[p00rstudent]

just a quick thing, i realised the other day that i use quite of bamboo canes on the allotment, at some point i will need to replace what i already have and i can always find uses for more, so what i was wondering would it be worth growing a small amount of bamboo to make canes from? has anyone else done this? if so is there a particular type of bambo to use?

any help will be greatly appreciated.

Paul

[Boothy]

careful with it - tens to spread like wildfire and causes a lot of damage

[GreenOwl]

I have a hazelnut tree and it grows lots of sticks from the base than you can coppice and use.  I imagine they're what people used before bamboo canes were available.  And you get the nuts to eat.

[p00rstudent]

unfortuneatly i am allegic to nuts but other wise it would be a brilliant idea.

[gobs]

Probably there are a lot of other options, lilac produces rather good pea sticks.

[lincspoacher]

Well some bamboos clump and some bamboos carpet spread, so if you use a clumping bamboo itll be ok. I was thinking the same thing my self a few months ago, so i got 10 Mosu Bamboo seeds (Phyllostachys pubescens) from a guy and they've germinated. In Borneo they grow to 6 inches diameter and 150 feet high, so in this country they should at least produce a good crop of bamboo canes of reasonable thickness and length even in our dodo weather!!!.

Almost all the Phyllostachys genus clump, the commonest one I see in Garden Centres seems to be Phyllostachys Aurealis (Golden Bamboo). However, all bamboos in garden centres are expensive, so best bet is ebay for seeds.
 Heres an auction  for Mosu from th same guy

[muddifoot]

trust me on this one- we have 5 large bamboo plants in our garden and the original cost of the plants- plus the hasle of cleaning up after them- and the care it takes to keeping them healthy- wow-  just buy them from the local garden center as they arn't very expensive (at least in enfield} I'm quite positive that buying would be the much cheaper way of getting  bamboo sticks. also the ones from garden centers are much more uniform in size,

[lincspoacher]

trust me on this one- we have 5 large bamboo plants in our garden and the original cost of the plants- plus the hasle of cleaning up after them- and the care it takes to keeping them healthy- wow-  just buy them from the local garden center as they arn't very expensive (at least in enfield} I'm quite positive that buying would be the much cheaper way of getting  bamboo sticks. also the ones from garden centers are much more uniform in size,

Well first of all, buying a bamboo from a garden centre is extremely expensive. When you consider you can buy seed at around 10 for £3, why would you want to pay £30 - £50 for a 3 year old plant ?

Secondly, bamboo are very tolerant plants and very difficult to kill, and take no looking after whatsoever. If  u buy frost tolerant clumpign bamboos they will go like a rocket and produce more than enough - if you thin out bamboos by removing from the centre it stops them spreading out and keeps them throwing out shoots.

Thirdly, its not very green to buy bamboo thats been shipped thousands of miles  and used vast amounts of energy when you can grow it here at no cost at all in energy.

Also, a bamboo throws seed only once, then dies, and it might take it 60 -100 years  to do that. The interesting things is that every
individual plant grown from the seeds of the same parent plant all seed themselves simultaneously, all over the world, its very bizzarre, even plants thousands of miles apart. No one knows how they all 'know' how to all seed together (perhaps its genetic).

[SalJ1980]

trust me on this one- we have 5 large bamboo plants in our garden and the original cost of the plants- plus the hasle of cleaning up after them- and the care it takes to keeping them healthy- wow-  just buy them from the local garden center as they arn't very expensive (at least in enfield} I'm quite positive that buying would be the much cheaper way of getting  bamboo sticks. also the ones from garden centers are much more uniform in size,

Well first of all, buying a bamboo from a garden centre is extremely expensive. When you consider you can buy seed at around 10 for £3, why would you want to pay £30 - £50 for a 3 year old plant ?

Secondly, bamboo are very tolerant plants and very difficult to kill, and take no looking after whatsoever. If  u buy frost tolerant clumpign bamboos they will go like a rocket and produce more than enough - if you thin out bamboos by removing from the centre it stops them spreading out and keeps them throwing out shoots.

Thirdly, its not very green to buy bamboo thats been shipped thousands of miles  and used vast amounts of energy when you can grow it here at no cost at all in energy.

Also, a bamboo throws seed only once, then dies, and it might take it 60 -100 years  to do that. The interesting things is that every
individual plant grown from the seeds of the same parent plant all seed themselves simultaneously, all over the world, its very bizzarre, even plants thousands of miles apart. No one knows how they all 'know' how to all seed together (perhaps its genetic).

I read muddi's post as why not just buy ready cut bamboo canes, rather than buying a plant. The only thing that concerns me with buying canes is that they're not imported from China/Indonesia/elsewhere at huge cost to the environment, rather than being grown closer to home.

[FCG]

Check out your local pound shop... i regularly buy 25 for £1.

[lincspoacher]

Check out your local pound shop... i regularly buy 25 for £1.

Check my japanese garden, 25 for free.

[yummy]

If you have a bit of time to plan ahead then buy one from the garden centre, put it in a pot and split it every year. We have 5 massive ones now. I was just thinking about it today... perhaps putting one on the plot (planted in a very big plastic bucket to stop it from spreading across the entire plot    )

[peapod]

Check out your local pound shop... i regularly buy 25 for £1.

Check my japanese garden, 25 for free.

Im getting to the point where I can now harvest from my black bamboo I bought last year, in fact I was looking at it tonight and getting annoyed at how I havent seen how many canes I can harvest, so (though I didnt grow from seed, it actually cost me a lot of money to buy from B&Q), it can start to pay for itself and still look good    
instead of a wee bit tatty  :oops: