According to Guinness World Records, some species of bamboo can grow up to 2. So if you sit long enough with a bamboo culm, it might just grow before your eyes! How does bamboo grow? As a colony plant, it uses its energy to expand its roots and grow more shoots in the spring. These shoots emerge out of the ground to grow taller and wider for around 60 days. After 60 days, the canes stop growing altogether, and energy is directed back to the roots for the development of further canes.
This is where it diverges from most other flora, which put their energy into continued growth of the original stem. Once bamboo is established usually after 3 years , the new shoots that emerge each spring will continue to get bigger and bigger. Pretty cool, right? No, really! Cutting bamboo actually stimulates growth. How does this work? Well, rather than directing energy towards regaining its lost height, a cut bamboo stalk will simply unfurl new leaves.
These leaves, in turn, create and send energy down to the root system to encourage the growth of new shoots. This grove below was 14 years of age at the time of these images. Larger groves tend to shoot later as the ground temperature takes longer to warm. We have numerous varieties of giant bamboo in stock and ship year-round. See our giant species in stock here Giant Bamboo. Moso is the very first timber bamboo to shoot each year in climate zone 7; it usually shoots in late March or early April.
Below is a single shoot I will follow along the next month. With this species, as with all temperate or cold hardy bamboo, many of the new shoots will abort.
Because of that, the wood starts to elongate, or more precisely, to expand. To put it even easier to understand, you can think of bamboo as a slimy toy. Slime is typically compact and small. But once you expand it, the slime becomes longer and wider. With bamboo, it is wood instead of slime. And instead of you expanding it, the cells grow with the nutrients the roots send. Even though most bamboo species grow fast, some grow faster than others.
Here, we want to introduce the ones that grow faster. The name comes from the particular color the wood produces. Instead of the usual green of bamboo, this one harnesses a green-to-yellow one. With enough sunlight, the bamboo gets to a gold-like color. Sure enough, the bamboo grows decently fast, achieving an outstanding inch growth per day.
The stems can reach a total of 35 feet in less than a year. And these trunks can be up to 2 inches in diameter. Another fast-growing bamboo type that also grows tall and wide is the Green-Glaucous. As its name says, it boasts an intense green color, often with white stripes across the stems.
This one can also achieve over 20 inches of growth per day. More interestingly, it can grow to 35 feet in its lifespan, with stems of around 3 inches in diameter. Like most bamboos, it grows better in warm climates. Its vibrant yellow with green stripes and bulky appearance makes it impossible to dismiss. Each specimen of this species can reach a total of 45 feet in height. It can grow over 20 inches per day. This one is a rare species, hard to find for home use.
Even then, it requires warm environments and grows with a lot of sunlight. One of the most useful types of bamboos is the Moso. It boasts an intense green color with white stripes. The surface is one of the softest in texture but the hardest in sturdiness. The Moso bamboo can get to 10 feet in total height. Yet, it can be as thick as 5 inches on its base, making it bulky. Thanks to its small cane, hardwood, and thick shape, it is used as timber for construction and furniture.
It can grow several inches per day. More interestingly, it does so either in warm or cold environments without problems. While fertilizing is not a necessity for growing bamboo, it is important if you want to get the best growth results possible.
It is generally recommended to apply an organic slow-release fertilizer during mid-spring, to give time for bamboo to absorb lots of nutrients right before the shooting season begins. Why choose a slow-release fertilizer? It means less leaching as well as provides nutrients gradually which helps increase the uptake of nutrients and provides them for a longer time.
Bamboo consumes a lot of Nitrogen. It also benefits greatly from Potassium, Phosphorous, and Silica. Sawdust, chipped wood, compost , manure, leaf mulch, and bark are all good mulch materials for bamboo.
The layer of mulch protects the rhizomes and acts as insulation. During drought, severe heat or freezing temperatures in winter, mulching can slow down evaporation or protect soil from getting too cold.
In-ground bamboo should have between 2 and 6 inches cm of mulch. Container bamboo can do with less mulch, just enough to cover the soil is usually enough. Annual trimming of older and dead culms allows the plant to conserve more energy for producing new shoots.
Clumping bamboo spread very slowly. They gradually expand outward only a few inches a year which makes them very predictable. This is why they are very easy to maintain and make an ideal variety for home backyards. Running bamboo generally spreads 3 to 5 feet per year. But there are species that are faster to expand so before buying be sure to check how fast the specific species are. Skip to content. So here we go! How fast bamboo grows on average It is hard generalizing growth patterns for bamboo because of how many different types of it grow in various climates.
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