Residence in Venice

This owner bought one gallon pots of Phyllostachys nigra  (Black bamboo) from us in 1990, planted them in a strip 6-12" wide and 50' long against the property line fence in the backyard with a 2' deep heavy plastic barrier on each side of the growing strip and an automatic watering system with sprinklers.  They did well, growing 12-15' high in 3-4 years.  Then they started running 10-15' in all directions under the brick paving and popping up throughout the gardens on both sides of the fence.  The owner hired a contractor to take out the brick pavers, dig out the mass of rhizomes under the pavers and install a concrete barrier 3' deep on the outsides of the plastic barrier.  In 2001 a new house addition was built and the plants were not watered enough during construction.  They stopped putting out new tall canes.  In 2003 we pruned out the dead canes and the owner reestablished a regular schedule of watering.  In 2004 some large new canes were produced.  In March of 2005 I dug a test hole down about 18" into the growing area and found moist porous soil with healthy rhizomes in the top 6". 

2002   2003    2004