Bamboo

Introduction

What is the largest bamboo for growing in the Kansas City area ? Phyllostachys nuda is up to 34 feet high and 2 inches in diameter, but the website: http://www.lewisbamboo.com/nuda.html says it will grow only 10 feet in zone 5.

Columbia, Missouri Example

Location: Columbia, Missouri

Source: Yuyi Lin

Attached are the bamboo photos taken early this year. The bush is large enough for us to harvest a few pounds of fresh bamboo shoots this year. It tasted really good. In my home town (Fujian Province, China), the soil is red colored, a little on acidic side, and mostly clay type, bamboo grows very well and become very large. I put oak leaves in Fall on the bush to help the root from cold winter. For last a few years, the leaves did not turn yellow but remain green all year round, which is helpful. I will look into using large bamboo stem as bow material, but cannot do it quickly.