Visiting a local farm on a school field trip, the kids really liked this bamboo grove the farmer had. I talked to her about it, and she offered me some, and a few months later she presented me with a scraggly looking bunch of shoots in a ball of dirt.
They were about four or five feet long, not much thicker than a pencil; the mature plants I saw grew to 15 or 20 feet and about an inch and a half in diameter.
I picked a spot in the middle back of the yard, dug a hole, and planted it.
It didn’t do too well — just kinda leaned over and sat there. I watered it regularly, but it never picked up. Well, I did get it free and I’m sure I could get more.
Then today I checked it out. Lo and behold, new shoots! The big part is still looking sad, but there are a bunch of shoots coming out of the ground. It lives! So I gave it some water (it was a hot day), and now I’m gonna keep my fingers crossed that it takes hold. In a few years I could have a nice little stand of trees in the back.
The Fray
Karen says:
I hereby go on the record as being VERY MUCH AGAINST this little experiment.
*sigh*
Andrew says:
All you need to know about my family:
Sam (the boy, for those of you who don’t know) asked if we would get pandas when the bamboo grew. (This was the same joke I made.)
My father warned me that it might attract the Viet Cong.
[sigh]
Emily says:
You’ll be sorry. It’s impossible to keep bamboo in one place. I’ve seen it cross under a paved road.
gnomic says:
Plant Kudzu arond the Bamboo. That’ll stop it!
Mmmm… Homemade punji sticks just like Uncle Charlie used to make…
Andrew says:
Gnomic and I are thinking along the same lines. I planted kudzu along the fence (I figured a live, green fence would look nicer than that old wooden thing), so maybe I’ll move some around the bamboo.
ronbailey says:
plenty of water + rich river bottom soil = more bamboo than you will know what to do with…
I speak from experience…