Bamboo Bonsai

[penumbra]

knot-weed bamboo bonsai anyone? just kidding. its extremely invasive. i heard Michigan property values are affected because they love growing thru concrete foundations and are super tough to get rid of.
View attachment 337067

Billions have been spent trying to eradicate it, but it has a very long history in Traditional Asian Medicine and as a health promoting herb world wide. It is used for everything from gingivitis, to bronchitis and it has tremendous cardiovascular benefits. It is about the richest source there is for resveratrol, a very powerful antioxidant used for heart health and longevity. It has also been useful in people who have dementia and Alzheimer's.
Its all useful, even poison ivy.
But back to bamboo.

 

[Bnana]

Bamboo does fit with bonsai, you need other plants in the garden.
The pot with horsetail does look very nice, good companion plant. I love their primitive look.

 

[Michael P]

If I remember correctly, in Bonsai Techniques II John Naka had a chapter on bamboo bonsai. Yes, true bamboo, not Nandina or Equisetum. I don't have a copy, so can't check. Will someone else look for it?

 

[penumbra]

Bamboo does fit with bonsai, you need other plants in the garden.
The pot with horsetail does look very nice, good companion plant. I love their primitive look.

Of course it fits. That is why I brought it up. You used to see them bonsai-ed years back but it seems not as much anymore.

 

[Michael P]

OK, a quick Google search for "bamboo bonsai john naka" yielded this from the Internet Bonsai Club: https://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t15602-john-naka-and-bamboo

It so happens that I have a start of Phyllostachys nigra in a pot right now. . .

 

[Kadebe]

If I remember correctly, in Bonsai Techniques II John Naka had a chapter on bamboo bonsai. Yes, true bamboo, not Nandina or Equisetum. I don't have a copy, so can't check. Will someone else look for it?

I have the German version.
Naka says the most commonly used species as bonsai is Phyllostachys
page 397 "How to cultivate a bamboo bonsai"
Can't scan the pages right now

 

[penumbra]

Bamboo does fit with bonsai, you need other plants in the garden.
The pot with horsetail does look very nice, good companion plant. I love their primitive look.

I apologize that my first response to you post was so abrupt. I misread what you wrote.

 

[Bnana]

No problem. I mean a garden can't be only bonsai. Having bamboo as well looks nice.

 

[MrWunderful]

I need a horsetail kusamono

 

[AJL]

Here ia a miniature bamboo Arundinaria pygmaea but is it bonsai?!

 

[Potawatomi13]

Looks like horsetails. Not Bamboo.

 

[Potawatomi13]

I see almost nothing here on bamboo bonsai in the archives. Has anyone here anything to share?

Nakas Bonsai Techniques II has some hints on Bamboo.

 

[meushi]

knot-weed bamboo bonsai anyone? just kidding. its extremely invasive. i heard Michigan property values are affected because they love growing thru concrete foundations and are super tough to get rid of.

I've seen Japanese knotweed used as a shitakusa/kusamono in Japanese exhibitions. It requires growing from seed in a very dark environment to stunt the growth.

In some places you can't get a mortgage to purchase a property if there are Japanese knotweeds on the plot. The Netherlands is currently doing a live experiment of biological control by introducing leaf fleas. The big question in that experiment is the survival of the introduced predator during the winter.

 

[hinmo24t]

I've seen Japanese knotweed used as a shitakusa/kusamono in Japanese exhibitions. It requires growing from seed in a very dark environment to stunt the growth.

In some places you can't get a mortgage to purchase a property if there are Japanese knotweeds on the plot. The Netherlands is currently doing a live experiment of biological control by introducing leaf fleas. The big question in that experiment is the survival of the introduced predator during the winter.

Interesting

 

[meushi]

The one on the right is Japanese knotweed.

 

[penumbra]

View attachment 337177
Here ia a miniature bamboo Arundinaria pygmaea but is it bonsai?!

This is a true bamboo but I would consider it penjing and not bonsai. There is nothing wrong with that. Bamboo has a rich history of penjing.

 

[Forsoothe!]

These things in a garden are villainous intruders into everything and only people who do not own nice gardens would allow them in the same state.

 

[penumbra]

These things in a garden are villainous intruders into everything and only people who do not own nice gardens would allow them in the same state.

Did you see that I mentioned my Fargesias? Not even a tiny bit invasive and very cold hardy as well.
Several of the spreading ones can be managed as well with a lot less work than maintaining bonsai.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

These things in a garden are villainous intruders into everything and only people who do not own nice gardens would allow them in the same state.

Having ONCE made the mistake of planting bamboo by my koi pond (after ensuring it was a clumping variety - and not (supposedly) a running variety) I will never make the same mistake twice. I eventually was able to kill/remove it, but it was an arduous multi-year process, while it threw out runners that (not exaggerating) ran 30' underground.

Now if I would ever use bamboo in a garden again, I would put it in a container, and that container would not be in direct contact with the ground.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Having ONCE made the mistake of planting bamboo by my koi pond (after ensuring it was a clumping variety - and not (supposedly) a running variety) I will never make the same mistake twice. I eventually was able to kill/remove it, but it was an arduous multi-year process, while it threw out runners that (not exaggerating) ran 30' underground.

Now if I would ever use bamboo in a garden again, I would put it in a container, and that container would not be in direct contact with the ground.

Yes, in spades. You want an air space so you can see any attempt at making an escape from captivity. I have never been a victim of bamboo, but I have seen what it can do in large gardens and worse, when it's planted at the property line and the person on the other side didn't know what was happening...