bambooweb.info

Hello--

As I live on an island here in Florida/Zone 10a with close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, I decided it was best to build a raised bed for my new Timor/B. Lako black bamboo and not take chances that there will be a problem for the 2-3 times per year where brackish water floods the yard during a storm. I used double-stacked 2" x 12" boards to achieve nearly 2' in height, and I made the box 6' x 4' which required multiple trips to the local garden place to procure nearly 45 cu ft of topsoil.

I have planted the 25-gallon B. Lako in the aforementioned raised bed, to which I was going to add a small 3-gallon pot of B. Lako that I purchased a while back, but the person who sold me the 25-gallon told me it was unnecessary, as the 25-gallon clump will fill up the 6' x 4' enclosure in 3 years or so. That got me to thinking: did I make the raised bed enclosure big enough?

I also have a 5-gallon Asian Lemon bamboo that I would like to make a raised bed for as well. Any advice on what size raised bed I should construct for it?

Thanks!

Greetings, when I finally own dirt here I intend to do raised mounds but similar concept to yours. I think 4x6 for one tropical form is pretty good, I think I'll aim for 6' diameter circles though and crown them as high as possible in the center. I'll be planting runners as well and may go a tad larger for those.

My guess is that the lako will need more room than the lemon.

Thanks Brad--

What materials do you plan to use for your round bed? Will you put concrete/pavers/something to block the rhizomes from spreading from underneath? I hadn't thought of it, but now that I'm done, it's occurred to me that the rhizomes of my clumping B. Lako might start growing out from under the sides.

Can anyone with Asian Lemon experience (B. Eutuldoides Viridi Vittata) speak to its salt tolerance? I have built a few raised beds recently for fruit trees and this recent black bamboo; I'm pretty raised-bedded-out at this point, and I'm hoping I can get away with simply leaving it in the ground without the precaution of the raised bed (rare flooding occasions).

I intend to use soil and mulch with no border - I want the rhizomes to poke out it will be easier to find and prune them. If the need arises to keep the soil in place I'll dry stack stone and hope the rhizomes still poke out.

You might send an email to Tropical Bamboo and ask them about the salt issue.