Growing Bamboo in Southern Indiana

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NobeyamaGP
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Location: Petersburg, IN

Re: Growing Bamboo in Southern Indiana

Post by NobeyamaGP »

So far, all my boos are still alive, no thanks to invading rabbits and a dry summer so far.

Now I have another issue. In a few weeks I will be leaving for a 2 week motorcycle trip and will need some way to water my bamboo while I'm gone. The bamboo is planted far enough away from my house (~200 feet) that stretching a hose and setting up an automatic sprinkler system and the like is not feasible. While I've been home and the plants are still fairly small, I've been carrying water to them every other day. Does anyone have any ideas for a remote watering system I could set up before I leave? So far all I've come up with is 5 gallon buckets with small holes in the bottom to hopefully last a few days to a week, but that will still need to be refilled at some point before I come home. Eventually I'd like to install a water line out by the bamboo so I could set up an automatic watering system, but for now I'm looking for something temporary so I don't come home to dried up plants. Anyone have any ideas?
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Glen
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Location: Southeast Texas, Zone 9a

Re: Growing Bamboo in Southern Indiana

Post by Glen »

You said that you did not want to do this, but I would just get a couple hundred feet of hose and run it back, with any necessary branches to accommodate all the plants. You could run a poly irrigation line with microsprinklers off the main hose, or just get some cheap plastic sprinklers. Since your plants are new, you should not have to water a very big area. For that distance, consider a 3/4 inch hose for increased flow.

You can get a battery operated timer to hook to your faucet. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rain-Bird-E ... 209335-_-N

I have done this kind of thing in the past with no problems. Actually, I regularly water off of 300 feet of hose.
NobeyamaGP
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Location: Petersburg, IN

Re: Growing Bamboo in Southern Indiana

Post by NobeyamaGP »

Thanks Glen. I'm going to measure tonight and see how much hose I would need to cover everything. I'd love to eventually dig in a permanent line out by the bamboo so watering wouldn't require carrying water, but for now I don't want to have to worry about my plants drying out while I'm away. That timer looks pretty slick too. Definitely something to consider.
Alan_L
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Location: St. Louis area

Re: Growing Bamboo in Southern Indiana

Post by Alan_L »

No neighbor kids that you can pay to come over a couple of times and water (or refill the buckets)?
NobeyamaGP
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Location: Petersburg, IN

Re: Growing Bamboo in Southern Indiana

Post by NobeyamaGP »

Alan_L wrote:No neighbor kids that you can pay to come over a couple of times and water (or refill the buckets)?
Honestly no. I live pretty far out in rural southern Indiana so I don't have many neighbors at all nearby. I do have a couple of people who have agreed to come down a couple of times and check on things while I'm gone. If I can't get something else set up in the way of a watering system before then, they've agreed to water the bamboo as well.
NobeyamaGP
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Joined: Thu Jun 29, 2017 7:59 pm
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Location: Petersburg, IN

Re: Growing Bamboo in Southern Indiana

Post by NobeyamaGP »

With 6" of rain over the weekend, I may not have to worry too much about watering bamboo while I'm gone.
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