Bambooman Care

If you have good soil, sandy loam or well drained clay soil with good structure, you can plant straight into it. Dig a hole twice the diameter of the Root Ball.

Clear all weeds and lawn in a 1.5m diameter around your hole and plant your Bamboo.

Be careful and do not compact the soil around the Bamboo.

You can feed your Bamboo with a high Nitrogen fertilizer or if you like the organic way use chicken manure, horse manure or rich compost followed by a good layer of a grass mulch on top.

Afterwards water it well. If you have poor rocky soil, heavy clay, or poorly drained soil make a bed of good soil on top and add lots of organic matter.

Bamboo will grow in most soils and will grow faster with adequate water.

It is important to remember it is not a swamp plant or a desert plant.  Most species need a well drained soil to thrive.

Clay soils also nurture Bamboo and need less water and fertiliser to thrive.

Bamboo planted in sandy soils needs to be watered and fertilised more often to look there best.  

Most tropical species do not like temperatures less than 0 degrees Celsius whereas
sub-tropical species are very cold tolerant and can grow at  minimum temperatures as low as -12 degrees Celsius or more.  

If planting young plants where you get frost.  It is a good idea to protect them for the first year.  

Most bamboos will clump tighter, grow straighter and taller in a forest environment.
 
In full sun they grow quicker, bushier and with more culms(poles) however not as tall.

Bamboo makes fast growing wind breaks, sound barriers and hedges.  

Also it is one of the best plants for controlling erosion and many of these are drought tolerant.

Planting in spring is always the best time to plant. But you can plant in any season.

They will take longer to establish them self if you plant in winter.

Planting just before an upcoming good rain is also a big plus for growing your Bamboos successfully.

Bamboos growing in full sun will grow very fast and bushy.

They will make there own shade in a few years.

In full shade they will grow much slower at first.

Till there culms(poles) and leaves reach the light above the canopy.

On the one hand there are many varieties of bamboos that like full sun.

On the other hand there are some that only like the morning sun.

Shade from the afternoon sun is very important with your tropical clumping Bamboos like Java Black.

In the more temperate zones they will grow slower and not to the size of Bamboo grown in the tropics.

Bamboo is the fastest land growing plant in the world, it is just a giant grass,
sometimes you can even watch it growing, just like your lawn.

You can plant small plants in good soil for a hedge, privacy screen or as a sound barrier
and solve your problem within 2 years.

Alternatively you can plant larger plants for instant peace and privacy.

If you are planting a hedge or privacy screen, you can plant all of the small species as close as 1 meter to 2 meters.

On the one hand, if you plant them at 1 meter spacings they will form a dense screen.

But they will compete for food and water, which will stop them from growing to big.

Logically they will need more food and water.

On the other hand if you space your Bamboos at 2 meters it will let them grow bigger and taller,
but will take longer to form a privacy screen.

For medium to large Bamboos they need 3 to 4 meter spacings to grow a 10 to 20 meter hedge.

If you are creating a Bamboo garden with a number of large species, give them as much room as possible.

That way they do not have to compete for food and water.

If you want the best dressed Bamboos in town you should cut out the old and dying culms that are 3 years and older.

But be careful not to cut to many out as they often support the new shoots as they extend to the sky.

Keep your Bamboos well mulched and weed free.

80% of a Bamboo's roots are in the first 200mm of soil and extend a few meters from the plant. So if you wish to irrigate them you should wet the soil a few meters all around your Bamboo.

A maintained clump is a very handsome plant. A clump can be sculpted to have a few culms or just the biggest culms and make it a open clumped or a tight clumped bamboo. You can prune of the lower branches to get a better view of the culms Contact Bruce bamboman@bigpond.net.au he can do it for you!

By maintaining you clumps you will have poles to create a thousand things and shoots to eat.
Hedges only need to be cut to height once a year. Many species need no maintenance to look
stunning.

Get you creative juices flowing sculpt a clump of bamboo.

We sell only clumping Bamboo. Some are tight clumpers some are loose clumpers and others are open clumpers.

All Bamboo can be bonsai-ed, by using a root barrier you can control the size that your Bamboo will grow to and stop other plants from competing with them.

They will need more watering, feeding and care to keep them looking there best behind a root barrier.

The potting mix that you use in your pots must be a good quality rich well drained mix. Usually the most expensive at the garden center.

Every year in late winter or early spring you have to cut back the old foliage and culms to the shape of your desire.

If they are root bound in the pot you should take them out of the pot and split the root ball down to the middle.

Afterwards you should cut them back and re-pot them into a new potting mix.

It is a good idea to plant them in plastic pots that fit well into your ceramic pots. For easy removeability and splitting.

Do not over feed them in pots, otherwise it will create a lush plant at first then a very sick plant.