We had to remove Lilly Pilly's due to root damage and need to replace. We want to look at bamboo, but there are so many types. We want to use bamboo for screening and to not more than 5m high. Any thoughts from your own experience?
Gracillis. It’s upright growing and it’s clumping not running - and if it gets taller than 5m, easy to trim. Has thinnish culms. Plant it at 800cm centers apart for a quick, dense screen or 1m for a slower screen. Might grow faster in Qld. Plant 600mm centers from the fence. If any shoots appear where you don't want them, you just knock them off -they will never regrow. Some bamboo is susceptible to mealy bug in QLD. Ask at the bamboo nursery about this and height.
You need a clumping variety as they don’t escape. See a local bamboo nursery. I’m using Tiger Grass atm (technically not bamboo).
I'd love to tell you that non clumping bamboo does not escape. It is nonsense. I just pulled out a three foot root from non clumping bamboo that was making a run for it 20 cms under a road base path.
Thanks Joynz. That is the one I liked the look of, but there are so many similar that I wasn't sure. How quickly do they grow? Hobartchic - do they regularly spread like that or was that just occasionally? ANYONE IN BRIS - know the best/cost-effective place to buy bamboo?
It was not clumping bamboo then. You were ripped off - and sold running bamboo. Clumping bamboo does not spread like that. Ever. I have had my bamboo for several years and it only ever grows a few centimeters at a time and never underground. Lesson: use a reputable supplier and go back for a refund!
Is there a species of bamboo thats is of the clumping variety where the stalks aren't visible (or hardly)?
The proof that your bamboo wasn't clumping bamboo is that it didn’t clump. That doesn’t mean that clumping bamboo runs, it means that your bamboo was running bamboo not clumping bamboo. I have attached a picture of clumping bamboo, showing how it grows very tightly.
With Gracillis, the branches are quite low. I prune mine up to around 800mm but if I didn't, the first branches would be 400mm above the ground with the culms not that visible at all. Not sure about other varieties, best to ask a bamboo specialist.
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