( Bambusa lako )
Rather harmless looking plant now isn’t it?
This bamboo will grow to 40′ height. That’ll put it outside both the first and second floor windows. I’m looking forward to that. I have it in a L-shaped nook outside the house. The stalks should be about 3″ in diameter when it is full grown.
The stalks are black, the leaves are green. It does not grow so tight you can’t see through it, yet it is supposed to be a clumping bamboo and therefore not take over The Woodlands. If it does I’m sure I’ll be remembered as fondly as Mrs. O’Leary and her cow. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that though.
Bamboo comes in running and clumping types. The running kind sends out shoots quite a distance away. It has been known to run under streets. This is the kind that has such a bad reputation. Clumping bamboo clumps. It sends off rhizomes close to its base and can generally be kept in line by just cutting off escaping rhizomes once a year.
Ad oddity about bamboo is that when it flowers it dies. Not always, but close to always. No one really understands why yet. Some advise on saving flowering bamboo is given at the link below.
Another interesting thing is that certain species all flower at the same across the planet. Pyllostachys bambusoides flowered in the 1970s and has flowered every 120 years as a group. Other species have similar behavior.
I’m told bamboo doubles in height every year, so most bamboos will reach full height about 4 years after being planted. This one has put up one new spike per year, the second reaching 20′ in height.
Watch for mealy bugs ( I just clean them off with a garden hose) and mites. Mites will have webbing and leaves will yellow. Use orange oil for them. Aphids and scale also attack bamboo and can be controlled with orange oil.
See also:
Golden Hawaiian Bamboo
More information:
ABS - When Bamboo Flowers
A Cane the World Can Lean On, NYT
This was purchased from Tropical Bamboo Nursery ( Sun Sentinel Story about the nursery ).
Sunday, Apr 15th, 2007 at 23:19
I really love your blog. I am a northern gardener who came to Houston about 5 years ago. We moved from three acres in the country to a city size lot. The first year I ruined by shoulder digging and planting around the backyard pool as any available land was occupied by tall pine trees and their roots. Keep posting.
Monday, Apr 16th, 2007 at 18:40
Thank you!
( I did the same to my knees )
Monday, Jan 7th, 2008 at 14:51
This guy started putting up his second culm in Dec. It hasn’t grown much I think because of the cool weather. The first culm took about 2 weeks to reach full height, this one is only 2′ tall after a month.
Slight damage on the very edges of the leaves from last weeks temps down to 27′ but otherwise seems fine.
Monday, Aug 25th, 2008 at 11:52
The third culm appeared in late July, it is now 20′ tall and more than an inch in diameter near the bottom.
Mealy bugs seem to like this plant. I’ve been blasting them off with a water hose.
This is planted in mostly shade, and a more dry than wet area which may be why it isn’t growing faster. I expect in the long run that will be a good thing.
Wednesday, Mar 25th, 2009 at 21:05
I put 3 more of these in to replace plants lost to Ike. The ones in sun put up new culms about 6 months after being planted.