rhizomes.
The following is a brief explanation of what rhizomes actually are and which variants of rhizomes can occur in bamboo plants. Then it goes to the brief description of the individual varieties, in which any special features of care are also listed.
The rhizomes of bamboo
Rhizome is not just a rhizome, there are different types of rhizomes, even within the different bamboo species.
“Dangerous” bamboo species form leptomorphic rhizomes that are slender and can become very long. They grow almost horizontally through the soil, in the top 30cm, and have migrated several meters before you notice anything – only a few meters from the mother plant do these bamboos form new culms.
The bamboo species that do not want to take over our garden develop pachymorphic rhizomes, which remain short and thick and develop new shoots close together. That is why these bamboos remain in place, they develop clumps.
Rhizome barrier or not – it depends on the variety
What we understand by bamboo—culms that grow into mighty tubes, with a bush of leaves at the top—is grouped in one bamboo tribe, while the second bamboo tribe consists of “normal,” non-woody grasses native to South America’s steppes grow. “Our” tribe is called Bamboo or Bambuseae and includes an impressive 77 genera of woody bamboos, with a total of 1447 bamboo species.
Don’t worry, the following list of the species we use will not be that long. There are only a few genera that provide usable plants in our latitudes. Here is an overview of the genera and the cultivated species, each with an indication of whether you have to be afraid of “conquest by rhizomes” for the respective species:
Bambusgattung Fargesia
The Fargesia are a genus of bamboos that grow to a height of between 1.5 and 6 meters and form several branches on one stalk. They have pachymorphic rhizomes, so they grow well in clumps and do not form any runners. The Fargesia species are very hardy and therefore very popular with us as ornamental plants. There are types
- Fargesia murielae or Muriel bamboo, decorative bamboo with a final height of around 3 metres, grows particularly well in the cool north, flowered around the turn of the millennium and is therefore currently available in many new species.
- Fargesia nitida or umbrella bamboo has only just flowered (2006 to 2008), the new cultivated forms are now available and many exciting things can be expected.
Bambusa or Dendrocalamopsis
is a genus with around 130 species, which develops numerous branches from each node, which usually have different thicknesses, very decorative. Bamboo plants from this genus would be very welcome because they form clumps and do not proliferate, but unfortunately the bamboos are not frost-resistant. While the Bambusa are widespread in tropical areas and grow into magnificent 10 meter high bushes in almost every park, in our country this bamboo could only be kept indoors.
One type of Bambusa is actually known to us as indoor bamboo, the Bambusa ventricosa, also known as Buddha belly bamboo. It can grow up to 4 meters high in a bucket, its culms are green and have thorns.
The genus Guadua
is a bamboo genus commonly found in Central and South America, e.g. B. the Guadua angustifolia, which is used in Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela as a building material for furniture, houses and even bridges.
Guadua species would only be welcome here in theory, because they form clumps and no runners, but they could only be kept indoors in winter, and there these largest bamboos from the American continent would then probably outgrow us.
The genus Otatea
also belongs to the harmless clump-forming bamboo species. A well-known species is the Otatea acuminata, the mourning bamboo. In Mexico he gives his straws for broomsticks, walking sticks and baskets. In European regions with a Mediterranean climate, it is in great demand because of its growth habit, which is reminiscent of gentle grasses. Unfortunately, Otatea acuminata is not hardy here, and it doesn’t seem to be offered for keeping in tubs either.
Bambusgattung Pseudosasa
The genus Pseudosasa contains various medium-sized bamboo species, but also tiny ones that grow up to 50 cm tall (P. owatarii Pygmaee) and giants that grow up to 13 m tall (P. amabilis). Pseudosasa develop quite neatly a single branch per node, but unfortunately also and offshoots, with different “conquest frenzy”.
A popular variety from this genus is the Japanese arrowhead bamboo or broadleaf bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica). In fact, it is one of the most common bamboo species found in European gardens.
The Pseudosasa japonica grows to a medium height (which still means around 3 meters for a bamboo plant) and grows upright, with stalks about 1 cm thick and picturesquely overhanging tips. The twigs each grow individually and hardly branch out, resulting in an imposing shrub with a mighty leafy bush in the upper part. This bamboo prefers moist (swampy) soil and a partially shaded location, but also grows on dry, even barren soil. It is actually easy to care for, robust and frost-hardy, but in old age it develops so many runners that it should definitely only be planted with a rhizome barrier.
Phyllostachys
is the genus of bamboo, containing the species producing bamboo shoots, and a great many bamboos sold as ornamentals. Particularly well known are:
- Phyllostachys aurea, golden cane bamboo: grows densely and with light green leaves, is 2.5 to 4 meters high. Good for planting as a privacy screen or hedge, easy to cultivate, but only moderately hardy, only recommended in mild regions north of the Alps.
- Phyllostachys bissetii or Bisset Bamboo: Very hardy to minus 25 degrees, grows up to 6 meters high and develops culms with a diameter of up to 2 centimetres.
- Phyllostachys reticulata: A hardy species that grows up to 20 meters tall in the wild.
Some cultivated forms of Phyllostachys are sold as ornamental plants under rather confusing trade names:
- The large wood bamboo is now called Hyllostachys reticulata, but is still often offered in online trade under the invalid synonym Phyllostachys bambusoides. The varieties “Castilloni” (strong-growing bamboo with golden-yellow stalks that show shiny green longitudinal furrows), “Castilloni-inversa” (tall, green stalks, yellowish longitudinal furrows) and other differently colored variants called “Castilloni-variegata”, “Castilloni-inversa-variegata”, “Holochrysa”, “Kawadana”, “Marliacea”, “Subvariegata” and “Tanakae”.
- The black cane bamboo or Phyllostachys nigra is sold at and as a container plant, it actually develops almost black culms.
There are a few other Phyllostachys species in circulation, which show a wide variety of small differences in colouring, but caution is generally required with Phyllostachys: It usually forms underground rhizomes that like to branch out widely and spread widely, all Phyllostachys absolutely need a rhizome barrier.
Genus Semiarundinaria
introduced in Europe, known varieties are:
- Semiarundinaria fastuosa, columnar bamboo or Narihira bamboo: medium-tall, young with green culms that later turn wine-red-orange when there is enough sun. It grows around 5 meters tall and grows a bit like a column because the true leaves grow on very short branches around the culms. Hardy to minus 20 degrees, wind resistant (suitable as a windbreak hedge), but forms runners.
- Semiarundinaria makinoi: It only grows up to 3 meters high, has green and later brownish-purple stalks, its leaves grow in dense clusters, forms very few runners.
The genus Shibataea
Contains some small species with growth heights of up to 2 meters, these bamboos are among the clump-forming bamboos. We know the Shibataea kumasaca or butcher’s broom bamboo, a real dwarf bamboo that hardly gets higher than one meter. It is hardy to minus 20 degrees, grows very upright clumps and forms almost no runners. Beautiful bamboo for low hedges, for topiary or as border planting, does not tolerate blazing sun.
Conclusion
Before you plant a bamboo in the garden, you should find out exactly whether you need a rhizome barrier for the respective variety. If so, you should take this notice really seriously. Find out well which rhizome barrier is recommended for the respective species and how you install this rhizome barrier, otherwise trouble with the neighbors will not be long in coming.
