Think Twice Before Purchasing Timber Bamboo for a Residence

Q. A local nursery has timber bamboo available-for-sale. How far from a brick wall should they be? How far apart should they be? Should they go on a planter box? Do I need a barrier for the roots?

Timber bamboo at a residence kept under control

A. I have giant timber bamboo growing on our family farm in the Philippines. They grow close to a small stream of water bordering our large farm property.

            In the tropics, they are quite useful for construction. I am less enthusiastic about them for smaller residential properties. I am even less enthusiastic about them for the desert. Put them in parks or large commercial properties where water is cheap.

Bamboo is probably the most utilized plant for different construction purposes in the world. It is highly versatile.

            You need lots of room to grow timber bamboo. Bamboo is in two basic categories; clumping and running. Most of the cold weather bamboo are running which means they spread underground several feet before they pop out.

            Clumping bamboo has very short underground rhizomes so they pop out very close to the mother plant. Clumping bamboo is preferred for residential properties. Timber bamboo is clumping. But hold on.

            Timber bamboo is massive and extremely powerful. It will heave walls, driveways, patios easily. They require very large amounts of water that’s why ours grows next to a small stream.

Timber bamboo planted in Las Vegas Nevada near the back wall of an apartment property. I took this shot several years ago. It is probably gone because of destruction to the wall and the parking lot. It should not be planted in small spaces.

            Timber bamboo comes in several species and there are some very cold hardy ones that can easily handle our winter temperatures. That is not what I’m concerned about. I am concerned about how aggressive they are.

            In the tropics they can grow to seventy or 80 feet tall. In the desert they will be considerably shorter because of the low humidity, high temperatures and lack of available water unless you are flooding them.

            These plants will become a nuisance in about 3 to 4 years after planting. You will have to stay on top of them and remove suckers and keep the underground rhizomes in check. I would not use them in the desert.

             If you decide to plant them, I would give at least a 5 foot “no grow” area surrounding them. This means you should remove “suckers” coming from the rhizomes that pop up in this area. That will help to control it spread somewhat.

Close-up of the same plant and you can see how it spreading underground by short rhizomes producing "culms" or suckers.

            I would plant them no closer than 15 feet apart and expect them to grow to 40 feet in height. The clumps will grow larger in diameter over the years.

Sometimes called heavenly bamboo, it is not even closely related to bamboo. This is Nandina domestica poorly managed.

           You will not control them with shallow root barriers. Use root barriers are at least 2 feet deep. Their roots and rhizomes are shallow but a 1 foot deep root barrier will not be enough to keep them contained. Install root barriers after three or four years. An option is to trench around the clump every 2 to 3 years, cut the rhizomes and remove them.
           Expect to increase your budget for water.If given enough water, they are extremely fast growers.