Bamboo Newsletter 4

Welcome to the fourth issue of the Bamboo Inspiration newsletter.

Spring and Bamboo Plants

I'm not sure which country you are in but where I live spring is arriving. Everything in the garden is about to burst into new growth, including the bamboo! So the focus of this newsletter is going to be about spring and your bamboo, planting, pruning or tidying up ready for the new growth.

Spring

Although you can plant bamboos at almost any time of year in warmer climates, the best time to plant new bamboo plants is very early spring.

The new canes of bamboo plants will emerge between early spring and summer, therefore by planting in early spring you will get the additional benefit of seeing your plants put out new growth very quickly.

Planting later than early spring is also fine but you won't benefit from seeing any new growth so soon. See my page on plant bamboo for detailed information on planting.

Plant Bamboo provides you with a guide to things like; location for your bamboo, how much sun and water the plant will need, what to do about weeds, and very importantly the types of bamboo you should plant for your requirements... clumping or running species. Many people plant the wrong species for the wrong location and end up with a running bamboo that gets out of control.

You'll also find plenty of information to help you related to soil types, seasons, spacing, stakes, and mulch. For example; Larger species of bamboo grow faster than smaller species, and are at their best when positioned in full sun. Some smaller species get more benefit from being in dappled shade during the mid or hottest part of the day and/or some protection from any high winds (particularly if they are young plants and smaller species).

Care of Bamboo

Once you have chosen and planted your new bamboo, or if you already have a stand of bamboo and want to tidy it up ready for spring growth, I have guides to bamboo care on my site that cover the information you need.

Caring for bamboo plants

For a pruning guide see this page on

Pruning Bamboo

Some good species lists for bamboo garden privacy screens and hedging can be found here

Bamboo Hedge

Bamboo Screen

Bamboo Windbreak

Containers

If you like bamboo plants but are fearful that it will get out of control in your garden you can always plant it in a container! There are many species that will do well a container with the correct maintenance so if you have a small garden, or an ornamental species that you would like to be able to move round now and then, planting in containers is a great alternative.

Equally, if you have an existing bamboo plant that is out of control but you don't want to kill it off entirely, dig up a bit of the clump of bamboo and keep it in a container! That way, you can happily go about killing the main plant but be left with a smaller version that you can move around the garden at your leisure, and keep it under control at the same time.

For guides to help you with this see my pages at

Transplanting Bamboo

Container Bamboo

or for control see

Bamboo Control and Containment

Killing Bamboo

Finally, if you having big problems with a spreading bamboo and are deadly serious about getting rid of it.... take a look at my guide to How to Kill Bamboo at

Kill Bamboo

Late Spring

Late spring is a good time to fertilize your bamboo plants. See Caring for Bamboo Plants...

Bamboo Inspiration Web Site

I have just redesigned my website and am in the process of making further improvements and adding new sections and pages. If you think there is any information I could add to my site that would benefit my site visitors I would really appreciate it if you let me know your thoughts through my contact form on the site.

Here is a list of the related links to sections of my site that are mentioned in this newsletter

Plant Bamboo

Caring for Bamboo Plants

Bamboo Control and Containment

Kill Bamboo

Subscription and Back Issues

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