How to Grow Bamboo from Cuttings [12 MONTHS 6 VIDEO UPDATES]

I grow the Golden Chinese Timber Bamboo, Phyllostachys vivax f. areosulcata from Rhizome cuttings in August last year.  The bamboo plants are a year old and are looking great.

It has been a year of learning to grow bamboo from cuttings. It requires care for the delicate new shoots where I kept the snails away, staked the new bamboo shoots and watered them during the warm summer months.

 

Height of the bamboo plants - measured

I measure the height of the bamboo plants at 2 weeks (August), 4 & 6 weeks (September) and 8 weeks (October). The growth pattern I observed was interesting. 

The fast-growing bamboo shoots reached over 60cm in 8 weeks (2 months).

By the end of the 12th month, the height of the longest bamboo was 106cm which means that the bamboo shoot grew only 40cm in 10 months.

But, something interesting happened during that time. [Watch the 1 Year Video Update to find out what happened]

VIDEOS UPDATES: How to Grow Bamboo from Rhizome Cuttings

This raw video list shows the work that I did over the period of 12 months, from the summer of 2021 to 2022.

Video 1: Grow Bamboo in the Propagating medium (2 weeks growth)

I used a bucket as a bamboo propagator. Planted the rhizomes in the bucket for 2 weeks until the roots and shoots germinated before transplanting them into Holding Pots.

Video 2: Bamboo Growing in the Propagating medium (4 weeks growth) New Growth Eaten by Slugs

I had to stop the slugs from eating the new shoots by applying slug & snail pellets.  It worked.

Video 3: Transplanting new bamboo from Propagator to Holding Pot (4 weeks growth)

Video 4: Calculating the Growth Rate of Bamboo in the Pots (8 weeks growth) - how fast does bamboo grow in a day?

In this video, I measured the height of the new bamboo shoots for 8 weeks and found the growth rate of this bamboo.

Video 5: How tall a bamboo grows in one year

From my observations, a new shoot will grow super fast in the first two months.

Then, put out branches and leaves and establish the rooting underground.

The first shoot can reach a metre to two metres, eventually doubling the height as it grows.

Video 6: What happens as a new bamboo plant grows? [Expected Height by Year]

Like most plants, a newly planted bamboo will not reach its full height in the first year.

Each year the bamboo will grow taller, in some cases twice as tall as the previous plant.

It will reach its matured height in 4-5 years and last for as long as 20-30 years.

Notably, a bamboo grove can last even longer due to the bamboo plant's re-generative growth behaviour, unlike the trees.

Important note about bamboo propagation

Different bamboo plants have different growth rates and patterns, features, soil, light & shade preferences.

Also, the propagation technique (seedlings, rhizome cutting, stem cuttings, etc) used will affect the growth of new bamboo plants. 

In this particular work, I am propagating the Golden Chinese Timber Bamboo, Phyllostachys vivax f. areosulcata from Rhizome cuttings.

Use it as an informational guide to growing the tall Phyllostachys from the rhizome cuttings.