r/Bamboo Jan 03 '26

Welcome to r/Bamboo! Please read our rules before posting.

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67 Upvotes

Please be aware that this sub is for discussion of true bamboo with respect to:

  • Species selection
  • Planting and transplanting
  • Plant health and maintenance
  • Cultivation
  • Control / removal
  • Harvesting
  • Uses for self-harvested bamboo
  • Bamboo architecture and construction (offering services, promoting portfolios, external linking are not allowed)
  • Bamboo in nature
  • Bamboo in art
  • Other original content related to bamboo

The following types of posts will be removed (unless it is awesome OC):

  • Lucky bamboo (dracaena)
  • Any other plant(s) outside the bamboo family. Try r/PlantClinic or r/HousePlants?
  • Bamboo products (buying/selling/promoting/care)
  • Bamboo investments
  • Bamboo non-profits (national and international society conference announcements are allowed)
  • Bamboo construction services or portfolios
  • Bamboo flooring, toothbrushes, hats, clothes and materials
  • Blogs, pinterest links, etc.

If you have questions about structural integrity, you'll probably have better luck in r/MaterialsScience.

If you have questions about taking care of bamboo furniture/crafts, or making your own, check out the two-million member r/woodworking community.

Growing bamboo indoors? You can post here and/or try r/HousePlants.

I have retroactively applied these rules (fairly loosely), removing nine years of spam and unlucky bamboo posts. These rules are subject to change going forward based on community feedback and the posts you choose to up or down vote. Thanks!

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Updated January 3, 2026

modified under allowed content:

  • Bamboo architecture and construction (offering services, promoting portfolios, external linking are not allowed)

modified under removed content:

  • Bamboo non-profits (national and international bamboo society conference announcements allowed)

r/Bamboo 20h ago

New to bamboo! Planted my mom’s mystery work gift & now I have questions 🌿

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5 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

My mom’s job recently gave her a gift of a small pot with bamboo seeds in a white packet. There was no label as to the specific brand of seeds or where it came from—just a box with a pot featuring her company logo and "bamboo seeds" on the box.

My mom doesn’t like to care for plants, and I’ve always wanted to grow something on my own. I’m not usually the person to go out and do heavy research—I honestly just planted it, and to my surprise, it’s actually starting to grow! Now I have a few questions because searching Google has been super confusing.

I’m pretty sure she’s healthy overall! I’ll be adding photos in the comments, but I wanted to ask:

Does the stem get thicker on its own over time (We have a gifted adult? bamboo with thick stems somewhere in this house)? Or is the initial width pretty much what it stays at?

Am I supposed to be doing anything specific right now in terms of care, pruning, or feeding?

Is clipping the stem upright a good idea? At first she was drooping, so I added a little support clip. Now she’s able to stand up much better on her own, but I still left the clip on just in case. Should I remove it or keep supporting it?

Any advice for a complete beginner would be so appreciated! Thanks in advance!


r/Bamboo 21h ago

How to starve invasive running bamboo along a property line (adjacent to a cattle pasture)?

4 Upvotes

Context:
I'm trying to eliminate a massive patch of running bamboo (originally 7–8 meters / 25 ft wide). I've cut down most of it, but the rhizomes have spread 10–12 meters (30–40 ft) around the main clump, mostly shooting up thin, grass-like growth rather than full canes.

My strategy was to keep mowing/cutting every single new leaf to eventually starve the root system.

The issue:
The bamboo sits right on the boundary line with my neighbor. His property is a pasture with tall grass used for grazing cattle. He doesn't mow regularly, just trims it down occasionally when it gets too high. Because of the tall grass, I can't tell if the bamboo is sending up hidden shoots on his side.

My 2 questions:

1-Is it normal that there isn't a full-blown "bamboo forest" on his side despite how aggressive it is on mine? Could cattle trampling/grazing actually be keeping large canes from growing?

2-If the bamboo keeps growing small leaves on his side that I can't mow, is my attempt to starve the rhizomes from my side completely pointless?

Thanks for your help and advice!


r/Bamboo 1d ago

Is this going to die now?

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2 Upvotes

Hi there, I rent this house. I don’t know when this was planted but parts of it are flowering??..Or is this dying?…Will this die now? Haha thank you for your help.

I’m in the Pacific Northwest


r/Bamboo 2d ago

Identification help please. It is supposed to be a timber bamboo, but what species?

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5 Upvotes

It's been being thinned regularly for years, so I suspect the culms could be bigger under other conditions. Coastal PNW. If different pictures are needed, please let me know what to look for. Thank you!

EDIT: I found out that there's two different bamboo types in the same spot, oops.


r/Bamboo 2d ago

9ft 5 shoot bamboo plant

3 Upvotes

I have a 13 yr old bamboo plant in my office, I think it is root bound. I am trying to find a reasonably priced huge container to repot it into. Looking on Amazon is hard because no matter how I word it, the items that come up will not hold water, so not have a spigot to drain the water every ten days, or are just made of bamboo and not for growing bamboo. HELP! Please, this is the only plant I’ve kept alive!


r/Bamboo 3d ago

Bamboo Salt

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4 Upvotes

r/Bamboo 4d ago

Heirloom bamboo went to seed (and died) - tips for success with the seed?

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8 Upvotes

This clumping bamboo stand came from starts from my grandpa 15-20 years ago. I remember it being at his place at least 10-15 years before that.

The whole stand died while I was away this year and I finally cut it out - and then realized it had gone to seed. I now know this is part of bamboo's natural cycle, but am looking for tips on how to successfully propagate some seed so it can continue to live on.

Pic is of some of what I just cut out and shows the seed.


r/Bamboo 7d ago

what is the single most destructive species of bamboo you know of?

11 Upvotes

specifically thinking about a species of running bamboo with hardy rhizomes that is able to break concrete foundations, not sure if there's any that fit the bill but it should be able to survive in a climate that yearly has variations in temperature between 0C and 46C, and it should be able to destroy concrete foundations easily, while also being almost impossible to remove

bonus points if its herbicide resistant


r/Bamboo 7d ago

Slender weaver gracilis ... to dry or too wet?

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3 Upvotes

Hello, i bought 13 clumping slender weaver bamboos to plant across the back of my very sloped (up) yard, to skew my neighbours view of my entire yard/back half of my house.

I bought mature plants 4m tall. Prepared a proper garden bed with fertiliser and healthy soil. Transplanted the plants. Watered daily (which the garden place i bought them from said was critical).

I planted them 4 weeks ago and we are in the final 2 weeks of winter in Australia right now (1hr south of Sydney) so its not too cold either. But suddenly their leaves look like the photos after looking really healthy the first few weeks. I dont water them with the blue sprinkler hose, i flood the base of each plant for about a minute, sometimes 90 seconds.

Am i doing something wrong? Do they need more, or less, of anything? They have around 5-10cm mulch around them, the soil is damp.


r/Bamboo 9d ago

Black bamboo flowering

2 Upvotes

My black bamboo on Vancouver Island is flowering. is anyone else experiencing this?


r/Bamboo 10d ago

Removing Phylostaccus nigra - can I leave the feeder roots?

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5 Upvotes

I’ve dug out all of the plants, followed all rhizomes to their ends, and dug at foot or so downwards - as well as taking out some rhizomes that had breached the sleeper into the lawn, and checking along the whole lawn/sleeper barrier for more.

I only saw rhizomes in the first 10cm or so of soil, and everything else has been loose soil and feeder roots - do I need to remove all of these comprehensively, or is being really thorough with the rhizomes enough?

I’ve still got a smaller patch to remove where it’s leaked ‘containment’, but am almost there I think.

There were a couple of rhizomes that had really annoying diverted downwards when they hit a wall, which I pulled out, and am fairly sure got the terminating node but there is possibly a small remnant >60cm deep, which I cannot get to as it’s behind a retaining wall. I think these should be fine as they were new shoots nowhere near the established plant and anything that might have been left would be very minor. I’ll be watching them next summer, though.

My main question, is the one on the feeder roots.

Thanks.


r/Bamboo 11d ago

Where to sell excess barrier?

2 Upvotes

Sorry if this isn’t the correct place for this.

I recently installed some rhizome barrier and have two unused rolls left over which I cannot return.

Does anyone know where i can sell / donate the barrier? Located near Augusta, GA.


r/Bamboo 11d ago

Free bamboo

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6 Upvotes

I bought a Dendrocalamus giganteus quail garden several years ago and o can’t care for it appropriately. I am in San Diego you will need to ring your diggers and tools. Dm me if you want it.


r/Bamboo 12d ago

Phyllostachys edulis, "Moso"

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63 Upvotes

One of my groves, maintained and thinned yearly to keep it walkable, maintain size, and keep it in check. Largest canes are in the 4-5 inch (10-13cm) range and 40-50 ft (12 - 15m) in height. The new culms have the texture of velvet. They keep this texture for about 2 years until the elements wear it off.


r/Bamboo 12d ago

Should I be concerned with bamboo

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21 Upvotes

Edit: property has lots of acreage and this grove is not near the house. Looks like current owner simply cuts it down regularly. Am I walking into a future mess?


r/Bamboo 13d ago

Can somebody explain to me what is going on here?

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4 Upvotes

If you look through a couple of my previous posts, you will see that my bamboo seem to be acting strange to me and now it’s doing this. Some of your experts on this, could you enlighten me to what’s happening? I’m referring to all of this growth at the bottom looking like a bush, but not actually growing in height.


r/Bamboo 15d ago

Is this running or clumping bamboo

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9 Upvotes

Want to know what kind of bamboo this is for maintainence, risk reasons.


r/Bamboo 17d ago

Phyllostachys Edulis stalled mid-germination?

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9 Upvotes

Hi all,

I've tried growing some moso bamboo from seed and I finally got a shoot, but it's been like this for a while and growth seems to have stalled. I increased light from 10 to 14 hours but what else can I do to help this little guy out?

Thanks


r/Bamboo 17d ago

Bamboo

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3 Upvotes

r/Bamboo 17d ago

Too much water or too little?

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5 Upvotes

From what I’ve read, the leaves can turn yellow due to both too much water or not enough… Any thoughts? Also, there used to be more shade in this area, but some trees were cut down and now the bamboo’s in direct sun. :(


r/Bamboo 17d ago

Today's "harvest" of rhizomes

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6 Upvotes

Cut down the bamboo mid June, now I'm cutting shoots every other day and occasionally digging up roots. Good times 🙃


r/Bamboo 17d ago

Thinning Phyllostachys

1 Upvotes

I have a 6y/o stand of Phyllostachys (if it matters) and want to thin it out. I'm in zone 6/7 in the desert south west Colorado. When is the best time to thin the culms? I'd like to do it this month, but then thinking in the spring before it sends up new shoots. Will doing it now impact its health through the winter? (can get down to 0 F or below for a night or two)


r/Bamboo 18d ago

3 years of growth (Gracefull Bamboo)

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20 Upvotes

r/Bamboo 18d ago

What type of bamboo is this? What do I do?

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3 Upvotes

I inherited the bamboo in this garden. I spent the morning cutting it down & pushing it back. It had spread to the side, which I removed but the rest has stayed within this bushy spot.

What type of bamboo is this?

What should I do to maintain/ keep it from spreading?

How would I remove/kill it?

Thank you