Bamboo...Clumping or Runners?

Hopeful Lady · #1 04/12/10, 12:31 PM

Beem doing a bit of research on privacy screens and have always been interested in bamboo. I am not so much interested in runners for fear of it getting to be to much. Was wondering what would be good for a thick privacy screen and wind blocker but need it to stay in one area. We are in the zone 7 or 8 area. It would also be in full sun.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
HL

Wolf mom · #2 04/12/10, 12:37 PM

There are a huge number of types of bamboo. Find out what grows locally through a good local nursery or google bamboo. There are charts on certain sites.. I'd go for clumping unless you have a way of containing running bamboo like mowing over the shoots.

Hopeful Lady · #3 04/12/10, 02:22 PM

Thanks Wolf Mom.

beaglebiz · #4 04/12/10, 03:04 PM

be careful...we have a huge japanese knotweed problem here, and it is a type of bamboo that is very invasive. The plus side is the thick stalks can be dried and used like bamboo, for fishing poles, tomato stakes etc. We have the problem at our river property

Katey · #5 04/12/10, 03:20 PM

Japanese Knotweed is not a bamboo. It's closely related to rhubarb.

That's not to say that bamboo can't be just as invasive.

JWK · #6 04/12/10, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaglebiz

be careful...we have a huge japanese knotweed problem here, and it is a type of bamboo that is very invasive. The plus side is the thick stalks can be dried and used like bamboo, for fishing poles, tomato stakes etc. We have the problem at our river property

I was interested in some property that had that stuff all over it. I wondered about it so I googled. It's not a type of bamboo. It just looks like it. Nasty stuff. The DEC here in NY consider it the biggest invasive plant problem we have. Nothing else is even close. Destroying our wetlands/streams. Apparently, the plant (which really is from Japan) has no predators here, so it runs rampant like the rabbits did in Australia.

bergere · #7 04/12/10, 03:25 PM

I have some nice clumping Bamboo I planted 5 years ago and it hasn't spread out like I was hoping it would.
There are so many different kinds of Bamboo out there now a days.. not all are like the invasive Black running Bamboo.
Many of the clumping types don't go any where.

These would be good folks to talk to about Bamboo for your area and what you are looking for.
http://www.americanbamboo.org/

beaglebiz · #8 04/12/10, 03:47 PM

It may not be a true bamboo, but it dries hollow and certainly looks like it. My kids have even made flutes out of it. We have a hedge of it we cut down several times a year at our access point on the river., I am NOT suggesting the OP plant knotweed, but I was under the impression bamboo is equally invasive

Hopeful Lady · #9 04/12/10, 04:27 PM

Thanks for trying to help everyone. Yes we probably will go with the true bamboo but I think clumping for us will be our best bet. Just want to know what other folks experience has actually been with the clumping variety and what type do you like. Feel free to leave pictures. I probably should of posted my question more from the clumping side of bamboo.

where I want to · #10 04/12/10, 06:30 PM

My limited experience- I planted what I was told was clumping bamboo. For about two years it stayed in place- I thought. Then I was cleaning up around it and ran into a runner- by the time I followed it to the end where it was just popping up, it had gone 15 feet all underground. I ripped it up and found many other runners doing the same thing- long runs underground.
My next bamboo adventure is a black fountain bamboo- planted in an old horse trough that had the bottom knocked out of it. So far so good but I still have fear of bamboo.

hotzcatz · #11 04/13/10, 01:50 AM

We have a smaller (about twenty feet tall) green running bamboo in the back yard. It doesn't make a very thick screen at all but it is vigorous. I've been beating it back about every other year and it still keeps trying to creep across the yard.

We have a much larger (about fifty feet tall) green bamboo which makes a much denser screen. It also has very tasty shoots.

tamsam · #12 04/13/10, 01:59 AM

There was a good sized patch of really big bamboo where I lived in NC. I don't think it was a running type as it seemed to be mostly stay in one spot. Some of these were at least 8 inches across at the base and I would guess at least 50 ft tall. this stuff was so thick I don't think you could crawl through it. Wish I could get some like that here f to plant on banks to help hold them. Sam

Fae · #13 04/13/10, 06:36 AM

My DD has running bamboo that was planted by a man who wanted privacy from his neighbor. It certainly does a good job. The runners will run a long way underground and take over a place before you know it. She only rents this place so cannot try to kill it(like you could) but she does mow the shoots down. Everyone who grows tomatoes comes and gets it for stakes. I am thinking about building a bamboo fence with it. If I were going to plant bamboo it would be clumping and in an impermeable container.

jmtinmi · #14 04/13/10, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaglebiz

be careful...we have a huge japanese knotweed problem here, and it is a type of bamboo that is very invasive. The plus side is the thick stalks can be dried and used like bamboo, for fishing poles, tomato stakes etc. We have the problem at our river property

Must be what my Dad has at his place, nothing touches it for killing. He's been fighting it for 30 years, be careful!

Callieslamb · #15 04/13/10, 09:06 AM

Check the hardiness zones for the kinds you consider. The clumping types are hardier for the north. I would love to have some for the tomato stakes, etc.....

ronbre · #16 04/13/10, 10:52 AM

trust me you do NOT want runners unless you have well over 10 acres

Hopeful Lady · #17 04/13/10, 06:10 PM

Thanks again. I am currently trying to find out how one would know the difference between the clumping variety and the runners. That is if you bought some in its early growth. It sounds like some one had thought thiers was a clumping kind and then found out that it was a runner.

where I want to · #18 04/13/10, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hopeful Lady

Thanks again. I am currently trying to find out how one would know the difference between the clumping variety and the runners. That is if you bought some in its early growth. It sounds like some one had thought thiers was a clumping kind and then found out that it was a runner.

The only thing I can think of is to buy from someone who KNOWS their bamboo- not a general nursery.

Wolf mom · #19 04/13/10, 10:18 PM

Here ya' go. I knew I had saved this someplace. All you want to know along with a bamboo forum.........

http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/index.php

Hopeful Lady · #20 04/14/10, 09:35 AM

Wolf Mom thanks for the great link.