How long bamboo takes to grow

You might even want to use some of these in your garden for instant plastification! Get it? Because bamboo is a grass… never mind. Bamboo plants can grow in infertile soil , which probably has some complicated scientific explanation, but it sounds like sorcery to me. How does it make the soil fertile again? You probably know that all plants serve as the lungs of the earth. They take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen during photosynthesis, and humans and animals can breathe easier.

But you might not know that bamboo actually takes in 4 times more CO2 than your typical plant and thereby releases more oxygen. Bamboo can even remove toxins from the earth.

Phytoremediation , which sounds like a Harry Potter spell, is when bamboo removes lead and mercury from the earth and traps them inside its stalk. After the stalk is harvested, instead of dying and decomposing, the toxins remain inside the stalk where they pose no danger to humans. Thanks, bamboo!

Do you know how people are always saying that trees take hundreds of years to grow into forests? Well, it turns out that trees take the better part of a century to mature enough to be cut down for use as lumber for tables, chairs, floorboards, etc. Do you know how long it takes bamboo plants to mature? That means that the plants being harvested now were only planted or last cut down in Another way bamboo is incredibly eco-friendly is how its harvested. For thousands of years, bamboo forests have been harvested by hand, meaning no heavily polluting feller kicking out CO2.

It also creates a safer environment for the animals and plants near the bamboo because the farmers can spot them as they go along and take measures not to harm them.

Harvesting bamboo regularly is extremely important for the local eco-system. Cutting down the super tall bamboo allows the sunlight to nourish smaller plants that would be otherwise hidden. The farmers even mark the bamboo plants with ribbons or spray paints, as seen in the photo below, to ensure that they harvest them at the optimum time for that plant.

As mentioned above, bamboo is grass. So, much like your lawn at home, it regenerates when the stalk is cut. Other plants that do need to be uprooted i. This will leave the land much less stable and allow topsoil to be easily washed away during heavy rain or blown away by strong winds. This soil erosion is dangerous because it can contribute to decreased soil fertility, lower water quality levels, and even mudslides.

Almost everything sold in the US is made in China or another Asian country. Industrious people in China and worldwide have used bamboo for millennia to make items that would improve their lives. Fertilizing is the best way to increase growth! Bamboo can benefit from the extra energy provided by additional fertilization and not all soils are created equal. A time release fertilizer helps by reducing leaching and provides nutrients on a timeline that correlates closer to the bamboo ability to uptake the nutrients.

Fertilizing can help accelerate growth and greatly reduce the time it takes bamboo to create a privacy screen or achieve a mature size. Of course, this varies with the species selected and some species can be over 3-inch diameter and 40 feet high in ust 7 years. It takes bamboo about three full years, in the ground, before the mother plants really take off and start producing multiple shoots providing a bamboo grove appearance.

Here are the typical results under normal growing conditions: From a 3 gallon size Phyllostachys species you should have a couple of new shoots the first spring. Then next spring those canes are capable of producing a couple more canes each.

By the third year, the effects of compounding growth really become evident when all those canes produce more growth. The mother plant regardless what size that you begin with is finished growing in diameter and height, but the rhizome will grow outward underground. Bamboo is a grass colony plant and most of the bamboo grove will be underground.

As a bamboo grove develops, the new culm canes become larger in diameter and the height increases in each NEW cane until the grove reaches maturity. The oldest culms are usually the smallest in size. This is due to the increase in the underground system of rhizome or roots.

Temperate running bamboos typically seeds on year cycles with a very low seed set. It is very hard for bamboo to propagate by seeds. The main mechanism of propagation is root rhizome expansion and new culm production. If you control the roots, you control the bamboo.

You can do a root pruning twice a year or Bamboo Shield is a great option. Bamboo Shield provides a worry-free way of containing bamboo. With Bamboo Shield, you can define the specific area in which you want the bamboo to grow. It can be used to form long privacy screens or even unique patterns in the ground.

It is easy to install as long as you are able to dig in your soil. A trench is dug around the desired containment area and the Bamboo Shield is installed vertically to prevent the spread of bamboo roots rhizomes.

Bamboo does not have a tap or deep vertical roots. You can also cut down any undesired new shoots to prevent the bamboo from spreading. This has to be done diligently but is a good method of containment if you have access to the areas in which the bamboo shoots. New shoots are fragile when they first emerge and can be easily mowed or cut with a string trimmer. Bamboo is a grass and can be controlled to provide privacy screening or nice contained groves. Bamboo will not take over the world, it would have already done so thousands of years ago if that myth were true.

Thousand and thousands of gardeners have enjoyed and used bamboo for thousands of years. With just a little bit of maintenance or installation of the Bamboo Shield, you will be able to enjoy the fast-growing, evergreen privacy that only bamboo can provide. Bamboo is a monocot because of hollow stems with scattered vascular bundles and parallel vein leaves. The woody ringed vertical stems are called culms or commonly referred to as canes. The most prolific species of temperate bamboo is of the Phyllostachys genus.

They will have a groove or sulcus above each branch attachment with two alternating limbs at each nodal ring. This is the species that most people think of when images of bamboo are conjured up. However, there are many species with various characteristics. Some species have a colored groove or sulcus. The internodes may be green with a yellow stripe in the sulcus. On the other hand, some have yellow canes with green stripes in the sulcus.

Others are green with black coloring, solid black, spotted with burgundy or purplish colors. Many species have 3 limbs or more at each node. The list of different bamboo goes on and on. That is not even getting into the different color of leaves and their variegation. See more about bamboo anatomy here. Any variations listed are from our own personal or business experience and we will constantly study and observe bamboo in order to provide you with the most up to date and accurate data possible.

Many of the bamboos will live even after being exposed to temperatures lower than those listed. While it may be distressing to see your beautiful foliage or culms die due to extreme cold or wind chill, it is comforting in most situations to see the bamboo bounce back, the following Spring with new culms and often new foliage on what appeared to be dead culms. Again, this only happens when the bamboo has been exposed to temperatures below those suggested for that species or extreme wind chills.

Bamboo is not very particular with regard to soil conditions. You can grow these trees in most soil types. The reason for this is that bamboo has very shallow roots. For the bigger varieties, it is around 50 centimeters, and for the smaller varieties, it is approximately 30 cm. Bamboo trees prefer lots of water combined with well-drained soils. But you can restrict the supply of water for clumping varieties if you want to contain them in one particular area.

Running types need so much water. According to the American Bamboo Society, most large bamboo species thrive in full sun. But there are varieties like Thammocalamus and Fargesias that like to grow under the shade, especially during the hottest hour of the day.

Bamboo will grow better and faster if given fertilizer or plant food that is high in nitrogen. A good alternative to chemical fertilizer is lawn fertilizer. The best option is organic fertilizer. Bamboo can take quite a while to establish itself and grow. As mentioned earlier, it can take about 3 years for the bamboo roots to grow and establish themselves in the ground. Most species of bamboo trees thrive best in sunlit areas.

Sunlight is their food , so the more food you give them, the faster they will grow. Some species prefer filtered light, but the majority of bamboo species are sunlight lovers. Bamboo needs an abundant supply of water because it is always thirsty. While young plants are establishing themselves on the ground, they need lots of water.

But once settled, they do not need much. On average, water them every one to three days. Give them more water during summer and on windy days. The best method of watering bamboo is to saturate the ground around the base of the trees.

Keep on watering the soil until you notice that it no longer absorbs the liquid. The best fertilizer to use for bamboo is organic fertilizer. And the best time to give your plants this food is during spring and summer. Potassium, nitrogen, and silica are some of the best nutrients for your bamboo trees. Organic fertilizers are also the best since you will not harm the soil with synthetic chemicals.

While bamboo is not picky with the quality of the soil, it can best grow if you choose to plant them in soil with better conditions. You can achieve optimal bamboo growth with ground that has pH 7, neutral soil. It would be better if the soil was well-aerated, sandy loam, high in organic matter, and had good drainage.

Whenever you water bamboo trees, mulch them as well. The idea is to prevent water from evaporating. So, the best way to do this is to mulch the plant around its base. Provide your bamboo a thick layer of mulch. Mulching will keep the soil around the stem of the bamboo moist and will allow its horizontal roots to grow.

For mulching medium, you can use leaf litter, sawdust, wood barks, manure, chipped wood, or compost. A mulch height of about 15 centimeters will give maximum results.

This mulch will break down slowly and provide additional nutrients to the bamboo. Pruning dead parts of the bamboo will also help it grow faster.

When you remove the dead culms or the woody ring stems, the living culms will get more sunlight, thus encouraging the faster growth of the whole tree. The right way of planting bamboo saplings is to dig one and a half times the height of their pots or their soil mediums and twice as wide. Place the saplings into the hole. Put some aerated organic matter around the root. This method will induce faster growth since the roots will have less resistance as they grow.

Finally, fill up the hole with compost or good-quality soil.