How to Plant Bamboo
Learning how to plant bamboo is something you might not ever have considered, but a bamboo crop has many applications you wouldn’t immediately consider. Although bamboo is more commonly grown in the east than the west, more North Americans have started to grow bamboo in their own local gardens in the past generation or so.
You might not have known this, but bamboo can be used as a cooking ingredient. Of course, bamboo is more famous as an arts and crafts material. This makes bamboo a versatile crop which can be enjoyed by a number of different people.
Learning how to plant bamboo is a potential activity for your whole family. Planting and taking care of your own bamboo crop can be an educational experience for your kids, as they watch it grow and develop over time.
Read ahead and learn everything you need to know to plant your own bamboo crop. Read how to take care of bamboo before harvest, including preparation for the planting and the eventual growth of your plants, as well as the resources you need to start.
We then highlight the process of planting, growing and harvesting your own bamboo plants the correct way, in order to collect the best yield of bamboo.
Getting Ready To Plant Bamboo
Bamboo is grown from seeds or from sapling bamboo plants. Buy both of these things at your local agricultural store or plant nursery. Seeds need to germinate before developing and maturing. This adds time to the growing process.
Depending on your climate and when you decide to begin growing your bamboo plants, you may not have this time to spare.
Decide where you’re going to grow your bamboo plants. Keep in mind these plants can get large if not pruned and harvested regularly, so growing outside is best. Bamboo is susceptible to pests, though, especially those native to America and considered foreign to bamboo.
Growing bamboo inside allows you the most control, but it also requires a lot of work. Not everyone has the facilities and resources to grow inside.
You need some basic things to begin growing your own bamboo.
- Soil
- Fertilizer
- Watering Can
- Spade
- Seeds/Sapling
- Pot/Plant Container
Growing Bamboo
After you learn how to grow bamboo, decide where to plant your crop. Bamboo planted in the outdoors in some type of garden is harder to protect and, depending on the weather conditions of your area, can be frail. Growing bamboo inside requires a lot of hard work and attention, as it tends to grow quite quickly, compared to other plants.
Another early decision to make is whether you’re going to grow your plant from an existing specimen or from bamboo seeds. Once you make these two decisions, planting of bamboo is easy.
Preparing the Soil
Till your soil. Remove any harmful organisms, such as weeds. These organisms compete with your bamboo plant for minerals, water and sunlight and can kill the bamboo.
Mix in some fertilizer or other soil enrichment product, the recommended options being compost or manure, with the soil you intend to plant with.
Planting Bamboo
When planting bamboo, first you’ll need to dig a spot for your potential bamboo plant. For seeds, you need only plant them 2-3 inches into the soil. For planting existing bamboo sprouts, dig a hole 6-8 inches into the ground. Established plants have root systems and bases, while seeds have not yet developed.
Cover the seed or sprouted plant’s base with soil and soil enrichment product mix. Water the area lightly with your watering can.
Caring for Your Plant
Maintain your plant by watering it with about 1-2 inches of water per week. Keep an eye out for pests, or anything else that might harm your plant. Expect to see some growth results in as little as one week, depending on what you started with. Bamboo tends to grow quicker than most other plants.
Harvesting bamboo requires shears to cut off stocks of the plant. If you have more than one plant, harvest bamboo stalks a bit of a time off of each of them, rather than overharvesting one plant. Taking all the bamboo off one plant can potentially overwhelm it, causing the plant to die.
Use the bamboo as a material for various products, once you’ve harvested it. Bamboo furniture and other crafts are a popular choice. Gifts made with bamboo that you grew yourself is a creative conversation piece. Learning how to grow bamboo is an economical choice, but you’ll find other reasons for growing your own bamboo.