| Bamboo Care - Planting In Ground ...The tropics in your garden. |
Planting bamboo
in ground needs a little planning |
| Medium Clumping Bamboo (Over
2 – 3 metres tall) For the medium size clumping species you may wish to install an HDPE sheet (approx. 450 mm deep), to prevent growth from expanding in a particular direction (For example hard up against a boundary.) Large Clumping Bamboo (12 metres plus) The large clumping species are very strong underground. The rhizome can break a brick wall. Don’t plant any closer than 2 metres (6’) to a masonry structure. A HDPE barrier (450 mm deep) next to the bamboo can modify its intrusion, even so don’t plant closer to the wall than 1 metre (3’). Reinforced concrete 60 mm (5 1/4”) minimum, is the way to keep giant clumping bamboo in place. A summary of the three steps for planting in ground Make a big brew of compost and soil (whatever you can get), If your ground is hard or clayey you can make a mound with your brew. If you feed and water well the roots will soon find their way into clay and utilise its minerals. Finish off with more water some food and then water again. And again the next day. A double handful of pelletised chicken manure or similar for a bamboo around 1.5 metres (5’) high. No closer than 10 cm (4”) to the bamboo stems. |
| Step 1 |
The three steps to bamboo planting
in ground |
| Dig a hole bigger than the bamboo root ball. |
| Step 2 |
| 2. Carefully place the
bamboo in the hole. Plant a little deeper than the surrounding soil as
this will support the plant a little more. Things to keep in mind. a. Backfill with friable soil, add a little compost but don’t include soluble fertiliser or manure because it may burn the roots. b. When backfilling, the point is to avoid air pockets. The root ball should be in intimate contact with the surrounding soil. Carefully tamp in the soil with a piece of wood, taking care not to damage roots or buds. While tamping in, hose in water to form a slurry, the air bubbles up while the soil fills the voids. |
| Carefully place the bamboo in the hole, a little deeper than the surrounding soil for support. |
| Step 3 |
| 3. Now you can top
dress with fertiliser, compost and any other organic goodies. Things to keep in mind. a. Mulch around the plant to retain moisture and suppress weeds. b. In windy conditions or where the new plant can be knocked, support it with stakes either side and link with twine. c. Bamboo loves organic fertiliser (don’t we all). However, organics don’t have much potassium and bamboo needs it so an occasional dressing with a complete fertiliser will provide this element. |
| Top dress with fertiliser, compost and other organic goodies. |
| More tips. d. Mulch is magic.
How so? Bare soil dries out quickly. That same soil covered with 100 mm of mulch maintains its moisture. Worms crawl about on what once was the surface and is now dark and cool and under colonisation by millions of beneficial organisms. Plant roots can come right into the mulch, breaking it down. Soon fallen bamboo leaves will create a self renewing mulch. e. Bamboo is 6%, or so silica. In our nursery we use "Fused Potassium Silicate" which we buy from our favourite nursery supply store. Before we could afford the prices we used cement mixed at the rate of a matchbox per 1 cubic foot. Mixed well into the potting mix. To be available for plants silica needs heating to around 1500 degrees Celsius. It is probably available in regular soil or clay but not in potting mixes. f. Fertiliser for bamboo: N:10. P:5. K:5. Sil:6. g. Bamboo is a hardy plant, nevertheless to become established in a new spot it needs a good, moist environment. After a few good years it can manage for itself. Although bamboo always appreciates a good feed. The addition of a water retainer “Hydretain Plus", watered in to the root ball when planted, keeps moisture attached to the bamboo roots whilst water from the surrounding soil is being sucked up by already established plants nearby. |
