Gardening Tips

Bamboo gardening is not for everybody, and it surely is not something that you should embark upon lightheartedly. However – bamboo can enhance the beauty of your garden quiet a lot, and there are ways to make it easier.

Bamboo is one of the most useful plants in the world. In Japan, there is a restaurant that is serving nothing but bamboo. And they have more than 300 different bamboo dishes. Most people in the western world will never have an idea of the many ways bamboo can be prepared and eaten.

Bamboo is also extensively used for construction purposes, and in other areas.

Bamboo Gardening

Uncontrollable Bamboo Growth

However, one problem with bamboo gardening can be it’s excessive and uncontrollable growth, which is specially true when you are dealing with monopodial bamboo (“runners”). Monopodial bamboo can spread over long distances via underground rhizomes. And since it is all connected, since it basically is all one plant, it can be almost impossible to kill off. So once that kind of bamboo grows in your garden, and it has reached “critical mass”, you have a real problem – because this is not something that you can easily get rid off again.

Bamboo That Stays In It’s Place

There’s a kind of bamboo that stays in it’s place though, and that is sympodial bamboo (also known as “clumpers”). Sympodial bamboo has a limited root structure, and it mostly stays in it’s place. (It can’t move more than a couple of inches a year). The downside is that most of the sympodial bamboo grows only in tropical climate, not in cooler climates.

Two kinds of sympodial bamboo are Fargesia murieliae and Fargesia nitida.

Growing Bamboo Indoors

It’s best to use certain species of bamboo if you want to grow it indoors. But one thing that you should take into consideration right from the start is that bamboo requires a lot of sunlight – at least six hours a day. So you want to put your bamboo in sunny places. Some bamboos can deal a bit better with less sun exposure, but as a general rule, the more sun, the better.

You want to be careful with watering, because that’s the death cause #1 of indoor bamboo plants. On the other hand, if you notice that your bamboo plant is losing it’s color, that can often be a sign of NOT ENOUGH water. Bamboo is extremely picky when it comes to the right amount of water.

Bamboo Pests

The most common problems with bamboo are bamboo mites and mealy bugs. Anytime you plant new bamboo into your garden, you should check it carefully for bamboo pests, because once they are in your garden, they can spread quickly, and can be hard to reach.

The easiest way to get started with bamboo gardening without risking that it will take over your whole garden, simply grow it in a container. This will allow you to enjoy bamboo, while at the same time keeping your garden save. And once you learn to handle bamboo properly, you can still grow it freely in your garden, without a container.