Bamboo and Elephants

Yesterday our crew was busy culling canes from a stand of Bambusa chungii.

Objective:  Remove enough leafy canes to fill a 12-foot long by 3-foot high trailer.  The canes would then be transported to Tampa where they will be given to elephants in the Barnum and Bailey circus.

For the next several months, canes cut from the groves at Beautiful Bamboo will supplement the diet of Asian elephants in the circus.

In the wild, Asian Elephants like this one in Laos are accustomed to eating bamboo
Photo by Shannon O'Donnell, www.alittleadrift.com

Ryan transports a load of freshly cut Blue Timber Bamboo culms 

Unloading leafy bamboo canes into the trailer

A full load of Beautiful Bamboo to help keep the circus elephants happy and healthy 

New shoots!

Bamboo grows quickly especially when weather is hot and wet.

Bamboo in the background...wind chimes in the foreground...rain all around

We've recently had both at our Central Florida homestead and our many clumping bamboo plants have responded to the rain and high temperatures by sending out an explosion of new shoots.

The prolific Seabreeze Bamboo (Bambusa malingensis) sends out more new shoots than any other clumping variety 

The colorful green and yellow striped shoot of Asian Lemon Timber Bamboo are so pretty when they emerge

Blue Timber Bamboo is another prolific shooter with shades of pink, light blue and purple in the baby canes

It's always exciting to see new shoots emerge.  Even after 21 years of growing bamboo, I'm never tired of watching bamboo grow!

Blue Timber Bamboo - A most beautiful clumper

BLUE TIMBER BAMBOO 

Bambusa Chungii
Can grow 30-35 feet with 2" diameter canes. Very Hardy

A powdery coating on both new and mature canes gives Bambusa chungii the alternative name of White Bamboo

Although we call this Blue Timber Bamboo, it is also known as White Bamboo. The name comes from the whitish-blue powder that covers the new canes as they develop. With an upright growth pattern and thin-walled culms, this stunning bamboo contrasts beautifully with the dark green canes of Seabreeze, Oldhamii or the attention-getting bright yellow canes of Sunburst, Asian Lemon or Hawaiian Gold. 

The white powder covering the culms comes off when touched

Use it as a centerpiece plant or create an attractive hedge that will mature quickly into an eye-catching focal point. 

This 4-year-old stand of Blue Timber started out with just one single cane when it was first planted in 2006.  Over the years new shoots appeared on the perimeter but, unlike many other clumping bamboos, Blue Timber shoots come up a bit away from older canes giving the clump a more open, grove-like appearance.

Blue Timber canes are gorgeous! Whenever visitors to our nursery walk through the "tunnel" of Blue Timber bamboo, they are always awed by the plants' exquisite appearance.

Two Blue Timber bamboos form a tunnel.  The bamboos were both planted 10' apart in 2006, each from one single cane.  Today they form a beautiful shady tropical oasis.

A close up look at the tip of a new Blue shoot

A long view shows of the shape of a four-year-old clump of Blue Timber. 

Also available is a shorter clone perfect for smaller gardens called BABY BLUE (Bambusa chungii barbellata) which grows 20 to 25 feet tall with slightly narrower canes and the same striking colors. 

How to control weeds in the bamboo

A customer wrote: 

We bought a Vivax and a Blue from you last fall. Both came through the winter with no damage and have already sent up bunches of new canes this spring. They are so pretty and so much fun. Every day, we go look just to see what's new!

 

What do you recommend for weed control around the bases of bamboo?

 

I recall that you planted ground cover plants around some of your clumps. What plants work well?

 

But I think most of your clumps were weed-free without a ground cover. Do you use a herbicide?

 

Would a 0.5-1% glyphosate spray hurt them if I removed the leaves that might get spray on them first? I would have guessed that, being grasses, they'd be sensitive but I gather from reading on the web that it's actually pretty hard to kill them with glyphosate.

 

I've looked around on your web site but didn't find any discussion of weed control. If it's there, please just point me to it.

 

My response:

I'm glad to hear that your plants are doing so well.  If you have time, email me some pictures.  I'd love to see them.

For weed control we recommend a heavy mulch.  Weed by hand any obvious weeds then apply as deep a mulch as you can around the bamboo.  You can use any type of natural mulch - leaves, wood bark, etc.  To make the mulch extra impervious to weeds, you can apply a thick layer of newspaper first and then mulch on top of them.  Unlike with trees, mulches can go right up around the base of the canes without worry or harm to the plants.

We don't use any herbicides at the nursery and don't recommend using them at home.  Bamboo is just a giant grass and although herbicides won't kill the bamboo, it won't do them any good either.  If you want to use a ground cover, I've found the following plants work well:  wedelia, ruellia and wandering jew.  Any other shade-loving ground cover would work as well.

Wedelia growing as a ground cover beneath a grove of Vivax running bamboo