[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

 []

[Karen W.]

   
I took this from: Pr web press release news wire.       

Bamboo in its natural state is pretty remarkable. Technically a grass, bamboo can grow to be 130 ft tall and up to a foot in diameter, and it thrives in a variety of climates. It grows easily and quickly, with some species growing as much as 1-3 feet a day. Most varieties grow about 2 inches a day, and will reach their full height within one growing season.


In my opinion that is remarkable but different varieties are different growth times.. I don't know why though!

[paul.fr]

I don't know the why, but because of it's quick growing nature, it is seriously being considered a better option to switch grass as an alternative source for producing bio-fuel. David Farrelly, in his The Book of Bamboo, says that bamboo has been measured to grow 47.6 inches in a 24-hour period!

[kdlynn]

that's really fast!when does is stop growing? is there a limit?

[Karen W.]

It looks like about 130 ft tall but that may just be one type. I am sure it must vary with different varieties of bamboo!

[kdlynn]

yes... i have some tiny bamboo plants. i've had them for over three years. they don't grow as quickly... obviously... or they'd be huge and hitting the ceiling

[Karen W.]

Are you talking the kind in  the little pot with a ribbon around them..?? Bamboo will stay small if you do not expand its allowable growing room.. Put it in a bigger pot with lots more room for its roots to go crazy!

[kdlynn]

no i bought it loose. it's in a rather big container.

[DoctorBeaver (OP)]

Look, I know you girlies are crazy about flower arranging (it's genetic, I think; along with knitting, crochet & ironing) but WHY & HOW does it grow so fast?

[Karen W.]

Sorry Doc!

[dentstudent]

As Karen said, bamboo is a grass. This means that it is a monocotyledon. A monocotyledon has only 1 leaf when it sprouts - this is called the cotyledon. Sunflowers, for example, have 2 leaves when they sprout, and are therefore dicotyledons.

A monocotyledon will never grow wider than it is when it sprouts. What do I mean by this? If you look at grass, a tall (and therefore older) blade of grass has the same diameter as a small, younger blade. A dicotyledon can grow wider as it gets older. You can easily see this in tree rings, where each ring (generally) represents a single years growth. The reason that this occurs, is that there are meristemic cells covering the outside of a tree in the cambium where the new growth goes down every year. Other key sites of mersitemic activity are in the branch ends and tip of the trees (apical meristem). Therefore, trees tend to grow from the ends of their branches.

A monocotyledon does not have this cover of meristemic cells, and so the growth morphology is different. In bamboo (finally!) the growth is like the extending of a telescope: There is a sort of crown which rises with the interior of the stem (culm) where the cell division takes place. The diagram on p3 of thie link below shows it well.

http://www.abssocal.org/pdf/Bamboo%20101%20So%20CA.pdf

The rate of growth is down to the genetic differentiation in cell division between the species.

Thats the how. The why is perhaps a little easier. Species tends to inhabit environments into which they are best suited. Not all bamboos are so fast growing, becsuse they don't need to be due to the availablilty of resources, usually light. In the case where bamboo does grow tall, it is because it competes will in that given environment for light, where the canopy is rather higher. If through evolution, you are a grass that can grow 100ft in a year, replicate through rhizomes, and be successful, then this is what you do!

[Karen W.]

That is very interesting and I am curious.. the rhizomes are the little underground running roots with the little bumps, right? Kind of like some grass that spreads out quickly and comes up everywhere..kinda like crab grass, is that right? Is the rhizome the part of the underground system that produces the little bulge and sends up a new shoot or blade?

[dentstudent]

Yes, exactly! It's not a root as such, more of a connector to the parent plant. Rhizomes have sections, along which new roots can form if they are in the right conditions, and then put up new shoots. There are many plant species that use this as a form of regeneration, and in the case of a large bamboo patch for example, it's generally not lots of plants, but one that has many rhizomes and created a network.

[Karen W.]

What is a good waty to stop the spread of overpopulating bamboo for instance? Would a simple wall down into the soil stop the rhizomes from spreading further and can this be done all around the area where you intend to plant the bamboo? If So, How deep must the barrier be to form and effective block?

[dentstudent]

There are a couple of ways of stopping encroachment, and it really depends on when you want to input the work. You can just plant them out, then cut off any shoots that grow upwards, though of course you still have the rhizome network in  the soil. If you are planning to put in some bamboo, then you can either dig a hole and then wall it in, or, perhaps more easily, plant the bamboo into a plastic tub, then sink the whole thing into the ground. You can then quite easily cut off any offending rhizomes as they grow over the edge of the tub. The tub method has the advantage that you can move the plant around the garden to suit you, rather than having to dig the whole thing up again.

[Karen W.]

tHAT SOUNDS LIKE A EASIER WAY TO CONTAIN THE PLANT.. COOL ! tHANKS!

[dentstudent]

No worries! Happy tubbing!

[dentstudent]

I've just thought of this:

Name me a surprising plant..(its a bit Christmas cracker but....)

[Karen W.]

what do you mean A chysanthuamum

[dentstudent]

Perhaps a banana if you accidentally sat on it?