How to Grow Bamboo in Cold Climates

Monday, 21 May 2012

I've written several blog post about the bamboo in my backyard here in Michigan. The 5 links below are some of the past history, starting back in 2009.

Bamboo in Heavy Snow - pictures after a big winter ice storm
Bamboo - 2011 - a much harsher winter meant lots of dead leaves in the spring
More Drain Pipe - trying to route a roof gutter drain around bamboo roots
Bamboo 2 - the first winter, hoping my small trees survive
Bamboo - the original grove of trees in West Virginia where i brought the trees home from

Here are some pictures from the past 4 years:

This was the original grove of trees in West Virginia where i traveled for work and ended up bringing trees home. I believe that they are Yellow Grove Bamboo but that is my non-expert opinion. I also brought home Cane Break Bamboo from Kentucky but it is a lot slower growing in my yard.
This was one of the largest trees i saw there. Probably 2-3" in diameter and at least 40' high.

The first winter after transplanting the bamboo to my yard. As long as the roots don't get below -15 degrees they should survive.

This was created from several pictures of my Moso Bamboo stitched together. I grew the Moso Bamboo from a seed. And like the Cane Break Bamboo, it's a slow grower here in Michigan.

After a winter ice storm my bamboo trees were completely bent over. But i don't think i lost a single one. The trees are really strong and can withstand a lot of stress.

Now, onto this year.

Bamboo shoots coming up March 22nd. About a month earlier than any previous years.

If i'm lucky and the summer last long enough, they might send up shoots a couple of times this year.

The bamboo continued to send up shoots through the early part of April. The warmer the weather the faster they grow.

One thing i'm worried about is that, usually the shoots grow all at once during the first warm month. This year they grew half way, then it got super cold, they stopped growing, then when it warms up they will grow to their full height. I'm not sure how that will affect them.

But there were tons of new shoots and their diameter was slightly thicker than the previous year, which is what i hoped for. Each year more more trees = more leaves = more energy stored in the roots (rhizomes) and that = bigger trees for the next year.
They are also taller then any of the tress from the previous years.

I noticed a lot of bent or broken shoots. I've seen this before and i think it's from ants that chew on the stalks. Sometimes they survive and the stalks have this weird bend in them. But most of the time they fold over and die.

But that damage only happens while they are soft. Once they grow a bit and harden up they can't really be hurt.

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Bamboo in Heavy Snow

Saturday, 25 February 2012

At least once or twice every winter here in Michigan we get a day of really heavy snow. Even though this has been one of the warmest winters in a long time, i woke up a couple of weeks ago and saw this in the back yard. There was a snow and ice storm and the bamboo was completely bent over and almost broken.
But the bamboo is strong. I went out, shook off the snow and the trees immediately started unbending and straightening up.

Here are links to previous posts about growing bamboo in my backyard in Michigan:

• Bamboo - Transplanting from West Virginia

• Bamboo 2 - First Winter

• Bamboo - 2011 - Winter and New Shoots

Here's what it looked like a few days later, good as new.

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Bamboo - 2011

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

This was a tough winter on the bamboo, lots of leaves turned yellow, overall though they survived.

I'm still not sure exactly what type of bamboo i have. I think the small trees are Canebreak bamboo (the only native bamboo to the US) and the larger ones are Yellow Grove bamboo I'm only guessing from pictures i've seen. The Canebreak bamboo i got in Kentucky and the Yellow Grove i got in West Virginia.

I also have Moso bamboo that i grew from seeds i ordered online. After reading about the different types i've learned that as long as the roots stay above -10 degrees Fahrenheit they should still be alive in the spring.
In the summer i piled lots of grass over the root area and in the winter i made sure to pile lots of snow around the base of the trees to help insulate them.
Here's the shoots this year from the little Moso bamboo. This plant is only 1 year old and probably will never be very big. Down in Florida it could be 40 feet high and 6" in diameter. But here in Michigan it will never grow that size because of the cold winters.

I was happy with how well the Yellow Grove bamboo grew in 2010. I was really excited this year because of all of the roots i saw growing last year. This picture was taken early in the summer 2010.

Around Easter i noticed the new shoots coming up. Over 30 shoots from this one cluster of trees.

This is one of the bigger shoots, maybe 1/2" in diameter.

These pictures were taken over no more than 10 days. You can see the shoots on the left. They will grow sometimes over 8" on really warm days.

One day i was outside and saw ants chewing on the bamboo. I sprayed some insecticide but this is what they looked like the next day.
Because of the heavy rains and ants, not every emerging shoot fully grew to trees but overall this has been the best year for the bamboo.

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Halfway Garden

Thursday, 12 August 2010

The backyard garden halfway through the season.
Here's what it looked like just after planting. I put the grass clippings down so no seeds would wash away. I also used Preen to help control the weeds. That and grass mulch worked pretty well.
View from the roof while i was up cleaning the gutters and trimming the tree branches.
The beans, cucumber and potatoes grew the fastest.
Again this year, the only thing i really care whether or not it grows, is corn. I planted three rows and it's doing ok. The shade from the tree isn't helping. Then i also found out afterwords that i should have soaked the seeds for 24 hours the day before to help it start germinating.
I also planted some corn along the side of the garage. A couple of them are doing great.
String for the 4 different types of tomato plants
The bamboo shoots came up earlier in the year. Now all of the their energy is going into their roots, which are really starting to spread.

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Bamboo 2

Thursday, 11 February 2010

The bamboo i transported from Kentucky and West Virginia last year is still going strong, even in the winter. I was worried that the reason it doesn't grow here in Michigan is that it's too cold. But so far they have been doing just fine. The roots are really starting to spread and by next summer i still expect my back yard to look like a Vietnamese jungle.

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