Bamboo boxes - bursting at their seams

Discussion in 'Outdoor Gardening in the Pacific Northwest' started by VicGreenBoy, Apr 15, 2020.

  1. VicGreenBoy

    VicGreenBoy New Member

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    Location:
    Victoria, BC, Canada
    My buddy has a very large bamboo planter that is rotting and bursting at its seams. It is about 2 x 2 x 12 feet
    long. Made of wood and lined with very heavy plastic. There are 4 groups of bamboo plants - they are quite mature - about 16 feet high. It must weigh a ton...

    We are looking for options on how to rebuild it?

    - does bamboo have root balls and can we just separate each plant and put into new smaller containers?
    - what kind of containers should we use?

    thanks for any suggestions
     
  2. Keke

    Keke Active Member 10 Years

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    Location:
    Vancouver, BC CANADA
    Yes, you can separate the plants and re-pot. Your biggest problem is that the root balls will be very tough, so separating them might require chain saw or an axe. I did something similar once with black bamboo and that's what I had to do. For bamboos, roots can grow from any node (swellings along the underground stem), so just chopping the root mass into manageable chunks should work as long as there are already some roots with each chunk. As you've seen, bamboo is strong enough to burst flimsy planters, so make sure whatever you put the plants in is strong and well-made for longterm use. I don't recommend putting the bamboo in the ground without a barrier unless you want your entire yard to become bamboo, and your neighbours' and their neighbours' (not likely to make you popular). I planted my black bamboo into a well-cured (more than 6 months) bottomless concrete "bunker" 2.5 feet deep to keep it from running into places I didn't want it. Plastic bamboo barrier will also work as long as it is similarly deep to stop the underground stems from getting out.
     
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  3. VicGreenBoy

    VicGreenBoy New Member

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    Location:
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    This is great - thanks for the info.
     

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