First you need an healthy mature bamboo plant. You can use most species of bamboo but if you want to create a strong hardy smart bamboo, plant bambusa nana is the winner. Wamin Buddha Belly bamboo is right up there too. Bambusa Chungii has turned out to be very hardy as a smart bamboo in the warm subtropical areas.
6 steps to create a smart bamboo
- Step 1: dig last years culm [cane] with the top bud on the rhizome above the cut.
- Step 2: cut the culm [cane] to the height you want your screening bamboo to be.
- Step 3: pot the culm into a good medium like coco peat or sphagnum moss. Stand the culm up right in a full sun situation and support by tying to a horizontal brace.
- Step 4: when using a smaller diameter culms [canes]. Tie 3 culms [canes] together to create a smart bamboo that will be covered in foliage in no time. This is the most popular form of smart bamboo you will see in Thailand.
- Step 5: you can plant them out as a screen as soon as you like.
- Step 6: brace them in place with horizontal bracing for the first year in a windy situation if needed.
Spring is the best time to create smart bamboos but if you have the right environment or have a controlled environment you can do them year round.
Smart bamboos are the future of bamboo screening in Australian’s suburban gardens.
