Instructions for planting Golden Bamboo

1. Place the root ball at the same level it was when dug from the ground or pot. Do not add soil on top of the root ball. Bamboo rhizomes and roots are extremely sensitive to changes in their position relative to the surface of the ground. Planting deep is the main cause for lack of growth of transplanted bamboo in the Pacific Northwest. Usually people plant deep to prevent the bamboo from blowing over. If there is any chance of this, stake the plant but do not bury the root ball.

2. Make a dam around the planting hole, well beyond the root ball, to hold water. If the plant is on a slope, make a dam below but not above the plant. You want to catch rainwater, not divert it. Water deeply and thoroughly by filling the catchment several times after backfilling the hole. This settles the soil around the root ball. Add more soil if needed. Try to saturate the surrounding soil so that it keeps the root ball moist until the bamboo can spread its roots into the new soil.

3. Beyond the root ball and its catchment area, make a doughnut of deep mulch measuring a few to many feet wide. Deep mulch controls weeds and encourages the bamboo to spread. Rhizomes and feeder roots will spread eagerly into the moist soil below the mulch and especially up into the mulch itself.

4. Mulch the top of the root ball very lightly. Too much mulch rots rhizomes and allows rodents to nest. Do not let mulch touch culms, as rodents will hide in it and eat culms and new shoots. Conversely, too little mulch bares the soil and allows overheating and the germination of weed seeds.

Good luck with your new plants