How To Plant Bamboo

Written by Fern Damron
Published: February 28, 2023
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If you’re considering adding bamboo to your garden or landscape this season and are unsure where to start, here are a few important pieces of information to get you moving in the right direction. By the end of this guide, you’ll know how and where to plant bamboo, how to contain it, and which type of bamboo will perform best in your application.

Know Your Type

The first thing to know when planting bamboo is that there are two main types that are defined by the growth habits of their members. Depending on your growing zone, your goals, and your planting space, you may wish to choose species from one group or the other.

The first, which has earned bamboo its infamous reputation for taking over spaces, is the running type of bamboo. Running bamboo species are significantly more accepting of cool weather, owing to the fact that they hail primarily from more temperate areas. As landscape plants, they are often selected for their ability to begin creating meaningful privacy screens, sound barriers, and windbreaks in just a few years. While these species do specialize in rapid expansion via their rhizomes, their aggressiveness is sometimes exaggerated — they can be contained fairly easily with proper technique.

The second type, the clumping bamboo, is made up of slow spreaders. They make for good container plants and do well in raised beds or in applications where more control is desired. They also create wonderful shade and a relaxing atmosphere in sitting areas or entertainment spaces. The vast majority of these clumping species originate in the tropical and subtropical forests of the world and are not tolerant of cold temperatures. There are, however, some notable, cold-hardy exceptions to this rule.

Clumping bamboo species are slow spreaders

Clumping bamboo species are slow spreaders so they make for good container plants and do well in raised beds.

©Manfred Ruckszio/Shutterstock.com

How to Contain Bamboo

In general, species of clumping bamboo need no special containment. In fact, many clumpers have biological limits on how wide they will spread. Oftentimes, choosing a clump-forming species over a running type is considered a best containment practice on its own.

Running-type bamboo, however, can be a handful to contain once it has established. In order to keep it from spreading in undesirable ways, it is best to choose a containment strategy before planting. In this case, there are two common and effective strategies to choose from: trenching, and the installation of a rhizome barrier.

The first strategy, trenching, involves digging a trench around the entire perimeter of the planting area. This trench will allow you to monitor the underground growth of your plants’ rhizomes. Because the rhizomes of running-type bamboo grow so shallowly, they will begin to emerge from the sidewalls of your trench as they reach the perimeter At this point, they can be chopped back to keep growth contained within the planting site.

The second strategy, although initially more involved, takes the trenching method a step further to cut down on longer-term perimeter maintenance. The first step is the same: dig a trench around the planting site. This trench, however, will need to be deeper — usually about 30 inches deep. At this point, a solid barrier is placed in the trench to obstruct the spread of the bamboo rhizome.

Running bamboo can be contained by trenching

In order to keep running bamboo from spreading uncontrollably, it’s best to choose a containment strategy before planting such as trenching.

©iStock.com/weisschr

How to Plant Bamboo

Now that we’ve discussed the important aspects of bamboo types and containment strategies, we can finally move on to planting considerations. Once you have found a bamboo variety that best suits your needs, it’s time to obtain your plants and put them in the ground.

Choose Your Planting Site

When choosing a site, be sure to take into consideration the growth habits of the bamboo species you have chosen and plan for the future. The culms, or canes, of a young rhizome division may be small when purchased from the nursery. Once your new plant has established itself, however, it will begin producing larger and larger culms every year until it has fully matured. Some commonly available species can produce culms that reach 60 feet or more in height. One day, they may cast shade over large areas of your yard or your neighbor’s, or have the potential to lean out over roadways.

It is also important to note before planting how much sunlight your bamboo will require. There can be great variation in light requirements between species, and yours may prefer shady locations over heavy sun or vice versa. 

In general, bamboo plants are not picky about their soil conditions. Most varieties will adapt to a fairly wide range of soil types and textures as long as they are nutritive and well-draining. Avoid tilling as much as possible and always apply mulch to the planting site. This serves to protect vital soil microbes as well as to help retain moisture for longer periods of time.

Japanese timber bamboo Phyllostachys bambusoides

When choosing a planting site, take into consideration the growth habits of the bamboo species you have chosen and plan for the future.

©Legmiche, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons – License

Plant Your Bamboo

Now that you’ve chosen a containment strategy and planting site that meet the needs of your new plant, it’s time to put your bamboo in the ground. You’ll want to follow the procedure below:

  1. Dig a hole that is about twice the diameter of the soil ball that is attached to your new plant. Make sure that the base of your bamboo culms will sit at ground level once your plant is placed in the hole.
  2. Add some compost or well-rotted manure to the soil removed from the hole to give your plants a good head start.
  3. Place your new bamboo plant into its hole and fill it back in with the now-amended soil.
  4. Cover any disturbed soil with at least two inches of mulch.
  5. Water your new bamboo plant thoroughly

If you’re planting running bamboo with the intention of creating a hedge or privacy screen, you’ll want to space each new plant 3–5 feet apart. This will allow them to fill in the empty spaces more quickly. With the right species and good growing conditions, you can expect to see significant growth within three years.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © iStock.com/LianeM


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About the Author

Fern Damron is a writer at A-Z Animals who covers a variety of topics including plant life, gardening, and geology. They live off-grid in the Southeast U.S. and have been working to restore local Appalachian ginseng stands since 2020.

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