The Grass Is Always Greener

[RazinCane]

My septic area is the greenest area of the yard and I was considering planting a ground cover bamboo there, my thinking being their diminished size would exclude any root damage to pipes and they would appreciate the extra moisture. Is this feasible and does anyone have suggestions as to which ground cover bamboo would thrive in zone 7, full sun? Thanks.

[Oregonbamboo]

Drain field lines are usually 12 to 24" below the surface depending on the lay of the land so you should be fine with any of the small running shallow rooted Pleioblastus bamboo. I suspect many here have planted knowingly and unknowingly large timber bamboo over septic drain lines and not had problems. It is always a risk to plant anything but grass. Good luck!

[Michael]

It is always a risk to plant anything but grass.

But But Bamboo is a grass.


Michael

[RazinCane]

Thanks for the reply Oregonbamboo. It was my thought to use the septic field to encourage the invasivness of sasa in order to dig transplants in the future.

[Alan_L]

I'm pretty sure Brad (needmore) has Phy. viridis planted over his septic field.

I think if it were my septic field I'd probably plant a sasa (or sasaella, or pleioblastus) there and not worry about it. Actually, I'd probably start small in a test section and see how deep the rhizomes and roots went.

[needmore]

You might keep in mind that most Sasa will get to around 6' tall in your climate...I'd suggest the 'mini' form of Distichus and give it an annual mowing to refresh it.

[RazinCane]

Thanks Brad for the suggestion. I'm looking to pick up 3-4 different ground cover boo's but most seem to prefer shade. I'd like to get Sasa Veitchii and Palmata, Pleioblastus Viridistriatus and Indocalamus tessellatus.

[Alan_L]

Tesselatus will mature at 5'-6' in zone 6, maybe a little taller. The others I'm not sure about. I've never seen a viridistriatus taller than 3' or so, but I think the potential for taller is there.

[needmore]

Thanks Brad for the suggestion. I'm looking to pick up 3-4 different ground cover boo's but most seem to prefer shade. I'd like to get Sasa Veitchii and Palmata, Pleioblastus Viridistriatus and Indocalamus tessellatus.

I think you can mostly ignore the references to shade, I do not see that it matters with most species, some of the plants you see listed a shade bamboo will get taller in the sun - Pl nagashima will push 6' feet in full sun but is 'listed' as much shorter. Sasa nipponica hates full sun but that is the only one I've observed with obvious signs of not liking it. The Pleioblastus distichus 'mini' seems to be the only true ground cover species I have that stays short, Sasaella ramosa is still fairly short as is Sasaella hidaensis muraii, keep in mind that the others of the Pl and Sasa genus tend to be 'stemmy' due to their height and more shrub than ground cover.