How to plant a clumping bamboo hedge

Adam_W

Difficulty: Beginner

Clumping bamboo can give you effective hedging or screening in a fraction of the time that traditional screening plants need. The key to success is planting well.

Video Tutorial

Steps

Step 1

Clear the area of unwanted grass and other plants. Two weeks before planting we pre-sprayed the area with a non-residual organic weedkiller.

Our hedge was about 30m long so we hired a rotary hoe to remove waste and turn the soil. For smaller areas you can use a hoe and/or mattock. Turn soil over to about 20cm deep and at least 50cm wide.

Your bamboo needs room to establish, so it’s important that you cultivate the full length of the hedge, not just the individual planting holes.

Step 1 Remove grass or plants and turn soil over.png

Step 2

Rake over with a landscape rake and then a leaf rake to remove any waste material. Use a shovel to evenly distribute the compost, composted manure or soil improver along the length of the area and then evenly distribute your fertiliser across the area.

Use hand-cultivating tools or a rotary hoe to thoroughly blend in the soil improver and fertiliser along the planting area.

Step 2.1 Add compost or manure.png Step 2.2 Thoroughly blend in soil improver.png

Step 3

Using your landscape rake or soil leveller evenly shape the new bed. Aim to create a slightly raised mound to allow for the cultivated soil to settle naturally. Use your tape measure to ensure your mound is aligned as needed (in our case with the fence to the rear).

Step 3 Use soil leveller or landscape rake to shape.png

Step 4

With your spacer as a guide and your tape measure to keep your line running as needed, lay out your plants along the length of the bed.

Use a spade to make a hole for each plant and plant at roughly the same height they sat in their pots – not too deep or standing high out of the soil. Ensure that you create a "watering bowl" with a small circular wall of soil around each plant.

Step 4.1 Layout plants using spacer.png Step 4.2 Plant and create a watering bowl.png

Step 5

Once all the plants are in work your way along and deeply water each plant. Fill the watering bowl, move to the next plant and repeat. Do this at least twice along the row, then mulch the whole bed well.

Step 5.1 Deeply water each plant.png Step 5.2 Mulch the whole bed well.png

Step 6

Your new hedge will need frequent watering until it establishes. Don’t allow it to dry out and you should see new shoots in around four weeks (if you’ve planted in cooler weather then it may be spring before new shoots pop up).

If you plant in spring your bamboo should be nearly 2m tall and knitting together as a hedge by autumn.

Feed with a lawn food in early spring and late summer. In between you can supplement this with regular liquid feeds with a fortified seaweed-based product.

Clumping bamboo is very hardy once established but it does benefit from watering, especially during dry periods.

5.3 After planting and mulching.png 5.4 Six months after spring planting.png

Materials

Compost, composted manure or similar soil improver, bagged or bulk
Clumping bamboo in pots, number to suit your space. We used variegated dwarf Malay (Bambusa heterostachya cv Variegated). It’s an excellent, dense hedging variety.
Fertiliser (we use a slow-release lawn food)
Mulch, bagged or bulk.

Tools

Soil cultivation tools – hoe and mattock. For larger jobs consider hiring a walk-behind rotary hoe
Digging spade and shovel
Leaf rake, preferably steel-tined
Landscape rake or soil leveller
Tape measure and a spacer (we used a 1.2m level as a spacer)
Watering gear.