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Steve in France · 06-16-2008, 11:59 AM

Jozon , I'm happy to hear about your experience as a Bamboo nut myself
.I miss my Bamboos in France. And as my Bamboo friend Mark Buckley says "What works in my conditions may not work in yours". I agree barrier is expensive, I would have bought it if I did not get a deal as I have a medium size Garden in FRance and trenches were just not an option.I used stone walls on some sides of the Bamboo and a friend has use Cement path stones , 2 ft by 2ft. My friend in German just made a trench then put in the Cement sqares on end and filled the trench in. The odd rhizomes escapes but not many. I'd hate to have rhizomes punching through my Banana corms but here it's not a problem as I pot grow everything

.
Common old Japonica is one of my favorite Bamboos , easy to control and looks great when grown well.
In France I grow some of the bigger Timber Bamboos and the goal is big culms.
I Barrier so I can save every bit of energy, I do culm prune out smaller culms which is not reccomended if you want big growth fast. I cut out small culms for two reasons, one, the grove looks nicer ,and two , a lot of Blades on the small culms are in full shade and are not adding much energy to the plant. It will take me 6 to 10 years to get huge culms on the Bamboo's I have , I'd rather do it in six years as I'm not getting any younger

.
I get great growth rate as I mulch and water all the time. People think I'm nuts as I water even when it's raining , but what I say is go dig in your soil after a medium rainfall and in a dryish Summer the water will have only gone down an inch in the soil if that. Water water water is the key with Bamboos and many other Exotic plants.I water my Musa and such here twice a day on hot days.
In France some of my big Bamboos are , Phyllostachys 'Shanghai 3' , Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis' , Phyllostachys vivax 'Huangwenzhu Inversa' and Phyllostachys 'Parvifolia'. The mediums are Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis' ,Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' ,Phyllostachys nigra 'Hale' and a mystery Nigra clone with a black Sulcus. I also grow Semiarundinaria 'Fastuosa' and Fargesia 'Scabrida' , I have a bunch of the Yunnan stuff and a couple of Borinda's but I cannot say they are still alive until I visit the garden this Summer.Like I said I'm a bit of a Bamboo Nut

I love to grow Musa/Ensete next to Bamboo as they make each other look fantastic.
Later
Steve

06-16-2008, 11:59 AM	#7 (permalink)
Steve in France Senior Member Steve in France's Photo Gallery Location: Bethesda, MD Find me on the map! Zone: zone: it says 6 to 8 Name: Steve in France Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 382 BananaBucks : 5,847 Feedback: 12 / 93% Thanks: 1 Thanked 38 Times in 21 Posts Welcomes: 0	Re: hacking bamboo from around bananas Jozon , I'm happy to hear about your experience as a Bamboo nut myself .I miss my Bamboos in France. And as my Bamboo friend Mark Buckley says "What works in my conditions may not work in yours". I agree barrier is expensive, I would have bought it if I did not get a deal as I have a medium size Garden in FRance and trenches were just not an option.I used stone walls on some sides of the Bamboo and a friend has use Cement path stones , 2 ft by 2ft. My friend in German just made a trench then put in the Cement sqares on end and filled the trench in. The odd rhizomes escapes but not many. I'd hate to have rhizomes punching through my Banana corms but here it's not a problem as I pot grow everything . Common old Japonica is one of my favorite Bamboos , easy to control and looks great when grown well. In France I grow some of the bigger Timber Bamboos and the goal is big culms. I Barrier so I can save every bit of energy, I do culm prune out smaller culms which is not reccomended if you want big growth fast. I cut out small culms for two reasons, one, the grove looks nicer ,and two , a lot of Blades on the small culms are in full shade and are not adding much energy to the plant. It will take me 6 to 10 years to get huge culms on the Bamboo's I have , I'd rather do it in six years as I'm not getting any younger . I get great growth rate as I mulch and water all the time. People think I'm nuts as I water even when it's raining , but what I say is go dig in your soil after a medium rainfall and in a dryish Summer the water will have only gone down an inch in the soil if that. Water water water is the key with Bamboos and many other Exotic plants.I water my Musa and such here twice a day on hot days. In France some of my big Bamboos are , Phyllostachys 'Shanghai 3' , Phyllostachys vivax 'Aureocaulis' , Phyllostachys vivax 'Huangwenzhu Inversa' and Phyllostachys 'Parvifolia'. The mediums are Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis' ,Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' ,Phyllostachys nigra 'Hale' and a mystery Nigra clone with a black Sulcus. I also grow Semiarundinaria 'Fastuosa' and Fargesia 'Scabrida' , I have a bunch of the Yunnan stuff and a couple of Borinda's but I cannot say they are still alive until I visit the garden this Summer.Like I said I'm a bit of a Bamboo Nut I love to grow Musa/Ensete next to Bamboo as they make each other look fantastic. Later Steve __________________ Always looking for a lost pup