Currently my phyllostachys edulis bicolor is my favorite so far which is very ornamental. It should be 1-2 weeks from shooting by about now, but I believe in zone 7, it would probably get up to 30-40ft if it gets well fertilized. This bamboo is supposed to have good spacing however it just grows slow in my climate up here in upstate NY. I've found it produces enormous rhizomes, but not that many of them since it has only 7 rhizomes after being in the ground for 3 years.

I don't think any bamboos can upsize well under a canopy of tree shade so some trees on the south facing side will need to be cut down.

Here's my blog post on it which starts in 2011.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bicolor growing diary

Thanks for sharing, Steve. The more I think about and hear from other bamboo growers, the more I think I ought to get a better feel for how bamboo grows in more flexible spots before I try to grow any in places that need to fit more precise parameters.

Thanks, too, for sharing the great series of bamboo photos.

I should be adding more photos pretty soon because shooting season should be right around the corner even in the far north here in upstate NY.

I just know this type is hardy down to zone 7 because someone in SC who is normally zone 8, but got a low of 3F still got almost no damage on p edulis bicolor.

Hello , I'm looking for a bamboo which would be ideal for making bo staffs for martial arts training. It needs to be cold hardy -10 -15 degrees and I would like it to be 1" or 1.5" in diameter . Something durable and solid with flexibility. The commercial bo staffs sold for training are made of rattan bamboo , I have looked everywhere and have found no sights of anything similar . Can someone help me , I need a species or strand , and a location where to get a start .... Thank you

Julio, I know very little about bamboo compared to most of the people on this forum, but my guess is that you're not going to find anything comparable to rattan in a hardy enough bamboo or any bamboo that grows outside of the tropics.

Ok thanks . I'm new to growing bamboo and I'm not familiar with all the different typs. Thanks again for the information ...

I know that the tallgrasses around here that greatly resemble bamboo get up to an inch or a little more in diameter, and I have had great fun fashioning lengths of it into swords, spears, and various other decorative use objects. It is, unfortunately, quite fragile compared to real bamboo, and readily splits down it's length if you strike something forcefully with it.

It's been a plan of mine to harvest a decent amount of the thicker stalks and split them down the length of the beam and then tie a large number of them together in bundles to make a decent practice swords (bo-ken) for myself and friends.

I'm fairly certain that a similar method (binding a large number of strips) would be successful in creating a reasonably durable bo staff for practice use. You'ld just have to be certain to bind the staff in say ... 5 locations spaced along the length of the weapon, and make certain that the ends and outer surface are perfectly smooth and free of splinters.

Dipping the item or coating it in some type of binder would further make it sturdy and strong. You could pick up some of the more commonly available types of tall grasses to experiment with and see what you're comfortable using. The only problem I see with it is that the individual splines might pinch your hands as they shift, which is why I would use a binder to keep it from shifting around ... but wrapping the entire staff in something like sports tape or medical self-sticking adhesive might work just as well.