ArtNut

My neighbors bamboo drops a lot of leaves in my yard. I love the look of his plants and have no problem with them otherwise. I've been raking them back over by the fence. They make a nice clean matt in an area where grass does not normally grow. Can I leave them there or should I pick them up? They are around an avocado tree and a couple of other plants. Will they hurt those plants?
Thanks,

NANAMAN

I'd leave them where they are, you can never have too much mulch!

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lorax

They make great mulch - leave 'em be!

ArtNut

Thanks. That being the case would they be good in other flower beds? Bamboo leaves are so clean looking they would make good cover. I was worried about the toxicity. Several local trees (particularly drought tolerant) kill the vegetation where their leaves fall.

lorax

I've never had phytotoxicity issues with bamboo leaves; I don't get winter but I do have a dry season and I love bamboo leaves for my water-retention mulch.

xavierdlc61887

TRUE THAT CAN NEVER HAVE TOOO MUCH :P

miracle_grower

I would leave the leaves and culms on the ground, bamboo has silicon dioxide (SiO2) that the plant needs. When the culms fall to the ground, the silicon is recycled back into the plant.

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Tropical Fog

ArtNut

so what's a culm?

bepah

Leave the leaves on the ground. IF you are afraid of losing some plants by them being covered, move them or compost them.

A bamboo culm is the stalk,shoot, upright portion of the plant. A number of culms is a grove of bamboo. The places where the branches come off the the culm is the node, the portions of the culms between the nodes is the internode, the protective part of the branch or leaf that comes off the new branch is called the sheath.

Grow some bamboo of your own, great looking stuff when it is mature!

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John Case
Rookie Gardener, Veteran Drinker

ArtNut

Wow, thanks for the bamboo lesson.
Another question about bamboo: I had heard that you can pick the non-spreading type by looking for the groove along the stem. I don't remember which is the spreader. Have you heard of this and do you know the difference?
Some people don't like bamboo in the landscaping because it will spread throughout the yard.

bepah

Clumpers are,in my opinion, better for the backyard landscape than runners, but there are always ways to limit the runner, 1) rhizome barrier 2) bi-annual digging at the limit of the area you want to spread 3) horses (thy love bamboo and it is good for them) although they tend to eat everythig.

Grooves on the culms of runners may be a way to identify them ( especially the Phyllostachys genus), but not all running bamboos have grooves on the culm.

Clumping bamboos are generally more tropical in nature, but there a lots of exceptions.

Log in to BambooWeb - Bamboo Information and Photos. There is more there than you can imagine.

Good luck!

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John Case
Rookie Gardener, Veteran Drinker

buzzwinder

Thanks for the wab site bepah, I had no idea that there bamboo's that hardy down to -20 degrees F. I'm going to have to do more investigating now, Thanks agian!!!

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Bill for my friend

sandy0225

Yes, I have a large grove of yellow groove Phylostachys Aurea bamboo. It's been here for about 5-6 years now. I started out with 10 pots and now have a grove about 40X15 behind my large pond. And it's definitely hardy to -20.
I dig it up and sell it in the spring, but it's such a pain to dig. It's the hardiest one for northern states and will easily take -20, but it's a runner, and it will run. I can't really ship it out though because a good division is very heavy and if it's allowed to dry out after digging, it dies every time. So be careful if you buy any online, you're better off to buy it locally.
It grows very slowly the first two or three years, and the first year ours actually died back to the ground, but once it's established, it's evergreen and doesn't lose its leaves or turn brown even in the middle of winter.

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Sandy Burrell



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