Planting
Bamboos are more expensive than most plants, as cheap seedling plants are not available. Propagate clumping bamboos from cuttings and clumpers and runners from division.
Bamboo may be planted at any time into a soil enriched with compost and animal manures. It is a heavy feeder and requires regular applications of animal manures and NPK fertilisers for good growth.
Provide regular irrigation with good quality water, however plants are fairly hardy and can grow successfully with irrigation after a period of water stress. Mulching with compost, hay, straw or other organic materials is desirable as these provide nutrients, suppress weeds and retain moisture.
Pests and diseases
Bamboo has few pests and diseases, but scales, mealy bug and grasshoppers may occasionally feed on the plants. Grazing animals and rabbits enjoy the shoots and leaves.
Pruning
Bamboos can be maintained as living screens and hedges. Even the tall-growing species can be cut annually to about 1.5–2m tall and can be maintained in a bushy shape, if required.
For good appearance, remove the oldest stems of clumping types every year. An uncultivated bamboo clump can look unsightly. Ideally, clumpers should have 6–10 main stems. Maintain them by annually removing the three oldest stems for timbers, or the young shoots of the species which have good quality edible shoots. Some clumpers such as the barcode bamboo are more spreading than compact clumpers such as Oldham’s bamboo and, in a small garden, they require good pruning to ensure they do not encroach on other plants.
Removal
Bamboo roots are usually less than 20-40cm deep and are not large. Remove the plants by digging, or with a backhoe, but with runner varieties every piece of rhizome must be removed.
Herbicides with the active ingredient glyphosate may be used to kill bamboos. Cut back the bamboos to 30cm above ground level and water and fertilise the area well. Dilute glyphosate by half and pour onto the cut-off canes. If there is any re-growth, spray the young shoots with one part glyphosate to 20–50 parts of water, plus wetting agent. It may take from two months to two years before the bamboo is finally killed.
If bamboo from the neighbour’s property is causing a problem it will be necessary to obtain their cooperation for plant removal. If the neighbour will not cooperate, it may be necessary to seek the assistance of the local council and to request that the unsuitable runner variety should be replaced with a suitable clumping variety. Another alternative is to dig down to 80cm at the fence-line and install an impenetrable barrier.
Unfamiliar pests
The Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA) is on the lookout for pests, diseases and weeds that could pose a threat to agriculture and lifestyle.
If you discover something unfamiliar, please send a photo to the Pest and Disease Information Service (PaDIS) by email: info@agric.wa.gov.au or phone them on Freecall: 1800 084 881.
Please read the sending specimens for identification web article before posting or bringing in samples to the Pest and Disease Information Service, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth, 6151, WA.