Growing Bamboo

[minnesmoker]

A friend of mine gave me some bamboo seeds, I guess they are kinda' rare and not the cheapest. I'm going to try to sprout them and grow them. Anyone else grow bamboo here?

Any tricks to growing it, and how to shape it... I was told that you can grow it so that it will braid and hook at 90 degree angles... like around my windows for "curtain rods."

 

[Shannon Alexander]

That'd be sweet as having living curtain rods

 

[CanadianEh]

That'd be sweet as having living curtain rods

Just so you know Bamboo grows like fucking crazy, you'll need to constantly keep cutting it back.

But wood idea, i'd make a wall of bamboo!

 

[James87]

idk, grows slow.. I have some, its so damn slow.. I have a big one (many 1' sticks tied in a fagot) and a small one (just a 3" stick) and both are in water. They don't get direct sunlight, that might be the difference..

 

[minnesmoker]

So, water vs. a very wet/clay-like soil works better? Water as in hydro, or a submerged (swamp/rice patty) set up?

I want to grow 2 pots, on on each side of our living room window, braid each pot and then run them around... They'll be getting decent light. It will not be great, but will be better than adequate, about 70% natural with some "accent lights" that will also provide addition high-spectrum light. definitely will get cut back frequently... My friend said the first ones he grew took a couple weeks to sprout, grew slow for the first foot and then took off like (a) weed... I read one article about bamboo that says it grows at a rate of up to 1 foot per day in optimal lighting and humidity! I can grow all my own supports for my tomatoes and peppers!

 

[Shannon Alexander]

depends on the type of bamboo to doesn't it..?

 

[minnesmoker]

It does indeed ... these grow fairly fast I know that, they just take FOREVER to germinate! Like 2-4 weeks, and then you leave them still longer before they start shooting. My seeds are giant moso bamboo... Looks like they grow in a very wet and clay-like environment. They are not that expensive (or unique) but, going to be fun. In the wild, they go from dormant to 10+ feet inside a month, and shoots can grow upwards of a foot per day! Like I said, going to be fun! There isn't a lot of information about growth rates indoors. I'm just learning about growing it...

 

[Shannon Alexander]

Pretty cool little hobby... you can do a lot with a plant that grows so fast

 

[tip top toker]

We used to grow bamboo outside in the UK. You ust end up with 12+ foot plantations of the stuff. We didn't do anything whatsoever for it, planted it and left it for 20 years, it did just great.

 

[ant1408]

i have bamboo growing along the outside of my house and it grows like fucking crazy we have to cut it alot but its manageable it is good for shading the house tho idk but bamboo seeds we just took some from the creek and planted it and bam its everywhere..its funny when ppl say "are you growing corn" hahaha