Notes from a bamboo customer from Ohio...

Jason, a customer who lives near Cincinati, Ohio, recently purchased a five gallon Chusquea gigantea, a clumper and a five gallon Semiarundaria fastuosa, a runner. Additionally he bought two small Indocalamus tesselatus, small runners with long wide leaves. The plants were mailed parcel post to Ohio and fared well, still shooting in a dark box over the 7 day trip from California to Ohio. Jason shares the following notes on the new bamboo that travelled from California to Ohio:

I’m in zone 6a (Greater Cincinnati area). I’m new to growing bamboo, only started about 1 1/2 years ago. My soil is a fairly rich clay loam, with a dense clay subsoil; fairly saturated in most parts of the yard in late winter/early spring, and often baked hard on the top 6 inches by Sept. The clay below holds moisture well though which helps in drought times. I mixed in bagged topsoil and slow release lawn fertilizer along with the native soil, watered well. Most of what I’ve put in is without a rhizome barrier. The clumpers won’t be a problem. Others will be mowed and/or root pruned as needed. One species was planted in an old galvanized 8’ diameter, sunken cattle watering tank. And one planting has a partial barrier of corrugated steel section driven into the ground (when good and wet) to about 18” deep. I’m fortunate to be out in the country with a big yard, so bothering neighbors will be less of a problem as long as I keep it maintained in the coming years.

Thanks Jason for sharing the photos and your story, looking forward to seeing the plants in a few years...

Sean

http://www.madmanbamboo.com/

(916) 300-6335