Talkback: Bamboo - Talkback - gardenersworld.com

28/03/2011 at 10:35

It's amazing to think that it's a grass! I noticed this too when I was in Indonesia and got teased by my travelling companions who know I'm very keen on the stuff. I also use it extensively indoors for my exotic pets and aquaria.

Gardeners' World Web User

28/03/2011 at 11:24

I've often seen bamboo used as scaffolding in various parts of China, but then they don't have the health and safety rules we have here lol!

Gardeners' World Web User

28/03/2011 at 13:16

I have a bamboo grove which i find very useful when I thin out. It provides me with beansticks (this year sunflowers stakes as well since i have my free seeds), pot plant stakes, and the thinner, bendy metre or so make very pretty fences. The latter I copied from the Bristol Botanic Garden where they are ideal as they do not obstruct the view. Just bend into a half moon shape and stick the ends in the soil, the following one starts about 6inches or so in from the end of the first - oh dear, so much easier to show than write about. The Garden also has a laing(Chinese veranda) made of bamboo which is a very sturdy structure and admired by all who see it.

Gardeners' World Web User

28/03/2011 at 17:12

Help!! I would really love to grow a Spartan apple tree but have a very small garden. Can i grow one in a cointainer??

Gardeners' World Web User

29/03/2011 at 07:22

They also grow to quite a heght and thickness on Crete

Gardeners' World Web User

29/03/2011 at 18:51

For a long time archaeologists considered the east to be very primative beceause of the lack of developed stone tools, and late use of metals. They only just realised bamboo can do it all from arrowheads to knives builinds to water systems, and leaves no record. You can even unroll it into flat sheets for roofing, and weave the fibres of it into clothing. The Scafolding is not only stronger but also lighter than western meathods so can go much higher.

Gardeners' World Web User

29/03/2011 at 20:09

One of my camelia's has got a black coating on the leaves. If you wipe the coating off the leaf underneath is green and shiny. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with my camelia and what I should do about it?

Gardeners' World Web User

30/03/2011 at 16:03

Shandy5508; Your Camellia has sooty mould. Keep wiping.

Gardeners' World Web User

31/03/2011 at 15:57

I'm noty sure where I should post this enquiry but here goes - Can you help me identify a plant please which I saw in a Garden in S Cornwall last summer. The 3-4ft already flowered stem had seed pods similar to a Lily plant but the flower itself was small in size, not dissimilar to a shrub rose with the "Lily" anthers and yellow in colour.

Gardeners' World Web User

31/03/2011 at 17:36

You should also warn people that they spread underground and will even come up through bricks and paths and can do a lot of damage. I put 4 in my garden and had to pay someone to take all 4 out as they spread up to 6 metres underground.

Gardeners' World Web User

01/04/2011 at 20:21

The leaves have dropped off most of my bamboo - about 8ft high - in this winters severe snow. the botton foot of only 1/8 th of the stems has leaves. Will this survive and develop new growth?

Gardeners' World Web User

01/04/2011 at 20:47

Do warn people that bamboo is very very invasive and will come up through bricks and grow undergound up to 8 feet before you realise it has spread. I put 4 in and had to pay to have them dug out.

Gardeners' World Web User

01/04/2011 at 22:07

What is the strongest weedkiller to get rid of invasive bamboos? Any advice welcome..

Gardeners' World Web User

05/04/2011 at 07:34

I have only grown the smaller non invasive bamboo, but I have just planted a willow and am restricting the roots with a barrier made from an old pond liner. I made some holes in it and am going to plant bog type plants around it, I think this control system would work with bamboo and you could fashion a wind break or a screen this way. good luck

Gardeners' World Web User

05/04/2011 at 16:20

My large Bamboo clump has been badly frost damaged (we went down to minus 18 degrees C), all the leaves have turned brown and fallen off, although the stems still seem green. Will it recover?

Gardeners' World Web User

05/04/2011 at 16:44

My Bamboos have suffered exactly the same fate as Clives-will they recover.

Gardeners' World Web User

06/04/2011 at 07:05

To keep bamboo in control you need to be very vigilant. When you spot an invasive new shoot cut it right back with the secateurs then go to the parent plant and try to find the runner and slice that. any rooted parts from the runner are easy to dig out when young. my "rove" came from next door so is a freebie. only once has it flowered, all plants together and then the grove looked sorry for itself for a season or two, then recovered its usual exotic beauty and usefulness. I think it is a great plant for large gardens. The frosted plants should regenerate from new plants from runners. Mine were unaffected in Bristol but I should imagine the roots from older plants would be untouched in hard frost, except if they were in a pot.

Gardeners' World Web User

28/06/2011 at 15:20

Have just moved into a house with a small garden and a wonderful Bamboo plant which gives lots of privacy but its growing into other parts of the garden. Is the only way of controlling it to cut it back to the root? I would find this difficult to do.

Gardeners' World Web User

30/06/2011 at 09:23

Hi mo little old lady, basically bamboo's that are already more the 5feet tall would be difficult to remove or cut..But if you want to control the spreading of your bamboo newly shoots, don't worry a swift kick can even remove the largest of shoots. And it can be done very easily with a lawn mower but some areas maybe difficult to mow.Once you aborted the cane will never grow again. Using this type of maintenance is a easy way to control your bamboo grove.

Gardeners' World Web User

14/11/2011 at 18:49

I do love gardeners world magazine. Bamboos look great on my patio, I bought a selection online from Gardening Express. They are doing really well and have grown wonderfully. Fargesia is nice and bushy, and one I had yearn for a long time is the nigra bamboo. They sent me a large plants, the canes are dark ebony colour. I love it. Thanks Gardeners world, and thanks Gardening Express.