which 2 or 3 should I add for poles/fodder/edible shoots?

[Eric]

This may be rather long, but here's my story, as a preface to my question of which bamboos you all would recommend I add (if anyone takes any interest in my long story).

A nearby friend got me started with my first three bamboos two years ago (moso, some yellow type of P. aureosulcata, and P. vivax aureocaulis) before I knew anything about differences between species, and then a neighbor gave me a division of some native cane (Arundinaria gigantea) last year, and I got some sweetshoot from another friend this year. Some P. aurea 'Koi' was also apparently mixed in with the moso I got, so those two are growing together now by accident, but I don't necessarily plan to keep the P. aurea. That's what I have now.

I'm a full-time, direct-market, unofficially-organic farmer with a low-tech, self-sufficient bent (hoping to find lots of varied uses for bamboo poles once I have my own supply -- I've found a lot of uses already with a limited supply from a neighbor down the road.) I have 43 acres about half of which is currently wooded. I grow vegetables, orchard crops, grain crops, pasture... I have very small herds of both goats and cattle. Most years I can graze the cattle through January on stockpiled grass, but then February and March I'm mostly feeding purchased hay (typically about 5000 lbs per year), which I'd love to replace with bamboo, even if just partially. The goats overwinter primarily on Chinese privet. That's an exotic invasive that I was originally trying to use the goats to eliminate, but they've kept it under control so well, and it's fed them through the winter so well, that I'm thinking now about managing it just for them, but if I could feed them on bamboo instead and get poles or shoots (for me to eat/sell) out of the deal as well, that would be even better.

Whether I can find significant use for bamboo as winter feed for the cattle or goats or not, 2 of the 3 areas I'm thinking about growing bamboo are currently messy overgrown areas with mostly exotic invasives: Chinese privet, multiflora rose, ailanthus (which I periodically cut down before it ever gets very big but it keeps coming back)... What I'm hoping to do in these 2 areas is plant some bamboo along the edge or in a small clearing in the midst of this other stuff with the hope that once the bamboo gets established and gets going that it can out-compete this other stuff without too much help from me. I can keep the other stuff down to 10-15', but I can't see any way to fully clear these areas without spending more time or money than they're worth, so I'm hoping at some point the bamboo will come up around and through the 10-15' mess of other stuff and shade it out.

However, one of these areas is adjacent to a power line right of way, so I'm nervous about going too tall. There is a little creek at the near edge of the (15' on either side) right of way, so it won't be able to grow under the power lines, but I'm still afraid that something too tall could fall over on the power line, so I want to avoid anything that could grow tall enough to fall on a power line 15' or 20' away. I actually have the P. vivax aureocaulis started there now, but I'm thinking I need to find another place for it, maybe the other messy area, although I'm not sure I really want something quite that tall in that other messy spot either. I want to keep it, though, and I'll find a spot for it somewhere.

The third area I have in mind for bamboo is in the corner of a paved road and the creek but further from the power lines. It's currently sparsely wooded in trees I don't especially value, so I'm thinking of clearing an area there and planting P. bambusoides. The nearby friend that gave me the moso says his P. bambusoides is completely winter hardy here, whereas the moso frequently gets beat up coming through winter, and one of his groves of moso died back completely to the ground with this last extremely cold winter we just had. However, it's a good enough location for moso that his has sized up to 6 or 7" in diameter. My interest in the P. bambusoides is primarily in strong, straight, larger diameter poles. If the P. bambusoides isn't any better or different than moso in that respect, though, I might transplant the P. vivax aureocaulis to that area instead. It's the lowest lying spot on my place, so potentially a little wetter ground, but it's well enough drained at least that red maples and tulip-poplars and walnuts, etc. are growing there now.

For the other two areas I've been considering P. atrovaginata, P. flexuosa, P. decora, P. rubromarginata, P. iridescens, P. parviflora...

I've seen several recommendations of P. atrovaginata for the quality of its shoots, so that and descriptions as maybe just a little larger diameter than P. flexuosa or P. decora has me favoring it. I haven't heard much about P. iridescens, but it's apparently a little larger yet, and apparently has good tasting shoots, too, and unlike P. parviflora, I know of a local source where I could buy it.

My interest in P. flexuosa is based especially on reading about the flexibility of the green poles. I've wondered if I could harvest them, bend them into arches, let them dry in that position, and then have arched poles to use for garden tunnels or covering things... I'm just generally very interested in unique attributes like that that might offer unique uses for the poles. P. heteroclada 'solid stem' interests me for the same reason, but it seems possibly too short for the areas I'm thinking of working with now. In any case, I want my bamboos to cover as wide a diversity of uses/niches as possible. Perhaps a smaller diameter bamboo -- I've considered Psuedosasa japonica -- would best complement what I already have, and maybe I can find a separate spot for that.

I see more potential use in my circumstances for poles than the edible shoots, although I would like to add at least one more good eating type in addition to the sweetshoot, in part because I've read the sweetshoot isn't as drought tolerant as other bamboos, and we almost always have at least one 3-4 week dry spell sometime in a normal summer, and some summers are extra dry. Our summer rain is just really variable as it mostly comes from unpredictable and unreliable afternoon thunderstorms. There isn't any really tasty bamboo that shoots really late like P. bambusoides, is there? That would fit better with my farmers' market season, but I could sell some shoots earlier, too (and, of course, eat them myself any time.)

Another friend has offered to give me a start of P. rubromarginata. It apparently shoots somewhat late. And it has pretty good size, but maybe it would take more preparation (not being as "sweet") than I could convince customers to do regularly. In any case, the long internodes seem like they might find special uses/advantages, and apparently it makes relatively stronger poles (which I guess basically means thicker walled?) I don't know which bamboos have more straight pole before they branch out, but that would seem like a desirable trait as far as the usefulness (and ease of harvesting) poles.

So which bamboos would best complement the ones I already have in their practical uses? Which should I add?

Thank you!

[Mackel in DFW]

Don't worry about planting really small divisions, go for cheap and just keep collecting different species. You can mail order anything you're interested in. My approach was to stop when I hit around 20 different species. I'd start with the largest diameter of the phyllostachys genus as they are more likely to be size able enough for eating. Parvifolia, Iridescens, and Bambusoides would be next on my list and Dulcis is definitely one of the more drought tolerant bamboos that we grow here in Dallas.

As far as drought tolerance, I give Vivax and S. Fastuosa top marks. P. Rubromarginata will flat out produce more biomass than any other bamboo drought or not, P. Glauca is especially drought tolerant and so is P. Decora. P. Makinoi, P. Iridescens, and P. Bambusoides 'Slender Crookstem' are very strong and straight.

Just some rambling thoughts but the point is, grow a diverse set of bamboo and know that they all look alike in their juvenile states and you won't be able to appreciate their differences (which will be profound) until a few years or more in the ground.

[oobmab]

Privet's the best thing you have going for winter goat forage. Bamboo will be higher maintenance (you have to cut it) and it will dry out fast. My goats didn't touch it after a day, but of course they were spoiled. So I'd only consider bamboo as a supplement to privet, not a substitute. Privet's a godsend when you have goats. Fairly high in protein; not so sure about bamboo. Honeysuckle can actually be a decent winter forage (should stay green most of the winter in zone 7).

IMO Psuedosasa japonica is a waste of time and/or money in your zone due to its not being very cold hardy. There is another Psuedosasa that is more hardy and very similar. Can't remember the name.