Is bamboo drought tolerant?

As of this post, California is in the grip of a pretty serious drought - one that has been around for about two years, but in 2014 turned quite severe.  Pretty bad.  Though thankfully the March 2014 storms have provided some relief, but certainly the drought is not over by any stretch and this summer will prove to be a challenging one.  As I know that this is top of mind for many of you - I wanted to address a very common question that I have been asked over the years - "Is bamboo drought tolerant?"

Yes, somewhat - but it really depends.

OK, so not the clearest answer, but let me explain.

Clumping bamboo tends to be more drought tolerant that its running cousin because it grows slightly deeper, on average.  This lends the ability to have more water supply opportunities for the plant, much like a tree with a deep taproot would.  However, generally this would require the bamboo to have a mature, established root mass.  So, if your planting a brand new bamboo plant, don't expect to treat it like a California Poppy (which is a very drought tolerant California native plant).  A new bamboo plant, like most plants, require regular water in the first full going season for the roots to grow and become established.

Bambusa ventricosa 'Buddha's Belly Bamboo' and Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr' (both far left of photo) doing well in our water efficient front yard.  By removing the front yard grass and watering efficiently in both the front and back yard, we realized a 58 percent reduction from the same time last year.

After that, you could be moderately miserly, to some extent with water, but the trade-off is that the growth of the bamboo plant will slow and it won't be as lush as it would with a consistently moist soil.  But there are limits, and your bamboo plant will show it with yellowing leaves and curling leaves.

So, one other myth to dispel (bamboo carries a lot of myths with it) - bamboo likes soggy, wet soils.    In fact, many visualize bamboo you see in the jungle - jungles get a lot of rain and thus all bamboo must like soggy soil.  Well, not really.  Some bamboo can tolerate soggy soils, but the vast majority do not.  If fact, soggy soils over an extended period of time lead to root rot, which will ultimately kill the bamboo plant outright.  Don't get me wrong, bamboo likes regular watering, like an average medium water use plant, and can tolerate some dryness, but moderation is the key.

So - with this drought - here are some easy strategies to keep your bamboo happy and while using water wisely.

- First, mulching is a great way to extend moisture around the plant and slow evaporation of water.  Plus a good mulch offers other fertilizing benefits to the bamboo as well.

- Supplement your water that would have normally gone down the drain.  Many Californians are using a low tech solution to capture and use water that would have normally just gone down the drain.  While warming your bath or sink water, put a bucket to capture that water.  Use the water (at room temperature) to water your bamboo.

- Water your bamboo plant in the early morning to minimize evaporation and allow the plant to maximize the intake of the water provided, before air temperatures rise.

Tell-tale sign that your bamboo needs watering.  Curling of leaves.

- Pay attention to your bamboo plant - if you get leaf curling, its a signal that your bamboo needs to be watered.  Short periods of dryness are OK - but don't push it.

For many, droughts offers unique opportunities to learn and adapt to extraordinarily dry conditions.  Bamboo can survive in a drought, it just takes a deeper understanding of the plant and its needs, coupled with common-sense water efficiency practices that apply really to any type of landscape circumstance.

Sean
Mad Man Bamboo Nursery - Rocklin
www.madmanbamboo.com
Facebook - www.facebook.com/madmanbamboo
Twitter - @madmanbamboo

The best containers to grow bamboo in...

Ah, a moment of spare time - I finally have a chance to get back to this blog, break the radio silence and talk about a topic that I have been thinking about and get asked about alot - "What kind of container should I use for my bamboo?"

Bamboo lends itself to growing quite well containerized.  In most cases, due to my relatively cautious nature and past experience, will advise most people to always containerize their running bamboo, due to its invasive nature when uncontrolled.  Additionally, there are several clumping bamboo, such as Bambusa ventricosa 'Buddha's Belly Kimmei' that show off its best characteristics (bulbous 'belly' culms') in a container (pictured below).

So what is an ideal container for bamboo?  Here are some ideas:

1.  My favorite container is a metal horse trough, like these that I bought today.  Simple, sturdy and best of all, the sides are at a 90 degree angle.  Additionally, bamboo likes horizontal space and depth is not a priority (2 feet is typically adequate for depth for most bamboo).  Be sure to drill a few drain holes at the bottom for good drainage.

2.  I always stay away from pots that taper at the top - always go for straight side or pots that are "V' shaped.  When it tapers, the bamboo root mass will tend to fill the pot's growing space completely making any future attempt to pull the the bamboo out an exercise in futility.

3. Always get a container that allows water to drain.  Bamboo does not like to sit in water and 'wet feet' will cause the plant long-term harm up to death over time.  Word of caution though, if you have a container that has a running bamboo and the container is on the ground, be sure to put a paver underneath the drain hole.  Otherwise running rhizomes, will escape (pictured).  This does not apply to clumping bamboo.

4. Think outside the box - bamboo is a unique plant - use the recommendations above, but get creative and bring out the best in your beautiful, unique bamboo.

Use these recommendations and your bamboo will be happy and healthy in its new home above the ground. Cheers!

Sean
Mad Man Bamboo Nursery - Rocklin, CA
www.madmanbamboo.com
Facebook - Mad Man Bamboo
Twitter - @madmanbamboo

Playing outside in the garden

There is a fairly new initiative here in California that many local governments are adopting, its called the California Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights. Essentially its a positive counter-movement to a growing trend among children and adolescents, more sedentary lifestyles, an increasing percentage of overweight and obese children, and an alarming rise in Type 2 Diabetes among kids.

The California Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights statement is simple, turn off the TV and play outdoors. Beautifully simple and a return to a healthier form of play. The Bill of Rights suggests ten basic ways to exercise a child's outdoor rights:

1. Discover California's Past
2. Splash in the water
3. Play in a safe place
4. Camp under the stars
5. Explore nature
6. Learn to swim
7. Play on a team
8. Follow a trail
9. Catch a fish
10. Celebrate their heritage

These are all good tenets to get kids outside and enjoy the great, outside world, subject only to the limits of their imagination.

I offer one amendment though, like #5 (Explore nature), that all gardners can appreciate - bring your kids (or a young relative) outside with you when you garden. Let them get their hands dirty as they plant their first seed, deadhead the roses or harvest the vegetable garden. Not only does gardening entail physical activity, it teaches patience, an appreciation for nature and all its beauty, and introduces them to a dying skill, becoming a green thumb, a knack for working with plants to help them grow and flourish.

The California Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights is a positive effort to get kids outside. Gardening is just one aspect of this, but an important skill that helps kids keep healthy bodies and minds, as well as a skill that is hard to come by and can only come about from the care and time we take as adults to teach children gardening as a skill.

Cheers!

Sean

Photos credit: Flickr - Robin Horrigan

Piddling in the back yard today enjoying the garden...

Today was a great day, the highs today were in the mid 60's and I actually made some progress in the yard. My back yard is in the midst of being transformed from a mess to a place that I hope will be a great place to hang out and at the same time serve as a propagation area for my clumping bamboo plants.

The day started by clearing the northwestern shade dominated part of the yard.

With two large trees in my neigbors yard, I had some major leaves to clean up and I had plenty of fallen bamboo leaves and sheaths that had collected over the winter. I filled a 90 gallon green waste container and had more to put in.

Got the bamboo plants organized from the bamboo trek from the day before. Have a space that spans about 15 x 15 (pictured, bamboo even goes beyond the wooden planter box) that includes most of my plants for sale, that not inluding the 6' x 30' space on the side of the yard that also has more plants for sale and some for propagation.

I was amazed as I did my spring cleaning how many surprises you find, my Japanese Maples that I have left over from the days I used to sell them were actually showing buds that were ready to open, a vivid culm from my "Candy Stripe" Bamboo (pictured) showing some really cool colors and my "Alphonse Karr" Bamboo (also pictured), not anything rare, but showing really bright and vivid yellow coloring on its culms with vertical green striping, very striking presence in the garden.

Finally, I even got around to planting a Dogwood tree in the newly cleared space that I had gotten from a co-worker about 4 years ago. I was amazed that it wasn't root bound, only to find that ot had adapted to my neglect by rooting straight though the pot deeply into the ground. Plants, gotta love 'em.

Get to get out, make some real progress in the long tranformation of my backyard, and enjoy the sunlight. Good day in my book.

Sean

Enjoying nature is so passe'?

A study was recently completed by researchers at the University of Illinois - Chicago which establishes a link between the rise in internet use and gaming to a decline in camping, fishing and other outdoor activities. Maybe a bit obvious, but sad in many respects. An article in the Houston Chronicle talks further about how enjoying nature has become virtual for many and is an obvious cause of the rise in childhood obesity. There is even some suggestion that those who do not enjoy nature and what it has to offer, may care less about the environment.

Even if nature is not accessible to all (you can safely say that not all people live near a national forrest nor have the means to visit one), I feel that gardening is another way to connect to nature. I have some issue with a comment made in the Houston Chronicle that yet agin stereotypes Gen X and Y'ers as not connected to nature. Yes, maybe true for some, but I find that consdition accross all generations. As a Gen X'er I think that connecting to nature and a love of gardening often times has more to do with upbringing and influences in our lives as we grow and mature.

For me, gardening is therapy, a time to get away from the barrage of modern life and a chance to have a hand in creating art in the garden. One can only hope that this trend is an anomaly.

Sean

"Mad" over bamboo

Growing bamboo for me is fun, I appreciate the beauty of the plant and selling it gives me the opportunity to interact with a variety of people, those that appreciate plants and gardening more than most. My business is unlike any other, I grow bamboo, part-time and sell by appointment and at local plant sales. No store front, low overhead and on my own terms.

My business is small and low key, makes enough money to support my bamboo collecting habit, but not so intensive that it infringes on my personal life.

Many of the people that visit ask how I got into plants and bamboo. I attribute it to my mother-in-law who really introduced me to gardening, morphed into tinkering and growing Japanese Maples. Japanese Maples are beautiful, but for a lazy gardener like myself, they required alot of attention and time and not much profit when all was said and done.

Bamboo is easy to grow and I appreciate the challenge of overcoming the mis-information on bamboo (that all bamboo is invasive). The perfect plant for the laziest of gardeners. The colors, shapes and leaves offer a big payoff for relatively little effort.

I also have found strength in my business is through carrying bamboo varieties that cannot be found in this area and operating within a niche that can coexist among the big boys like Home Depot, Lowes.

I also figure that my low key business model is a nice slow intro to the nursery industry. Once I can financially pull it off to buy some land, maybe I'll open a storefront nursery in the country.

Finally, through my website - www.madmanbamboo.com I'm amazed by the extent by which people are interested in bamboo, getting web hits form all over Europe, east Asia, South Africa and all over the U.S.

So, what up with the name - Mad Man Bamboo? The name came from my wife who says I'm "mad" about bamboo. That's in crazy through obsession. But its a good obsession that keeps me happy, so its all good in my book.

Cheers!

Sean
Mad Man Bamboo
www.madmanbamboo.com