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rob_e

oldhamii hedge

rob_e
18 years ago

I want to keep my oldhamii at about 20ft.tall.

has anyone done this, and how does it look?

will it cause new branches to grow lower down the culms?

I read that it makes a good hedge. please post pictures

if you have any.

thanks,rob

Comments (10)

  • kentuck_8b
    18 years ago

    Supposedly it will make a denser hedge if you trim the tops. When I trimmed my multiplexes, they grew limbs lower down and also got thicker. Personally, I would plant one of the mutiplexes as a hedge vs trimming the Oldhamii. I like my Oldhamii tall, as tall as it can get.

    How tall is your Oldhamii, and does it freeze back in your zone? Here it freezes in colder Winters, and then I have to wait for it to grow back. The multiplexes don't freeze quite as easily.

    Kt

  • strangelove
    18 years ago

    Oldhamii would make a great hedge, but you will need to start off with a lot of plants to line up, since it is a clumper Oldhamii won't fill in like runners do. I would say spacing them two or three feet apart would be good. I have planted Oldhamii bamboo in planters and spaced them a foot apart. I wanted to start an immediate screen so I used 12 bamboos that I dug up from an old grove. I trimmed them down from 40 feet down to 15 feet. When you first trim them it looks pretty bare, but they begin filling in nicely with new leaves. I have not noticed much growth of branches below 4 feet of the culm. In all I am very happy with my oldhamii hedge, very hardy and wind resistant too. Larger leaves are also easier to deal with since the bamboo live on top of a wooden deck, they don't fall detween the gaps in the deck. Check out the images of my oldhamii.

    Here is a link that might be useful: click here to view pictures

  • kentuck_8b
    18 years ago

    Nice bamboo, Strangelove, but not very thick. I always look for a hedge to be very dense, to the point where you cannot see through it, or in other words, it needs to be a good privacy screen, also.

    For Oldhamii to get that thick, it will take up a lot of room. Hedge bamboo is better for density, and would grow in a smaller space, but would have smaller leaves, as you said.

    Supposedly, Oldhamii is a great windbreak or privacy hedge if you like a larger bamboo, but mine don't have branches on the lower nodes, something that may change if the culms were topped.

    I have a couple growing in 14-inch pots and one has culms over 22 feet tall but does not have very dense foliage. The two in-ground planted Oldhamiis that I have never grow to the point where you can't see through them but do make pretty good windbreaks. Culms are over three inches thick and about 38 to 40 feet tall.

    Oldhamii does grow very erect which also is a plus for making it into hedge.

    Kt

  • rob_e
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks for replies,at this point both plants are in pots
    and about 12ft tall.I hope to plant them at my new house
    sometime around the 1st of the year.the "hedge"i ask about
    is more of a window screen on the side of the house.

    Kentuck
    I live on the north side of san antonio.I was hoping
    freezing back was not going to be a problem.
    please feel free to make suggestions and recommendations.
    Help young grasshopper snatch the pebble.
    Rob

  • wanna_run_faster
    18 years ago

    Strangelove...

    Great rooftop osasis!

  • kentuck_8b
    18 years ago

    Yes, Grasshopper, your inquisative nature and insatiable desire for bamboo knowledge, brings you one step closer to snatching the pebble.

    I live in 8b, borderline 9a, between San Antone and Houston. My two in-ground Oldhamii's have no protection(yet) from north winds. The first years, they froze completely to the ground, even when I covered them, but they grew back larger and taller each season. If you have good norther protection, and being close to your house, it may give them enough extra heat to keep them from getting freezer burn.

    With temps only down to 30F, mine did not freeze back this past Winter, only some leaf burn, so I thought that with extra fertilizer and water this Summer, they would be really huge. The culms got just a bit thicker and the height of the plants may have increased slightly. I'm thinking that this may be their maximum height and size here. One other thought, the passed two shooting seasons were early due to early rains that cooled the temps and started the shoots emerging. My personal feeling is that if the rains would have held off another month or so, the underground food storage and pre-emerging shoots would have increased in amount and size, making the shoots much thick and thus growing taller. Just my thinking.

    My hardiest large clumper, by far, is B. textilis. A very nice looking bamboo that needs very little care, if any, and does well in winds, although it is not quite as upright as Oldhamii.

    Many of the B. Mult. varieties, such as Al Karr, grow to around 20 feet here. They make very dense hedges, the type that I like, since you cannot see through them. I suggested them because of their cold hardiness and being about the height that you would want, without having to trim them each year.

    I am still trying other varietes of Bambusas to see how well they will fare here in these Texas Winters, but outside of the multiplexes and textilis varieties, they don't seem to be real cold hardy.

    Master, Kt

  • rob_e
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Master kt

    Let me see if i understand......

    Do not repress an oldhamii,
    but encourage a textillis gracilis

  • kentuck_8b
    18 years ago

    Grasshopper, your understanding of bamboo is coming to fruition.

    Oldhamii is a huge plant and should not be restrained. It needs room to grow, repressing it would only hide it's true beauty.

    Textilis 'Kanapaha' is the only mature Textilis of mine, the others, Gracilis, Albostriata, and Glabra are all smaller but also seem to be as cold hardy and maintenance free.

    Oldhamii: Very upright, larger leaves, longer branches, but less cold hardy, looks windblown after high winds. Culms up to 4 inches in diameter.

    Textilis: Leans outward somewhat, medium sized leaves, short branches, very cold hardy, holds up well in wind. Culms up to 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

    Both have deep green culms and leaves. Both grow to about 40 feet, here.

    Confused, Grasshopper? What I am saying is, is that it is a matter of opinion or personal preference. Close your eyes and see the bamboo with your hands. Listen to what the bamboo tells you when the wind blows. Only then will your quest for the correct bamboo be answered. Let your inner bamboo spirit guide you in the correct direction.

    Kt

  • countofmontecristo
    15 years ago

    I have also come here in search of bamboo wisdom.

    I have plans to buy some Old Hamii bamboo and I was wondering if it was possible to space them out a little so that they would be climbable. Or what a better question is what would I have to do to make a small bamboo grove to climb in. I know that they won't be 15 until about three years from now but that would be worth the wait. Is it possible?

  • kentuck_8b
    15 years ago

    Where are you located, or what zone are you in?

    Oldhamii would be difficult to climb since the limbs are small and on mature plants, the lower nodes on the culms have no limbs.

    I planted two separate plants about 20 feet apart, about 10 years ago, and they haven't grown together yet.

    There is still about 10 feet of distance between them. As they became more mature, they also became more cold hardy, but the recent drought has killed off many of their culms.

    I would plant them about 8 or 10 feet apart from each other, unless you find a cheap source of plants and are able to plant several.

    Kt

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