Bamboo is a botanical marvel. Under the right conditions Chinese Moso bamboo, Phyllostachys edulis, can grow over three feet a day. That means that well within a year, it can hit its maximum height of 60 feet.
This extraordinary performance is the result of having evolved in dense jungles. There, the faster a plant can grow the more light it can capture, dooming others to struggle in the shade. A key part of bamboo’s success is that it does not grow from seeds but instead branches out from established plants.
This means all the plant’s nutrients and energy can be put into building stems that shoot skywards. As some UK home owners are discovering, this also makes bamboo a nightmare to control.
If planted near a building, bamboo root structures called rhizomes can quickly snake their way into foundations where they begin to riddle the structure. There have been instances of bamboo erupting up through floorboards which, when taken up, reveal a space completely filled with bamboo rhizomes.
Cutting these back may offer only a temporary reprieve as the rhizomes merely send out further branches. To anyone who has battled bindweed, or the dreaded Japanese knotweed, this sounds like a nightmare.
Moso bamboo, just like all bamboo, are non-native plants to the UK. Walk around any well-planted garden in the country and you will find a wealth of non-native plants. Almost all of these will be naturalised species which grow well enough in the UK climate and generally live alongside other plants.
The Japanese knotweed Fallopia japonica is not like that. Once it starts to grow it can quickly overshade and outcompete other plants as there are very few natural control mechanisms. Once it gets established nothing can stop it.
While it dies back each winter, every spring new shoots emerge from its rhizomes that expand further. Eradication requires the removal of every single piece of the rhizome plus probably a large dose of weedkiller. Since 2013 house sellers have been required to state whether Fallopia japonica is present on their property.
Bamboo and Japanese knotweed were intentionally introduced into the UK. This continues the process of exchange of non-native plants and animals that is now centuries old. The potato was first domesticated in Peru perhaps as long as 10,000 years ago. The Spanish conquistadors introduced the potato to Europe around 1570 and they have since become a staple food for millions.
A few centuries later, ships returning from North America inadvertently released slipper limpets into the coast around Essex. These invasive molluscs can smother and starve native shellfish and outcompete oysters. They have since become established across South England and South Wales. Such is the risk those pose, it is an offence to release live slipper limpets into the wild.
Today’s bête noire is the Asian hornet. They are being introduced via imports of timber, plants, and soil or may even be flying across the English Channel from France. They pose a potentially catastrophic threat to bees and other pollinators as these species have no defence to the hornets’ sustained attacks.
It was previously thought that the UK climate would serve as a brake on their spread because winters are too cold for these hornets to survive. Unfortunately, climate change may be making the UK more favourable for them. New research has concluded that Asian hornets have survived the UK winter and so may become established. Clearly, vineyards won’t be the only things thriving in the UK as a result of climate change.
Does this mean we should be adopting a scorched Earth policy when it comes to bamboo growing in the UK? Not really. Bamboo’s growth even in a warmer UK will still be much less than the turbo charged performance in the tropics. It can be managed easily enough with careful planting and pruning.
I have a small clump of it in my garden. Its growth is actually very modest. The most important thing is to keep an eye on it and not allow it to grow near homes and other buildings.
We may be hearing more about bamboo in the future. That’s not because of its risk to house prices, though; it’s because it can be a natural solution to problems caused by climate change.
Large strands of bamboo growing in hot and humid areas can draw down many tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This carbon becomes locked up in the stout stems which, weight for weight, can be much stronger than steel.
Humans have been using bamboo as a building material since prehistoric periods. Today it can be used within structures including small homes and scaffolding on skyscrapers. You can buy clothes made with bamboo fibres. You can even ride a bamboo framed bicycle.
Bamboo is a remarkable plant and has much to offer if carefully managed. It can add interest to a UK garden, but its real value to us is that it may help secure a stable climate in which all our gardens can flourish.
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