Thanks! I've bookmarked and made a note of that link.
>> So, you're the "Bamboozler?"
Yup, guilty.
>> You mean those real FAT bamboo poles we have'ta cut down with a reciprocating saw? That's what you wanna grow?
No, I'd like to grow my own 1/2" - 3/4" diameter culms suitable for stakes, trellises and hoop tunnels. Althoguh I might make a staircase railing from 1" and 2" poles.
I am growing Fargesia rufa now, mainly becuase I saw a cheap small pot of it in Home Depot, and its usual description says 10 feet tall and 1/2" diameter. What I'm seeing so far is less than 1/8". And it has a "graceful" weeping habit of growth: they are naturally arched so they block my sidewalk instead of growing UP and blocking the line of sight to neighbors. If they were this bent and also stiff, they would make great half-hoops for a low hoop tunnel.
Maybe 3 years old is still too young: the culms are still getting taller each year, now around 5 1/2 feet tall.
I might try F. robusta next, it is described as 3/4" diameter. I like the fact that they are hardy down to -5 F (Zone 6). I've seen 0 F winters in my town in recent years, listed in NOAA databases. I;m not eager to nurse a bamboo along for 5-10 years to get it big enough to use, and then die off or drop all its leaves aned sulk for another few yearss.
But my guess is that I should pick a 1.5" or 2" bamboo, and expect it to be stunted in my yard, or during my lifetime.
