Digging up a Bamboo

BenDover

Have a bamboo which I actually planted in one of those plastic garden trugs with the bottom cut off to keep it contained and stop if from spreading.  However, although its grown fairly well, I now what it out.  As I've contained it, then I am thinking this should be relatively straight forward, although I am not sure how far down the roots would have gone so not sure how much of a nightmare its going to be to extract.   The trug is probably no more than 2 foot in diameter so not that big.  I guess its also going to weigh a fair bit too.

Anybody had any experience of doing something similar?  Are bamboos deeply rooted?  The trug is probably around 18 inches tall.  No evidence that the bamboo has travelled down and coming up anywhere else in the vicinity.

KT53

From my experience they are not deep rooted, so with a bit of luck all the roots and runners will still be contained.

BenDover

Well, that was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be.  Dug a bit of a hole around it, and then gave a little bit of a tug on the handle of the trug, and it moved, so I gave it a bigger tug and the whole thing just lifted out of the ground.  The trug had done its job by keeping it contained and the roots had not even escaped below it.  Well happy. I've spent to day in the GC finding a nice large trough and its now happily replanted in the new container with loads of fresh compost, manure and blood fish and bonemeal.  And watered it in copiously.

Thanks for your advice guys.

KT53

You've probably got well over £100 worth of bamboo there.  Check prices in the GC's and you could be shocked.  I wish I'd contained mine that was as I effectively chucked away a fortune.

BenDover

Yes, I think I recall paying a small fortune for it when I bought it.  That's why I wanted to save it rather than throwing away so bought a nice large trough to put it in and plenty of room to grow. I know putting in a container is a bit more maintenance with watering but look after it and they grow well.  Well impressed with the trug though - certainly did its job.  Perhaps I should patent it as new type of bamboo barrier! 

Lizzie27

Good work Tim, and a useful tip for the future.  I wish I'd put my bamboo in a container of some sort that I could have dropped into the stone trough it's in. Most of it died after the heat last year and I'm still trying to decide what to do next. There are one or two tiny new shoots today so it's not entirely dead.