Labor of Love but Labor Nonetheless

[dgoddard]

I am transplanting some of my bamboo to reshape my grove using the errant rhizomes and their shoots, but I am not so experienced as to believe that I am doing this in the most efficient way, then again my technique might have some advantages I can share, so I thought I would post a couple of pictures and ask for advice.

From my other posts you may be well aware of my problems with rocky soil which contributes significantly to the labor involved. But if anyone has suggestions as to how I might reduce labor elsewhere I am open to suggestions.

The left part of the picture below shows a bit about my digging technique. I cut all around the clump I wish to remove and then drag it out on to a "Cardboard Sledge" made from several thicknesses of a large box with a piece of poly rope threaded through holes punched in it. This way I don't have to lift the clump. ..... It was hard enough just to drag it out of the hole. So long as the ground is relatively smooth the cardboard slides easily and does not beat the clump to pieces.

In the background you can see my hand truck and 5 gallon bucket. It allows easy rolling (pneumatic tires are the only way to go for outdoor use) and the 5 gallon bucket is easy enough to dump.

The right side of the picture shows the planting phase. The clump can be gently slid off the cardboard into the hole resulting in minimum disruption of the roots. The bar on the sledge is my "Dig Bar". It is a 1 inch steel bar, with a hardened tool steel point on one end for probing for rocks and getting under them to pry them up or for breaking them if they are soft rock. The other end is a 3 inch wide blade with a chisel point and hard facing weld deposited so it won't chip bend or dull readily. The bar weighs about 15 pounds and unless I hit a rock it will punch a foot deep in 1 to 3 strokes and easily cleaves through rhizomes. It is of course an excellent pry bar for rocks and dislodging the clumps once they have been cut around.

My cutting around technique is to probe for rocks by making a "dotted line" around the clump using the tool steel point, and then cut 3 inches at a time on the dotted line with the chisel end before prying up the clump with the bar and shovel.

If I am being optimistic, I will say that it is great upper body exercise, or if pessimistic but positive I will say that I am sure glad I don't have to earn my living doing this. I am in reasonable shape for 67 but I can only stand a few hours of this per day.

Please feel free to provide any advice you wish, (compliments or criticisms) or any questions, but I would be especially interested in anything that would make this easier. Could I dispense with moving that big ball of dirt without increasing the stress to the plant or at least have as much success getting the transplant to take hold and thrive. That Dig Bar really gets the rocks out and the rhizomes cut but it gives the arms a real workout.

[dependable]

My advice would be "don't hurt your back". Am not quite your age yet, but I do this sort of thing for a living and it has taken it's toll. If you have a lot to do you might seriously consider renting a bobcat or similar machine ( with pallet fork attachment). Or barter with someone with a tractor and forks. Your technique looks fine, rocky soil adds to the toil, but it makes my back hurt just thinking about trying to cut more than a few clumps out with that bar.

When you have a machine to do the work, you can get some really nice viable clumps you would never consider if you had to lift them manually.

[zxylene]

I agree with dependable. For small and quick jobs you can make do but there is nothing like the right tool for the job. And once you hurt your back I think it is then something that never is quite right ever again.

[dgoddard]

Well, I think I may be pretty much through for a while. That rocky ground in my pictures was the worst of it. I got 3 clumps one day and 4 the next, rested up on Saturday and was back at it Sunday when I got 7 more done out by the road where the ground is rocky but not so bad. Then Monday I got 11 more by the road where the rocks are comparitivly few. I had run the rotary tiller on my tractor over the ground where I wanted to plant them so it was very much easier. I think I am done for this shooting season. The most i had to do was make sure to do my back muscle toning exercises in the morning in a very warm room and the back seems to be doing just fine. Of course it may have helped that the last set of transplants were taken from less developed groves only about 6 or 7 feet tall with slender growth. They seemed to produce tighter clusters of culms so the clumps were small enough to carry and did not have to be dragged on the sledge. My groves are long hedge like affairs and I have added about 64 linear feet to the groves which essentially doubles the length of my plantings with 25 new clumps that should grow together in a couple of years. I have probably done enough for this spring. Now I just need to water them and fertilize them until they get established.

[stevelau1911]

Did any of those clumps of dirt with shoots coming out of them take and turn into culms without aborting and producing smaller ones?


I have done a similar method as you with my moso bicolor however I purposely aborted the shoot in the section where I wanted to create the division to let energy flow back into the rhizome and encourage hopefully more smaller shoots to emerge which would be easier for the divisions to sustain themselves. Of course those 2 entire rhizomes were completely severed from the grove, and I left them in the ground to avoid breaking any roots or shoot buds. I'll get some updates once I see results, but the cold weather in the next couple days will delay the progress for a bit.

It would be pretty cool if any of those clumps of shoots actually took off which is very possible if you happen to have one of the screening type bamboos. How come you did 4 clumps in relatively the same spot? Do you want them to grow thicker. Eventually they will all compete with each other for light and dominance of that spot.

[dgoddard]

Did any of those clumps of dirt with shoots coming out of them take and turn into culms without aborting and producing smaller ones? .......

If I am following your question correctly, My experience with moving whole clumps is slightly variable.
Sometimes one of the larger shoots sort of withers or is at least stunted and sometimes more shoots of a smaller size come up or both. But most of the shoots the first year produce a plant that is 3 to 5 feet tall, pretty much regardless of the diameter of the shoot. I do fertilze and water well to help the clumps as they are now cut off from the energy of the rhizome network and I think it helps but there is still transplant shock. If this year's round of transplants are true to my experience, they will produce growth that is stunted relative to the diameter of the shoot and maybe several slender culms that do not get very tall. Next year I do not expect the shoots to be as large as the ones I transplanted this year. Shoots which emerge, post-transplanting, this year will likely be quite slender and all of next years shoots are expected to be similarly slender. Then each subsequent year's crop will steadily get bigger and taller. Next year I do not expect the shoots to be as large as the ones I transplanted this year. There may be some differences this year as especially the grove in the pictures I posted produced larger sprouts than usual for me to transplant. I am hoping that the larger culms in this year's transplanting will produce some pretty reasonable foliage as I am impatient for the development of my privacy and dust screen to become effective.

I suppose I should invest in a proper soil test where I am doing the transplanting as some of that soil is not so good, but I have not found a cost effective way to do that. The extension office wants $15 per test and my soil is highly variable from place to place with obvious differences as little as 20 to 40 feet apart. I have tried some of the soil test kits that are sold and not found a single one that gave me anything more than ambiguous results. I suspect that soil acidity is the biggest issue an the hardest to correct appropriately. I use a 13-13-13 fertilizer generously but not so much as to show any sign of burning the grass amd follow up with a good watering or two if spring rains do not promptly accommodate.