RE: was NE weather, now bamboo suppliers

I concur, Marge.  My mother-in-law (when she lived in Indianapolis) had a
neighbor plant bamboo.  She fumed and cursed that neighbor with every
laborious bamboo that pushed further into her manicured yard and garden.
She was yet more upset after trying to get it pulled out of the ground!
Rose's yard was most certainly HEAVY clay, Pam and it didn't slow the bamboo
one little bit.  It sure has kept me from wanting any kind of bamboo I can't
verify as clump forming!  

Blessings,
Bonnie (SW OH - zone )

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gardenchat@hort.net [o*@hort.net] On Behalf
Of Marge Talt
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 7:00 PM
To: gardenchat@hort.net
Subject: Re: [CHAT] was NE weather, now bamboo suppliers

> From: james singer <jsinger@igc.org>
> They'll still spread, but much more slowly and much easier to
control.
> On Thursday, January 29, 2004, at 07:26 AM, Pamela J. Evans wrote:
> > So you think heavy clay would keep the spreading tendency in
check??  
> > If so, I may reconsider bamboo!
----------

Er, ah, well, 'more slowly' as compared to what?  I have native heavy
clay soil and it ain't stopped mine from moving out.  They are
relatively slow to establish, but once they do that, only putting a
running bamboo where you can mow around it is going to stop the
spread.  The only other alternative is digging up the roots that are
moving where you don't want them to go and that's pretty heavy work,
I can tell you.

IMHO, if you want bamboo but don't want to worry about it spreading,
then a clumping form is the only way to do it besides growing it in a
container.

I have not found that dry soil makes much difference once they are
established.  Could affect establishment.  We had about 5 years of
drought.  I do not water my bamboo, except the parts that have crept
into the border where I have other plants I do water.  They didn't
seem to mind the lack of water one little bit.  Now, desert is
another thing, so maybe in a true desert environment, you could keep
running bamboo in bounds, but you would have to water it for it to
survive.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
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