Aspects: Edible shoots, sun to partial shade, moist well drained soil
Bamboo are among the most useful plants in the world though they have a bad rep in the US and Canada for being aggressive spreaders.
Many bamboos spread aggressively but many form clumps, never spread, and produce edible shoots.
Clumping bamboos tend to have larger shoots (can weigh up to 20 pounds), are easier to harvest, and have a longer harvest season than runners; extremely productive
Substantially less hardy than runner types; flowering is a challenge because plants often do not survive flowering, due to huge amount of energy resources it uses; all individuals of the same clone will flower in the same year, even if it has been 100 years since they last flowered, so entire crop will die all at once.
Fresh shoots are vastly superior to the canned versions; crisp, crunch texture that assumes the flavor of ingredients they’re cooked with; high in vitamins and fiber, low in protein, carbohydrates and fats; certain varieties can taste like a cross between water chestnut and a crisp apple; ideal for salads
*Best edible shoot clumping bamboos for Northern Nevada. Consult
American Bamboo Society for more info.
Bambusa multiplex – to 10 degrees, 33 ft max height, somewhat bitter
Bambusa oldhamii – to 15 degrees, 60 ft max height, excellent
Bambusa texitilis – to 5 degrees, 33 ft max height, somewhat bitter
Dendrocalamus asper – to 23 degrees, 100 ft max height, excellent, sweet enough to eat raw, especially when bagged or blanched to exclude light from the shoots; can produce 60 shoots each year with 2-3 pounds of edible core on each shoot.
Dendrocalamus beecheyana – to 15 degrees, 35 ft, excellent (Bambusa beecheyana)
Dendrocalamus laetiflorus – to 25 degrees, 75 ft, excellent, flowers sporadically, more frequently and with less damage so is a good choice if serious about growing bamboo shoots; plant multiple varieties of the same species or multiple species to ensure continuous production without loosing your crop to seed.
After a few years bamboo are self-mulching reducing weed problems; some problems from mites, scale insects, and leaf rollers
Propagation: easily by division though plants should be at least two years old and include a reasonable section of rhizome with good roots
Cultivation complicated – include info here only if seriously interested in bamboo in my yard
Shoot season can last up to six months; raw shoots have a shelf life of up to two weeks
To prepare shoots, strip off the leafy sheath covering them, about 50-070 percent of the shoot; cut into chunks and boil in salted water for 2-15 minutes; bitter-tasting species should be boiled in two changes of water; after boiling use in stir fries or other dishes
Black Bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra).
Description: A medium-sized bamboo with segmented culms that are green at first, and then turn black by the end of the first summer. The foliage of Black Bamboo is not nearly as dense as that of other bamboos in the genus Phyllostachys.
Native Habitat: Yangtze River valley, China. Actually a variety of Henon Bamboo (see above). For reasons only understood by botanists, in botanical nomenclature Black Bamboo is designated as the species and Henon Bamboo as a variety.
Size: Can grow to 40 feet with culms almost 2 inches in diameter. Typical size in the Southeast is 15-20 feet with 1-inch diameter culms. One of the least aggressive running bamboos.
Cold hardiness: Hardy to about 0 degrees F.
Culture: Plant in light to medium shade in a well-drained soil. Will grow in full sun with irrigation and good care. Grows slowly in deep shade.
Landscape use: Probably the best Phyllostachys for residential landscapes and refined situations. Makes a (relatively) easily controlled, translucent hedge or background.
Other notes: Fairly common throughout the Southeast, though usually somewhat expensive. Some clones of Black Bamboo have better black color than others. The "Hale" clone is highly valued for the consistency of its coloration, its smaller size, and its cold hardiness.
Varieties and related species: There are about 40 Phyllostachys bamboos native to China, and most of these are commercially available in the United States. The majority of the Phyllostachys species resemble Golden Bamboo in appearance.
Bamboo in the landscape:
Bamboos vary in size, shape and color! As evergreen plants, they can be used in a variety of situations: as low-growing groundcovers, in erosion control, as medium to very tall hedges or screens, as windbreaks, as large groves, or as specimen plants. They also make beautiful container plants!
Come check the Bamboo section at Berkeley Hort and for a better idea of what mature plants look like see the book Bamboos by C. Recht and M.F. Wetterwald, available in the store. Also, check out the clumping and gracefully arching "Mexican Weeping Bamboo" in our tropical-plants courtyard! Celebrate bamboo! And remember: "Bamboo bends, but does not break!"
Growing bamboo:
You can plant bamboo year-round in the Bay Area, but as with other plants Fall is the ideal planting time, with days still warm and rains to help them become well established. Dig a 2 by 2-foot hole, place the plant, and backfill with well-draining soil. Bamboo likes regular watering and fertilizing. It is best to thin out 4 to 5-year-old culms and trim the lower leaves to expose the canes.
Caring for bamboo:
Bamboo plants demand little care. Firstly, because of their vigorous growth, just as a lawn grass, to which they are related, they do benefit from regular watering and regular fertilizer applications. A fertilizer higher in Nitrogen is usually indicated and frequently lawn fertilizers are used (e.g. 16-6-8). Once the plant has achieved its mature size in about ten years, however, it will require much less fertilizer and watering, with several species being indeed drought tolerant. Mulching around the plant is also very beneficial. Compost, manure, or finely ground fir bark are all good choices (if you use manure, fertilizer applications are not necessary for that season).
Secondly, in order to maintain a healthy and beautiful bamboo plant, bamboos do ask for an often-neglected practice: pruning. In order to understand why and how they should be pruned, let's first understand:
How bamboo grows: Bamboo plants grow by producing new canes every year. In general, temperate (mostly running) bamboos, send up new canes in the spring, while tropical, clumping bamboos produce new canes later in the summer. The canes grow "telescopically", expanding vertically many feet up in just a month or two. After that each cane will start branching and leafing out. Similarly to asparagus shoots, each cane grows everything it has to grow and then stops. In the following years, each cane will only continue to branch and leaf out and color up (e.g. in Phyllostachys nigra, the Black Bamboo, canes turn from an initial green to their characteristic shiny black). As the plants develop and grow bigger, they are able to produce new, larger (taller and thicker) canes each year. And each individual cane will age and finally die in a period of several years.
Pruning off canes: Therefore, in a garden setting, canes that start looking old (with dried up leaves and discolored canes), at about 5 years of age, should be completely removed. As part of the annual maintenance, usually performed in early Spring, older canes are cut off at soil level. This provides room for new canes and, as is traditionally done in Asia, by careful thinning of the bamboo plant, the full beauty of each individual cane is revealed.
Mowing ground cover bamboos: The low-growing bamboos in the genus Pleiobastus, which form a spreading, dense ground cover, should be cut back to the ground every year, or at least every other year, just before the main Spring growth. This will produce a full set of new leaves. You can use a lawn mower, or strong hand shears, or a scythe to do it.
