Can Do Bamboo

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Bamboos can be divided into two groups: hardy and tropical. Hardy bamboos are best suited for USDA zones 8 (10°F to 20°F minimum winter temperatures) and 9 (20°F to 30°F minimum temperatures).

To farm hardy bamboos, you need warm summers and moderate winters. Culms must be at least three years old and preferably four or five years old to be harvested as poles. A bamboo that is frozen to the ground frequently will never mature its culms to harvestable age, nor will it produce shoots large enough to sell.

Hardy bamboos are "runners," meaning their rhizomes spread along the surface of the ground in summer. Planted on a small scale, runners can be contained by burying a plastic barrier, 40 millimeters thick and 30 inches deep, all around the stand. For the larger-scale farmer, runners are best contained through strategic site planning (see illustration ). You might also try (as one farmer I know did) to turn the problem into a plus by harvesting, potting and selling the rhizomes.

Tropical bamboos are best suited for zones 9 and 10 (30°F to 40°F minimum temperatures). They are clumpers, having short, thick rhizomes at the base of each culm, and so do not present the containment challenges of runners.

Tropical bamboos vary in their tolerance for freezing weather. Some endure a few days below freezing with little damage; some are killed. In general tropical bamboos, which produce strong poles and fine shoots, can be grown as a farm crop in Florida, in Southern California and along the Gulf Coast.

WHICH BAMBOO SHOULD I PLANT?

To select your bamboos, determine which will grow in your planting zone; then narrow your list to those best suited to your purpose - be it to produce the best tasting shoots or the longest, strongest poles.

Every April the American Bamboo Society (ABS) publishes a list of bamboos available in the U.S., along with their suppliers. The ABS Species Source List for 2000 names 373 kinds of bamboo, describing each in terms of its uses, maximum height and diameter, and sun, shade and temperature requirements. (Included is a short list of extremely cold-hardy bamboos that will survive, if not thrive, to -20°F!)

My own handbook, Hardy Bamboos for Sboots and Poles, lists and describes 30 varieties of the genus Phyllostachys suitable for USDA zones 7, 8 and 9. Each variety is assessed, not only for its uses, size and climate needs, but also for the quality of its shoots and poles. Bamboo nurseries or growers in your area are also invaluable resources; no one will know better what varieties will flourish where you live.

No matter the bamboos you choose, keep in mind two basic planting principles:

1. Plant several varieties, not just one, to ensure that when one grove flowers - and consequently stops sending up new shoots - other groves will continue to produce. Flowering in bamboos is rare but unpredictable and can last several years.

2. A small, well-watered and thinned grove is more productive and easier to harvest than is a large, unthinned, uncared-for grove.

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