Screening trees ideas sought

Not today!

 

He he, yes. We’re in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and even here will be putting the fire on shortly.

 

I am thinking of buying a few gracillis for screening 12m back fence, will 50cm width garden bed enough for them?
Would you please pm if we can get some in Brisbane? Thank you in advance, @Nodrog

 

I think 50 Cm bed is too narrow although it’s not unusual to find Gracilis planted in beds of this width. Be aware that bamboo drops a lot of leaves. A google image search might be helpful.

It’s been a long time since I’ve purchased Gracilis so I’m not aware of “cheaper” suppliers in Brisbane.

 

Tufan, suggest for local climate;
Lilly Pilly Backyard Bliss
Native suitable for Melbourne / Geelong climate and meets your desired height needs.
It’s also available from Bunnings in smaller sizes if want to save a few $ and wait a bit longer to fill out. Can sell out very quickly though in season.
Silver Sheen pittosporum another one that could meet your needs without going too crazy like 5-6m to need continuous trimming to your desired height.
Good luck

 

They smell lovely too!

 

What is the noise like when it is windy.

 

B gracilis1 by magpieseason posted 17th May, 2020 at 6:50 AM

 

B gracilis2 by magpieseason posted 17th May, 2020 at 6:50 AM

Set up a screen from annoying nieghbors about 6 months ago.
Bambusa Textillis Gracilis slender weaver .

 

The screen will thicken much faster if planted in the ground or at least in much wider pots. Or even build a raised trench to plant them in.

I kept mine in pots for a while and the difference when finally in the ground was quite clear.

 

Can’t say I notice their noise much in strong winds as the surrounding large trees drown it out. It’s a pleasant mild to moderate white noise sound perhaps. Unlike trees Gracilis bamboo culms sway and bend with the wind very noticeably. I imagine the very large bamboo with very thick culms aren’t as flexible so the noise might not be as pleasant.

Our Gracilis are 5 - 6 years old and would be around 9 to 10 metres now pictured below. Because of surrounding vegetation it’s hard to find a position to get a decent picture of the entire hedge. They’re larger than they look in this picture:

 

Is that Gracillis slender weaver?

 

Yes, absolutely 100% sure of that. Here’s a picture of the base of our Gracilis. Again the photo makes them look smaller than they are. Click on photo to expand helps a bit. The timber fence post at left is well over 1.2 metres tall and very thick:



Here’s another picture of Gracilis taken around 20 minutes drive from us at Crystal Waters, a permaculture community:



As mentioned previously most have no idea how big they can grow over time.

 

Finally a photo off the deck around 70 - 80 metres away from the bamboo. The black line roughly shows the length of the Gracilis hedge. You won’t get any better privacy screening than Gracilis:

 

I would not touch bamboo

Besides it going nuts, it is so 80s

 

The slender weaver in QLD might be a different species/sub species. Maybe just growing conditions.
I have some in the ground in Sydney 6YO, the widest canes are around 10 cent piece size.

 

There’s only a single variety. Climate / growing conditions / spacing / fertiliser / pruning / maintenance have a large impact. We’re in a sub-tropical climate. I did a lot of research into bamboo especially Gracilis / Slender Weaver before making a decision.

Give them a heap of high nitrogen lawn fertiliser a couple of times over the warm growing season and plenty of water then they grow like crazy.

 

The Gracilis in the pic arnt particularly slender and I wouldn't try to weave a basket with them.

Not scientific but this tells me it may be a different species from the Gracilis slender weaver I posted.

Could be QLD nurserymen/women using a common name to take advantage, Barry Gommersell style!

 

I think they look pretty thick too - but in Melbourne they don’t get as high so maybe they don’t get as thick either.

The bamboo in your picture looks very young. When they are planted in the ground, they tend to get thicker culms as the plant gets bigger (more culms) to support them.

So in the first couple of years the new culms might be 6-10mm, but as the plant develops more It can support thicker culms.

The culms on my 5-year old plants are often 25mm at the base now and that is generally the limit here.

 

Yes about 7 mths , similar age in the ground screening neighbors.

20200504_094110 by magpieseason posted 3rd Jun, 2020 at 9:59 AM