Southern tradition

not taking that bet! That stuff is really pretty. Bamboo shoots for stir fry shouldn't be hard to find at your house!

>Give ya $50 if you can walk thru it.


Can I use a flame thrower to help?

Scott is right. The bamboo is about done shooting fresh shoots snowmom. Here is a little basket full from 4 weeks ago.
Come on down in May and we will fill you truck up. I need to sell to the markets here in Atlanta. Funny, that thin Japonica
in the photo above is not known for it's shoots. It is the sweetest on the farm out of 40 bamboos. About the only one that
that can be eaten raw w/out making you sick. And it is late and can be harvested now.

You know that bamboo is just a large grass Pat. It has a great flavor but really needs to be cooked hard.
One of the sweetest bamboo's is P. Dulcis.

P. Dulcis Bamboo-Gal Pot
Commonly called Sweetshoot Bamboo for its tasty shoots early in the season. It is among the most beautiful with its masses of large drooping leaves, thick culms and a white ring at each node. It is very quick growing and gets very thick for its height, up to 3 inches in diameter at 30 feet in height. It is hardy to minus 10 F.

With heavy shoes and leather gloves, I take the bet if you promise to get rid of the spiders first.

True, and broken bamboo becomes very sharp punji sticks.

Thanks. You don't see much growing around here, and the ones I have seen were kind of puny. We might be too high and dry. I'll ask at the nursery. But I think buying enough root stock to plant along a 30 foot block wall is going to get expensive. Then I've probably got to dig a trench some 24 inches deep and bury more block wall to contain it, right? Or do the roots go deeper to expand?

Yes. ask the nursery. They will know what bamboo is good for your area. The Japonica grove above is 150 feet long. I just keep the perimeter mowed, no barriers.
It took four 1 gallon pots and 3 years later it was a wall. I do have natural clay the it thrives in. It does poorly in sand. but other bamboos do well in sand.
And many bamboos freeze around 30,20,10,0,-10,-20F, so you really have to ask the nursery.
I am mowing some 10 tall Sasa Palmata and Dendrocalimus with the tractor and bush hog. It will come up 3 feet tall next year and then to 5 feet the next.
The new leaves and canes will be the richest green for about the next 5 years and lower in height. The 40 HP diesel strains, having to cut the first pass w/mower
2 feet off ground. Takes about 4 passes before it is all mulched to ground level. This also kills the vines and small gums and maples that have sprouted and are 10-15
feet tall. The litter is a foot deep and serves as a mulch so thick that nothing but the bamboo shoots can penetrate it.
I wear leather and full cover helmut as shrapnel is flying. Usually wear a full cover motorcycle helmut when working in the groves to avoid eye injuries. Machete cut canes
easily puncture the thick tractor tires(punji style). The bush hog has dull blades and shatters the canes rendering them safe to drive over. The 2000 sq ft grove will be
beautiful after it shoots next June.

Talked to the nursery. Very few boo's grow at this altitude and rainfall. Only one the nursery even carries is black bamboo. They said japonica won't grow here. dang. Guess I'll have to think about pyrocanthia or old fashioned rambling roses or something that has thorns and is very sticky.
Thanks!