growing your home and garden needs with one plant. Bamboo

I have been looking for discussion of bamboo, to me one of the most renewable and versatile plants ever. I look up a new use for it a few times a week.

Now before I start preaching, I just started my bamboo this year. It will take five to six years to get mature bamboo but I cant wait. I live near Chicago so i needed a hardy bamboo for zone 6. The eventual height of my bamboo is suppose to be 26 feet, more under ideal conditions. The thickness of the bamboo will be 2.5 to three inches in diameter at the base.

What is bamboo used for....well everything, today I looked up how to use as a roofing material, it can be used both as a thatch for the room or much like a tile use with each shoot cut in half. Earlier in the week, I looked up weaving with bamboo. This is some of the applications I have found.

Gardening

Fences, both as a pole in the ground and as a woven privacy fence.
Stakes for veggies or to protect young trees from wind damage
Garden edging..


Housing
The Japanese traditionally used it in all areas of construction including the support structures. I understand the traditional japanese temple is torn down every twenty years and rebuilt...not sure about the necessity of it but I think may be it is necessary as the structures are quite tall.

Food

You can eat bamboo shoots...not sure about other foods
used to make plates and chop sticks

Crafts.

Can be woven for baskets
sewn together for screens
Bamboo water fountains are beautiful

I am not writing a research paper...these are just the off the top of my head. The plant matures in 6 years and is very renewable. I would like to encourage anyone to grow some, a stand need not be very big...although for most varieties it takes a bit to keep it from spreading too far. After harvesting, you stand it on end for some months to make it hardened off. Often harvested bamboo is treated to discourage fungi.

The first reason I started growing bamboo was as shade for my southwest wall....In just five years I expect shade, it will take a lot longer for the maple tree I planted to start shading.

Not all bamboos are good for each purpose, My shade bamboo is hollow it really wouldnt make for a good flooring plant but the solid bamboos would not make for good roof tile...although i imagine you could make some shakes with them. Although I could split the bamboo and use it for weaving, I am going to get a smaller bamboo for this...the stems get just 1/4 inch diameter and they make a wonderful weeping plant.

it's a grass so it's ok for rabbits and other animals to eat. i personally have fed my rabbits the leaves from "clumping" bamboo and dwarf bamboo. and papyrus, a totally different grassy textile.

I have several bamboo groves on my property. They supply edible shoots in the spring, poles for the garden and other uses, shade and shelter for my chickens and sheep, and fodder for my sheep in the winter after the pasture grasses have been eaten down. On the dam, ground cover bamboos provide erosion control on the lake side, taller bamboos provide the same service on the downhill side while their dense rhizome network ties the dam down and makes it harder for muskrats to tunnel into the dam.

Hi Laura,
I only just came across your post and see it was quite a while ago.
Can you give us an update on how your mature bamboo has worked out for you?
Do you have any ongoing pics from first setting it up until now; would love to see them.
I've used mine for vegetable supports and also for a privacy screen, but am also looking for more ideas.

It may seem like a crass display of rank, but for over 25 years I was founder of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, and newsletter editor. I've literally looked at bamboos around the world.  I kinda get way nitpicky, but I can offer my self as a resource for information. Because of it's distribution is nearly world-wide, there is often a bamboo that will fill the niche you have.  As an illustration, there are two ways to make a bamboo roof: 1) as roof tiles: take a 4" + culm* and split it  in half, and do as you would with fired clay tiles for a lighter roof. Won't last as long as fired red clay tiles, but it's a fraction of the weight, and sequesters carbon vs releasing CO2, eh? Bamboos began evolving as the Atlantic Ocean began to grow. SO- one bamboo genus is NATIVE in the Mississippi drainage and S. Appalachians, where the non-relocated Cherokee people continue their tradition of bamboo basketry. The hardiest bamboos are from China, and there are a few species in Africa, so only Europe is bamboo-less. Generally  basketry or cables are made with split bamboo. NB: Bamboo rots very quickly in ground contact. The most accessible Bamboo friendly tools are made in Japan and my source is Hida Hardware in Berkeley CA, they will ship. Beware trying to cut bamboo with, say, a normal USA-made pruning saw with set teeth grabbing the fibers instead of cutting them, (except for a rough felling cut, because a US-made Fanno pruning saw CAN be re-sharpened) Cordless reciprocating saws (buy your blades by the box!) are something I wish I'd had back when. You might find a Japanese Hardware in the Seattle Area too. Playing king of the jungle and using a machete for all the cuts will be very sloppy, wasteful and tedious. Currently I grow only a few species, but my hands, with swollen joints and crooked fingers from all the nursery work in the winter constantly remind me of the fun. But I am willing to answer Q's and I might be able to share appropriate species from the few  (8?)  I have growing at Julie's Farm here in Eugene. I recommend diving deep into the bamboo scene if you want to turn geeky.

I'd love to have a variety of bamboo that will handle the occasional -40, but I'm pretty sure there's no such plant. That's from outside reading the past, but this thread didn't really do anything to convince me otherwise: https://permies.com/t/12094/bamboo-zone

Rick Valley wrote:It may seem like a crass display of rank, but for over 25 years I was founder of the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the American Bamboo Society, and newsletter editor. I've literally looked at bamboos around the world.  I kinda get way nitpicky, but I can offer my self as a resource for information. Because of it's distribution is nearly world-wide, there is often a bamboo that will fill the niche you have.  As an illustration, there are two ways to make a bamboo roof: 1) as roof tiles: take a 4" + culm* and split it  in half, and do as you would with fired clay tiles for a lighter roof. Won't last as long as fired red clay tiles, but it's a fraction of the weight, and sequesters carbon vs releasing CO2, eh? Bamboos began evolving as the Atlantic Ocean began to grow. SO- one bamboo genus is NATIVE in the Mississippi drainage and S. Appalachians, where the non-relocated Cherokee people continue their tradition of bamboo basketry. The hardiest bamboos are from China, and there are a few species in Africa, so only Europe is bamboo-less. Generally  basketry or cables are made with split bamboo. NB: Bamboo rots very quickly in ground contact. The most accessible Bamboo friendly tools are made in Japan and my source is Hida Hardware in Berkeley CA, they will ship. Beware trying to cut bamboo with, say, a normal USA-made pruning saw with set teeth grabbing the fibers instead of cutting them, (except for a rough felling cut, because a US-made Fanno pruning saw CAN be re-sharpened) Cordless reciprocating saws (buy your blades by the box!) are something I wish I'd had back when. You might find a Japanese Hardware in the Seattle Area too. Playing king of the jungle and using a machete for all the cuts will be very sloppy, wasteful and tedious. Currently I grow only a few species, but my hands, with swollen joints and crooked fingers from all the nursery work in the winter constantly remind me of the fun. But I am willing to answer Q's and I might be able to share appropriate species from the few  (8?)  I have growing at Julie's Farm here in Eugene. I recommend diving deep into the bamboo scene if you want to turn geeky.

I've always steered away from it on the assumption it will spread uncontrolably and takeover the world, or at least my garden
So suggestions of how to stop it doing that, best types for poles from 1" to 3", best for a hedge, what sort of saw you actually want, types especially for a Coastal Euro setting would be awesome!?

Hida Tool and Hardware website.

We have what I believe to be rivercane. It grows wild here near the rivers. I have only seen it reach about 7 feet tall, and maybe half inch in diameter. Maybe it gets larger in wilder, less traveled places? I  have only traveled the Wolf River trails near Memphis TN. My dinky patch is only 4 years old, my neighbors kid had started their patch, and shared with me.

Rick Valley, do you think a 3 way splitter from Hida would be useful on such a small diameter bamboo? I fantasize about making baskets from it. Maybe someday.

Just be careful that you are not planting an invasive variety of bamboo.  Please see this article from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/11/big-british-bamboo-crisis-invaded-my-beautiful-home
and the results of my Google search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=aticles+on+invasive+bamboo

I think the issue is whether the bamboo is a "runner" variety or a "clumping" variety.  The runner variety is very difficult to contain and depending on where its planted can invade your home or other out buildings. Please see the articles.  Unless, all y'all are probably well aware of the invasive varieties of bamboo and don't need to hear this

Barbara Manning wrote:Just be careful that you are not planting an invasive variety of bamboo.  

I think one must always be aware that there are no "bad" plants, just plants living in the wrong place!

Sometimes it's hard to figure that out in advance, as climate, soil type, pH, nutrient load are all factors. Bamboos in general are heavy feeders and follow water.  They are absolutely a plant that needs watching.

A friend's neighbor planted what was supposedly a "Japanese Building Bamboo" in a small containment barely 10 feet from both his and my friend's foundation. Yes, this was a *very* bad idea in our climate, and luckily he figured it out before any serious damage was done.

However, my friend seemed to get very angry at the plant.  And nothing I could say could get her to calm down. The plant was just doing what its genes told it to. She had figured out there was a problem before it could do much more than turf damage and she didn't need to react as if it was Public Enemy #1. I had volunteered to help dig up any runners that had come under the fence onto her side, but helping wasn't a pleasant job due to her anger.

I have P. dulcis and the patch has definitely expanded over the years, but it is at the extreme of its range and won't move quickly if we don't irrigate around it. It is absolutely awesome for small building projects, and it is easy for me to handle as it's light for its strength and I'm not a very big Human. I have not tried any serious building or basketry with it, but maybe some day. I *really* wish I knew more about bending it, but the only videos I found seemed to take a lot of training and a good set up which aren't going to happen.

Absolutely, do your research. If the location is at all marginal, and if you keep cutting older culms regularly, it can be a useful, controllable asset, rather than a liability.

Like Christopher, I don't know a bamboo that would survive my winters.

However, bamboo in a giant plant pot could be interesting -- I could yoink it into a cold but generally warmer outbuilding. Hmm. "Why" would be a good question, since I have more woody stems than I know what to do with. But I would say "why not" because growing it would be winter entertainment.

jason holdstock wrote:I've always steered away from it on the assumption it will spread uncontrolably and takeover the world, or at least my garden
So suggestions of how to stop it doing that, best types for poles from 1" to 3", best for a hedge, what sort of saw you actually want, types especially for a Coastal Euro setting would be awesome!?

H Jason, I live just over the Minch from you (waves!) I had the same thought about bamboo taking over, but I somehow feel now that it may not like our cooler climate quite so much. I suspect it will either sulk and die, or romp away, and I'm not quite sure which will be best. I'd like to try a few that may be good for edible purposes and just see how they get on, but the purchase prices puts me off, especially as dying is still a strong possibility for them.
Scottish Bamboo was one company that I had an eye on for possible supplies, but one problem I find is that people don't agree on the palatability, or the invasive potential of the varieties. Given our climate is different again even to Aberdeen (wetter and milder) it makes taking the gamble on a variety even more tricky.

About 13 years ago, I planted 10 varieties of bamboo all around our 3.5 ac property. Three varieties died out entirely from poor soil/location. I am east of Atlanta, and Henon, Robert Young, and Golden have grown like crazy for me, but it took 10 years. I will harvest the Robert Young and Henon this year for garden trellis and stakes. I need to cut them both back to free up some space. From 1 gallon pots these plants now cover a few thousand square feet, each.

I will try to split the culms into smaller strips to weave some tomato cages, and some more elaborate structures for climbing plants.

I have used Golden for supports in the chicken coop to hold up the wire. The poles lasted about 5 years and need to be replaced now.