How to Maintain Black Bamboo Phyllostachys Nigra

 The running black bamboo nigra are resilient plants. They tend to thrive in the UK and are commonly used as privacy screens and for garden hedging, or as pot and container plants. 

These bamboos will require care and maintenance as they grow. 

Use the two tips below to help your plants grow unobstructed.

• For new plants and shoots: Add slug and snail pellets to protect them when your bamboos put out new growths.
• For older plants: tall culms and new tender shoots will require staking. Add mulch and prune where necessary.

We have seen slugs devouring the new plants in one visit. 

The different cultivars of Phyllostachys nigra bamboos are no different, they are prone to slug attacks. 

So, apply the Snail and Slug pellets to stop the slugs from damaging the new growths. 

Staking these tall black bamboo plants is a must. The plant support you provide will encourage the tall plants to grow upright and protect the new tender culms from the wind. 

Furthermore, if you grow the Phyllostachys nigra Black Bamboos in pots, they will require some support. 

Staking them is one option. Another option is to use a rope to tie the culms into a tight grove, providing a neat and upright hedge or screen. 

The ideal time to care for your bamboo is when the new growths are coming out early in Spring to Summer. 

Here is how to grow black bamboo nigra.

Common black bamboo plants in the UK

There are 4 common black bamboo plants that grow in UK gardens. You can find most of them at the Kew's Japanese Bamboo Garden in London.

The common Back Bamboo Nigra can also be seen in many home gardens. It is easy to identify with its black stems.

4 common black bamboo plants:

• Black Bamboo Nigra (Phyllostachys nigra)
• Phyllostachys nigra f. henonis
• Phyllostachys nigra 'Megurochiku'
• Tiger Bamboo or simply ‘Bory’ (Phyllostachys nigra ‘Boryana’)

Click on the links to find out more about them.

What types of care to provide for black bamboo plants?

If you are planning to build a roots barrier or thin out your running bamboo rhizomes and culms, do it in early Spring. 

 Always add the access soil and mulch to the base of the bamboo plants and tidy up before Summer. This will stimulate the plants to grow within weeks. 

The best mulch for the bamboo is bamboo leaves. Rake the leaves and put them back near or around the bamboo. 

The other Phyllostachys bamboo plants have green stems with peculiar spots and stripes colourations. 

These running bamboos are hardy, tall and upright plants, and also invasive. 

They require care and attention to grow well.

All in all, the black bamboo plant is one of the Phyllostachys nigra bamboos, well-known for its spectacular black stems.