Grow Your Own Magazine

Does anyone have any idea if there are any bamboo plants with a reasonable rate of growth that are hardy for our climate?

I fancy being able to grow my own canes and not have to keep buying them!!

TIA

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Veni, Vidi, Velcro.
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Hi Doctor,

I didn't grow mine but got some from my DH's uncle. He grow his bamboo for several year against his garage wall and it does produce him lots of canes but I have no idea which cultival, will ask him.
If he can grow it in NL it should be possible to grow it in England too .

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I grow, I pick, I eat ...

There are several varieties that grow here as far as I'm aware. The one thing to look out for though is that they can be very invasive. Be careful.

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Sorry to be a bit cheeky, Doctor, but I have a similar Q. Has anyone tried ARUNDO DONAX in UK. If so, how well does it grow. I think there are a number of Bamboos that grow well in our climate though I've not tried any myself yet.

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Why keep a dog when you can bark yourself !

Do not, under any circumstances try to do this - it is a crazy idea. Bamboo here is a menace and whilst there are some varieties that grow by seed, rather than rhizomes, the seed ones take ages to get to decent cane height.

I'm currently clearing two bamboo stands for a chum - it's a serious chain saw jobbie, some of them are as thick as my arm, some even bigger and up to 40 ft tall. I know it depends on the type, the weather and a variety of other things but for the price that bamboo canes are, it really isn't worth it.

Even our domestic, fairly dwarf type that we inherited with the house, was a nightmare
to get rid of, rhizomes and that was supposed to be easy manage.

Mind you, I've got bamboo for pergolas, fruit and veggie arches and domestic canes forever ..........

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

how about something native like hazel for the same purpose?

Hi,
Have you tried Buddleja davidii branches. Flowers good for butterflies. Good growth rate - 2 m , Straight and can be pruned down hard. I usually cutt off the tops - flowers and twigs at pruning time - spring - and pile them in a corner of the garden for wildlife & hedgehog use over winter and then harvest the sticks. The following spring place whatever is decomposed onto the compost heap and replenish with new. Can get some good lengths in a season.

i have had a bamboo in my back garden for about four years now and it has already reached 12 feet. Every year the canes get thicker and thicker and hope that one day they can be used for my climbing french beans. You should be able to get one from a good garden centre. They make a lovely sound when the wind whistles through the leaves.

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good Diggin, Chuffa.

Arundo Donax does grow in the UK, at least in the South, although I don't grow it because it gets so big!

Don't you have to season/dry the canes first before you can use them? That had put me off trying as I've nowhere to keep them dry for a year.
Sue

A little bit more investigation suggests that bamboo are basically split into two types, "clumpers" and "runners" and it is a couple of varieties of the runners that have probably gained the reputation of being hugely invasive.

It seems that varieties are available that will grow upwards fast enough to be of use, without growing outwards very much.

There are a couple of links here and here

I guess ideally you should let the cut stems season, but if supply was abundant enough that fact that unseasoned ones are a bit more bendy and more liable to rot presumably wouldn't matter.

Can't you just cut the stems and store them in a shed when it gets the height you need the canes?

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Veni, Vidi, Velcro.
I came, I saw, I stuck around.

I don't think it's a crazy idea, because I've been thinking along the same lines myself

I found this site that has lots of info you might find interesting.

Harvesting Bamboo / Grove Management - Bamboo Forums

i have a thin variety, which is useless for anything but looking pretty, i'm also growing giant bamboo, the plan is to use it to make fences and bed edgings, and i'm also growing some for beans and peas .... ok it may be invasive, but that isn't a problem really, i'm growing it cos i want it and it's in the tropical area of my garden.

and at some point hopefully everything in the garden will tie in with the tropical area and be made of bamboo

not much use for this year though, when i'm desperate for some and can't get any anywhere

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I found this on another forum: "some (bamboo) are invasive and some aren't. The aureosulcata (yellow with a green stripe) makes a tidy clump but gets very, very tall and makes great canes.
I have a black bamboo (phyllostacys nigra) that was growing under and pushing up through tarmac that now lives in a wooden container, I have a couple of varieties that I don't know the name of which regularly crack open the pots they live in, both plastic and terracotta.
I have a grey-ish one that spreads like wildfire ...I think is one of the fargesii, which I attack with an axe once a year.

Finally, I have a big lump of the four foot tall green thing, the name of which I have no idea, which sends runners out through a stone wall into the lawn and these spread to at least 30 feet. (They get mowed off)

be very, very careful if you don't have much room, but if you've got the rooom, get them all and have fun. Look out for the ones labelled construction/timber bamboos - they are great fun" It's Not Easy Being Green :: View topic - Any tips on growing bamboo for canes?

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You could try Leycesteria formosa (commonly known as "Pheasant Berry" or "Himalayan Honeysuckle"). It produces pretty good canes and it is best to cut out the flowered ones each autumn. I is an easily controlled shrub and the softbills, especially blackbirds and thrushes love the fruits, so you will eventually find little plantlets growing elsewhere as it easily grows from seed.

At a previous house we used to use Dogwood (Cornus) for pea-sticks. We had several bushes, with lovely coloured winter stems, and they needed cutting down each spring in order to get highly-coloured growth for the following winter.

Many of the pea-sticks rooted, which was a bonus!

I have a black type which is now up to about 15 ft tall, keeping itself quite tidy at the moment and a very pretty blue one, can't see the name as the tag is now buried, this one has a good prune every year as it attacks the washing on the line. i've used them for canes in pots for the past couple of years, no problems - as yet.

Coppiced Hazel is far better.

Pea Sticks AND Bean Canes, plus Nuts.

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