Bamboo location

[cbeagleowner]

Hi - I have a patch of ground about 4 ft by 2ft that I would like to colonise with Phy. Vivax Aureocaulis. Mine is a juvie, 5 canes, 4ft high. It can't speread out of this due to a brick wall, concrete paths and a raised bed. My question is is the best place to put it in the middle, or at an edge, or does it really not matter?

[dave2166]

if you can control or predict where the new culms spring up from then you're a better man than i gunder din!!

seriuosly plant it where you feel it will flourish AND show of the fine cane colourings. trim the canes back so they are visible, get rid of the lower half of the little spindly side shoots

if culms start to appear and grow at odd angles, kust cut them of below ground level.

see previous post on care come the spring

[Adam D]

It does not matter really.

Putting it in the middle would probably look best and then it can spread out evenly in all directions.

[cbeagleowner]

Thanks guys for your quick replies - I appreciate it!

[Dave Brown]

cbo, a 5 ft wide concrete path didn't stop my P. nigra it went underneath and popped up the other side. I cut the rhizome back to the path on both sides, but it grew out from underneath every year. I was only able to get it out when I dug the path up

Beware

[Adam D]

Not all nigras are badly behaved though.

Mine has been in the ground for 6 years and has never shown any desire to wander.

Mind you, it is wetter and colder up here than down in Dave's part of the country, so maybe that has something to do with it.

[Dave Brown]

Adam, mine was well behaved for about 10 years then decided to go walk about at every available opportunity

[Adam D]

Mmmm.

Last time you told me it went walkabouts after 6 years in the ground

To be honest though Dave the soil up here is generally poor and most plants do not show "extreme" vigour, unless they like crappe soil.

You have MUCH better soil down with you and temperatures and I am sure that is the reason why you had an explosion of growth.

Nothing explodes into growth up here....

apart from heather Which is a heinous plant, it's like the scrawny poodle of the plant world, yuck, yuck, yuck!

Sorry about that

[Dave Brown]

Mmmm.

Last time you told me it went walkabouts after 6 years in the ground

To be honest though Dave the soil up here is generally poor and most plants do not show "extreme" vigour, unless they like crappe soil.

You have MUCH better soil down with you and temperatures and I am sure that is the reason why you had an explosion of growth.

Nothing explodes into growth up here....

apart from heather Which is a heinous plant, it's like the scrawny poodle of the plant world, yuck, yuck, yuck!

Sorry about that

I had several clumps, and the one out the front stayed put longest, must have been 10 years... long time anyway. You may be onto something though. I dug most of the front garden up and gravelled it, but at the same time greatly improved the soil in the border. Although it had gone under the path a few years before, after my improvement it travelled the whole width of the property and came up beside the garage.

I have a green one in the back in the driest place and never gets watered. It grows but has stayed put. Just trying to think how long it has been there. Bought it from a place that closed down in the mid 90s so must have been there 15 years at least.

Maybe that is th answer. good rich moist soil for it to grow in, but surrounded by poor dry soil to stop the walk abouts