Growing Bamboo
Hey, everyone! We're members of ZooBoise and have been in touch with one of their staff about the Zoo's need for bamboo for the red pandas. I am looking at creating a living play fort for our young daughter, and have been thinking that it would be so cool to make one that is harvestable for her animal friends down at the zoo.
However.
I am a little freaked out about how invasive bamboo can be. I know it is a huge problem in places like Alabama--the damp climates that don't get much in the way of hard freezes. I wonder if our weather up here will help to control it a bit. Does anyone here have experience with bamboo varietals and what its invasiveness is like in our area? Would I be getting in way over my head?
I'd love to hear some thoughts on this. The zoo lady also mentioned that they are really going to need a LOT of bamboo for the 3 baby male giraffes that are coming to the new addition, hopefully this fall. At maturity, each animal will eat up to 75 lbs. of browse (bamboo & acacia preferably, as hay makes them bloat) at least 3 times a week. It would be great to help encourage local gardeners to pitch in, but I want to make sure I am not going to open a gigantic can of worms with an invasive species.
Thanks!
Boise Sustainable Living Community
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April 16th, 2008
Bamboo
I started growing my first bamboo garden two years ago. I purchased it from the Horseshoe Bend and also purchased the barrier. If you're really worried about it being invasive, the best thing to do is build a raised bed, this way you don't have to trench the barrier so deep into the ground.
"To live meaningfully is to be at perpetually risk"
February 28th, 2008
Bamboo Root Network
Hi Casey,
For what it's worth, I recently had a conversation with my boss about a small bamboo grove (since it's a grass and not a tree, would you call it a "patch"?) that was in the backyard of a house he recently purchased. He wanted to remove it completely by uprooting it. It wasn't a large grove/patch so he thought it would be an easy job. Ha. Turned out the root system extended way into his neighbors' yards and all through his backyard...and I guess they were pretty stout roots as well.
That is all.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure." -Marianne Williamson
www.idahoenergycomplex.net
February 28th, 2008
Bamboo
There is non-invasive bamboo...I buy mine up at the nursery at horseshoe bend and they have lots of varieties, including 'clumping' or non-spreading bamboo. Also if you know it's habits, you can control the roots. I bought bamboo barrier but it was too hard to dig it in by hand and I never wanted to get a trencher to do it...they told me in spring I could take a shovel and go around the plant to cut the shoots...kind of like you do to 'force' tomatoes at the end of the season. I have the bamboo guide from Horseshoe Bend Nursery, I can scan and e-mail you that, but I think the info is downloadable from their website. Don't remember the name of her site but it's probably horseshoebendnursery.com or something close to that....
All said I LOVE my bamboo and my children love it too. They love measuring how fast it grows in the spring and playing around it...I have added more bamboo every year...it's kind of addictive....
K
February 28th, 2008
I have also heard of people
I have also heard of people burying a bathub and planting the bamboo in that so that it remains contained. Seems a little crazy but I bet it works alright.