Bambusa Textilis Gracilis

Prices From $55* to $120

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Planting guide

• Once you receive your plants, give them a good watering and try to plant them straight away. If you aren’t able to, keep them in partial shade and water daily.
• Choose full sun or part shade for planting keeping in mind that gracilis grows the fastest in full sun.
• You can plant your bamboo any time of year but they will grow the fastest and shoot up new culms in spring and summer.
• To form a screen, plant 50cm-1 metre apart from each other.
• Plant in healthy soil which is free draining. Gracilis will grow in most soil types, clay and sand, with a relatively shallow root system 30-50cm deep.
• Holes for planting should be twice as wide as the pot and one and a half times the depth to allow room for the root system to grow. Roots will grow horizontally rather than downwards.
• You can mix compost and manure into the soil at time of planting to help improve soil.
• Add compost if soil is really sandy, or heavy with clay to help break it up.
• Once the bamboo is in the ground, backfill with soil by first giving the plant a really good watering to break up soil around the base, fill some soil around the bamboo so the hole is half full, water again to settle the soil down, and then fill up fully to ground level.
• We recommend covering the base with a generous layer of compost and mulch 5-10cm with any organic material which will decompose like leaves, straw, bark or hay. You can mulch all the way up to the culms without damaging the bamboo and also new shoots be able to also make their way through the mulch.
• If the roots are restricted (root barrier, concrete foundation, roads) the plant will not grow as tall and the roots will have a tendency to grow deeper.
• If it has freedom to grow (good soil, enough water, no root barriers) it can potentialy  grow close to 10m with culm base 1.5m wide. Keep this in mind when planting along the neighbour’s fence. Ideally plant 2m from the fence line, but if no space is available, 1m minimum.  If you dont have even 1m available, consider a root barrier to prevent culms growing on the other side of the fence.

Watering

• Thoroughly water your bamboo at the base every second day in summer, or once to twice a week in winter. If it has been really hot and especially if you see signs of wilting foliage or can feel that the ground is dry, then your plants will need a daily watering at the base. After a few months, water the base and ground around the plant as the root system grows out.
• Keep watering until they are established. This can take 6-12 months depending on conditions. Afterwards, monitor them and water if showing signs of wilting or stress.

Maintenance

• Prune your bamboo to your preferred height once a year which is best done at the end of winter.
• When pruning your bamboo, make the cut just above the node of the culm.
• The older small culms may die off giving the bamboo plant a worn down look. These culms can be pruned out at the base. Remember that any cut culm won’t grow taller any more, new shoots will emerge every year for the life of the plant.
• Once you have your plant the size you desire, cut off new emerging shoots at the base. Keep in mind that each culm lives 5-10 years, so new culms should gradually replace the old ones.

 ​Interesting facts

• As a bamboo clump ages, culm size will slowly increase as new shoots emerge on the outskirts of the clump.
• Bamboo is great for screening out your neighbours, soil erosion control, wind and noise breaks.
• Gracilis bamboo leaves will stay green throughout the year and the plants are frost tolerant to -10 degrees Celsius.
• To keep your bamboo plants smaller, plant them closer together, or alternatively, put in a root barrier.
• Gracilis is clumping bamboo and will not be invasive.
• Gracilis will grow up to twice its height every year for the first 3 years and reach full maturity within 3-5 years depending on conditions like temperature, humidity, soil health and sun.
• Gracilis will form a hedge within 18-24 months