Can I Plant Bamboo?

Planting Bamboo

• To plant bamboo, choose a spot in your yard that gets full sun. Dig a hole that is as deep as and twice as wide as the container in which you bought it. Fill the hole with a mixture of one-half compost and one-half garden soil. Place the plant into the hole with the top of its root ball more or less even with the soil. Pack down the soil and then water thoroughly. While many kinds of bamboo are drought tolerant, you need to make sure the plant does not dry out during the first year. Use a high nitrogen fertilizer in the early spring, summer and fall.

Cold Climate Bamboo

• Some species of bamboo that grow best in cold zones, down to -10 degrees Fahrenheit, include Fargesia dracocephala, Fargesia nitida, Fargesia robusta, Fargesia rufa, Phyllostachys atrovaginata, Phyllostachys aureosulcata spectabilis, Phyllostachys bissetii, Phyllostachys decora, Phyllostachys nuda, Pleioblastus species and Sasa senanensis. While these species are worth trying in zones 3 and 4, especially if you can find a sheltered spot for them, in extremely cold zones, you might do better if you plant them in containers that can be moved to the garage during the winter. Containers for bamboo should be at least 2 feet wide and 2 feet tall. Keep the plant trimmed so that you will be able to move it when really cold weather sets in.

Hot Climate Bamboo

• Bamboos suitable for hotter climates in the U.S., such as Florida and Southern California, or zones 8 to 11, include Bambusa edulis, Bambusa glaucophylla, Bambusa multiplex, Borinda boliana, Chusquea coronalis, Phyllostachys pubescens, Phyllostachys vivax and Phyllostachys vivax aureocaulis.

Controlling Bamboo

• There are two general types of bamboo, clumping and running, or spreading. Running bamboo spreads quickly, and in order to keep it from taking over your yard and your neighbor's, you need to take some measure to control it. One strategy is to mow a 15- to 20-foot swath around the bamboo every spring. This will cut out the rhizomes that the plants put out to expand. Another suggestion is to dig a barrier at least 30 inches deep and line it with something that will not disintegrate in the soil. Finally, you could dig a 1-foot-deep trench around the bamboo and fill it with mulch. In the spring and fall, run a stick through the mulch to find and remove the rhizomes that have started to grow through it.