# Tell me about growing bamboo in georgia



## Predator56 (Mar 9, 2008)

I need an "instant SCREEN" in my backyard and I hear bamboo is the fastest growing screen available... Please let me know where you buy it amnd/or what species you buy and any special planting instructions...thanks


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## robertyb (Mar 9, 2008)

You will live to regret it if you plant it. It is invasive. Extremely invasive!!

My brother's neighbor planted some in his back lot and it did a great job...  then it started spreading. Did you know it can grow in an enclosed garage with no light source other than a window? Neither did he. But he does now.  
And it grows and grows. I thought kudzu was bad.


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## Nicodemus (Mar 9, 2008)

If you plant bamboo, prepare to fight it for the rest of your life. It will take over if it gets the least little toehold, and it really don`t even need that.  We`re still fightin` bamboo that my Father-in-Law planted over 30 years ago. I would seriously imagine that my grandchildren (when I get some) will be fightin` it too. Incidently, this patch was planted so the family and friends would always have fishin` poles. 

I would look into plantin` something, ANYTHING else but bamboo.


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## dixie (Mar 9, 2008)

don't, try redtips or something, you REALLY don't want bamboo


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## jimbo4116 (Mar 9, 2008)

SAKO75 said:


> I need an "instant SCREEN" in my backyard and I hear bamboo is the fastest growing screen available... Please let me know where you buy it amnd/or what species you buy and any special planting instructions...thanks



Just be careful, my experience with bamboo is that it is a noxious weed and is invasive.  It hard to get rid of once out of control.  It took over a neighbors back lot in about three years and it took him five to get rid of it.


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## fishbum2000 (Mar 9, 2008)

DONT DO IT!!!!     
its the only thing ive seen that kudzu cant over run


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## dutchman (Mar 9, 2008)

Plant Leland Cypress. It grows pretty fast without a lot of tending at all and will make an antractive screen in a few years.

Unless you've got your own private herd of Pandas, steer clear of the bamboo.


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## elfiii (Mar 9, 2008)

My backyard is where bamboo goes to die.  Everything else grows fine.


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## Nautical Son (Mar 9, 2008)

I'm with Dutchman, go with the Leyland Cypress they are drought tolerant and they grow pretty quick to provide a barrier "screen". I used them to insulate my house from some new duplexes and they did the trick without  alot of work.


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## Snakeman (Mar 9, 2008)

Why don't you grow a wooden privacy fence?

The Snakeman


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## Mechanicaldawg (Mar 9, 2008)

Growing Bamboo in Georgia


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## 60Grit (Mar 9, 2008)

Like everyone has said, don't.

However, some of the other suggestions are less that optimum also.

Red Tips, or Dead Tips as we call them in the industry, are just a bad idea as well. They are too succeptible to Black Spot and they die.

Leylands have been overplanted in mass, and are now showing the sufferages of a couple of bad drought years, and late freezes. They area  shallow and weak rooted tree, and are succumbing to bagworms by the tens of thousands right now.

Not sure how big of a back yard you have, but there are three evergreens that I would suggest, that will yield you between 1.5 to 2.5 ft of growth a year.

#1 - Yoshino Cryptomeria (fastest and widest width)
#2 - Green Giant Arborvitae (slow and narrow width)
#3 - Little Gem Magnolia (moderate and medium width)

There are a good many other trees to choose from, but these are readily available at your local nursery, if they are still in business.........


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## THREEJAYS (Mar 9, 2008)

I bought a house once w/some of the really big canes , it will make a screen for sure.Now theres about a half acre stand


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## Muddyfoots (Mar 9, 2008)

Don't do it!!!!!


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## schleylures (Mar 9, 2008)

If you want to plant bambo, Get some kowa bears,  the only way is in a pot it spreads more than codzu.


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## westcobbdog (Mar 10, 2008)

plant lelands instead.


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## Campingman (Mar 10, 2008)

You could call your local county extension office and ask what native plants they would recommend  for you to plant.


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## dawg2 (Mar 10, 2008)

Yep.  What everybody else says.  Don't do it.


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## whitworth (Mar 10, 2008)

*Would you like a growing plan*

on doing Kudzu too?


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## JD (Mar 10, 2008)

Looks like 60 is right on this one. Leylands are not you best choice of evergreens way over planted and many problems. Go with one of the varities that he suggested and you will be fine.


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## leoparddog (Mar 10, 2008)

There are a bunch of different kinds of bamboo. Some spread more than others, some taller some shorter.  Your profile doesn't say where you live, but if its in N.GA, Mountains or somewhere it doesn't get too hot Clumping Bamboo might work for you.  Look up Fargesia or Clumping Bamboo.  

Also check here for some other varieties. http://www.bamboogarden.com/usage.htm


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## leoparddog (Mar 13, 2008)

Other varieties of NON-Invasive bamboos - aka Clumping bamboo.

http://www.mrbamboo.com.au/Clumping_Bamboo/alphonse_karr/alphonse_karr.html

http://www.mrbamboo.com.au/Clumping_Bamboo/clumping_bamboo.html


There are several vareties and these won't spread.


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## sinclair1 (May 21, 2019)

some varieties are not that bad. Some will run you out of town with 6" per day growth during the peak.


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## Hooked On Quack (May 21, 2019)

Dang thread's 11 yrs old . .


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## Tom W. (May 22, 2019)

Don't do it. I almost did it when I lived in Eufaula, but those that are smarter than I took me for a ride to a place where someone did it. A person can't even walk through it. On the way to my SIL house there is h heavy stand of it at the end of the road. It will have to cross concrete to get to her house. Lots of patches on Alabama highway 14 from Notasoulga to Wetumpka. There's a few on I-. 85 from Opelika to Montgomery.  
You can get some butterfly bushes from QVC that will grow like weeds the second year, and if you don't trim them they'll get massive, plus the feed the butterflies.....


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## Rick Alexander (May 22, 2019)

I wish you could come see the "little plot" my dad planted along the creek on his property to prevent erosion - probably 20 years before he passed.  Hint - a'int no erosion going on along that creek.  My grandkids - grandkids will be dealing with that mess long after I'm gone.  There just seems to be no way to kill it other than keeping it cut down constantly but there's just too much of it and I can't get to some of it with the tractor.  We do feed the pandas at the zoo with some of it (call the zoo - they come get it) and it sure isn't putting a dent in it.  Can't even grind it if you do cut it down as it binds up the chipper something awful.  I can imagine the entire county will be covered up with this stuff before it's over with.


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## Da Possum (May 22, 2019)

Hooked On Quack said:


> Dang thread's 11 yrs old . .



And folks are still gettin' all tore up about it....


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## mark-7mag (May 22, 2019)

Ikr? Folks get tore up over the dangdest things


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## Hooked On Quack (May 22, 2019)

Mercy . .


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## Da Possum (May 22, 2019)

Hooked On Quack said:


> Mercy . .



ikr?


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## zedex (May 23, 2019)

When I was in Ga, I wanted a privacy wall and planted bamboo. Knowing it runs wild, I outsmarted it by building forms and pouring cement into them to make a solid 4 inch thick bed so the roots couldn't get out.  
Had a perfect bamboo row and none outside those cement beds . The cement stuck out of the ground about 6 inches.
The only thing I didnt care for was bamboo is a constant maintenance plant.... prune, thin  prune thin.......


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## jiminbogart (May 23, 2019)

zedex said:


> ...4 inch thick bed so the roots couldn't get out.
> Had a perfect bamboo row and none outside those cement beds . The cement stuck out of the ground about 6 inches.



4" thick as in 4" deep or 4" thick as in 4" wide? If you went 4" wide how deep did you go?


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## zedex (May 23, 2019)

jiminbogart said:


> 4" thick as in 4" deep or 4" thick as in 4" wide? If you went 4" wide how deep did you go?


In the ground was about a foot, so close to 18 inches was total depth with internal width of roughly a foot and each was 4ft long. The top edges were about 6 inches out of the ground. The walls and bottom were 4in thick.
I made it thick so the roots couldn't crack the cement
After being placed in the ground,  I poured more cement in the hole outside the box for a little more support. With the top edges above ground, a line trimmer would cut any root that string getting out before it could escape the box and reroot outside and it made for a tidy border.
I really like bamboo but it is constant work to keep neat. If one doesn't mind tending to it at least once a week, it can provide a nice privacy wall.  If one wants a set and forget,  bamboo is the wrong choice


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## Core Lokt (May 23, 2019)

Aw heck, go ahead and plant you some!


I had to be different than everyone else


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## jiminbogart (May 23, 2019)

zedex said:


> In the ground was about a foot, so close to 18 inches was total depth with internal width of roughly a foot and each was 4ft long. The top edges were about 6 inches out of the ground. The walls and bottom were 4in thick.
> I made it thick so the roots couldn't crack the cement
> After being placed in the ground,  I poured more cement in the hole outside the box for a little more support. With the top edges above ground, a line trimmer would cut any root that string getting out before it could escape the box and reroot outside and it made for a tidy border.
> I really like bamboo but it is constant work to keep neat. If one doesn't mind tending to it at least once a week, it can provide a nice privacy wall.  If one wants a set and forget,  bamboo is the wrong choice



We have a development on the bypass in Athens. I'd like to plants some bamboo on the fence line between us and the bypass for a screen. I may have to try your method so it doesn't run all up on our lots.


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## treemanjohn (May 23, 2019)

Curious how the bamboo turnt out now. Update?


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