FAQs

YES! … within reason.  Removing the canopy foliage will allow more light to penetrate to the ‘heart’ of the bamboo – facilitating foliage growth from the inside of the clump.  The result will be a much denser foliaged plant.  The Dwarf species in particular, are highly responsive to pruning, and make excellent hedging/topiary specimens. 

There is limits to how much you can remove a bamboos’ height and still maintain good form within the plant.  It’s not reasonable to attempt to keep a 10m tall Timor Black pruned to 3m – this is beyond the realm of its’ natural habit and would not be a consistently acceptable option. 

It is, of course, preferable to simply select a shorter species!

Most bamboo, with a few exceptions, prefer to grow in full sun. Because of this, bamboo will produce most of its foliage where this is maximum sun exposure, which is obviously at the top of the bamboo. If the bamboo is free standing with a good amount of sun reaching the base of the bamboo, then it will also have good bushy foliage all the way down to the ground. 

However, when bamboo are planted in close proximity to each other, or in shade of other trees, there will be little sun reaching the lower parts of the culms, which then causes less foliage growth at these lower levels. The bamboo will only put energy in growing foliage in places where there is good sunlight, and thus maximum possibility of photosynthesis. 

Another growth characteristic caused by bamboo growing in shade is that it will grow taller that what it would otherwise grow to in full sun. Since the bamboo wants the light, it will try to get it by growing taller. A bamboo growing in shade will always grow taller than the same species grown in full sun. 

These two growth characteristcs are important to understand, as a particular bamboo species can look quite diffenent depending on the amount of sun it recieves. If planted in shady areas, or close together, then they will be taller and less bushy at the bottoms. If planted in full sun and spaced well apart, then they will be shorter, with thicker bushier foliage all the way to the ground. 

If you want to promote more foliage at the lower levels of the bamboo, then you can facilitate this by cutting the tops off the bamboo, thus letting more light reach the bottom. Also, simply thinning out the bamboo by removing old culms (cutting them off completely at ground level), will also help in letting more light 'into' the clump. This can be a little bit of a catch 22, since you will be removing culms (and thus reducing the amount of foliage). The additional light reaching the remainder of the bamboo culms will however more that compensate for this, with the extra foliar growth that it will encourage.

Yes and No....

Bamboo shoots can contain cyanogenic glycosides, which when chewed, releases Hydrogen cyanide. The levels of this chemical determines the edibility and taste of the bamboo shoots. High levels results in an unpalatable level of toxicity - and an incredibly bitter taste. This acts as a natural defence for the bamboo, to prevent herbivores from eating the new emerging shoots. This is good when growing bamboo, but not so good  when you are wanting to eat it. The good news however is that the potentially toxic chemicals are easily broken down when boiled in water, making consumption perfectly safe. Preparation is therefore essential in all species except for some species like  the Nastus Elatus, which can be consumed raw. 

So....back to the question of whether ALL bamboo shoots are edible. In a sense, yes they are, but only with carefull preparation of the very bitter tasting ones by boiling the shoots multiple times (changing the water inbetween), to reduce the bitter taste and break down the toxins. Some bamboo species however have naturally lower levels of the cyanogenic glycosides, which makes them much less bitter, and thus easier to prepare for eating. In our catalogue of bamboo species, we have maked all the bamboo species as edible if the shoots that it produces are less bitter. 

It is generally the larger growing species which produce the edible shoots, with an extensive range of flavours to suit all palettes.

If you add a pair of socks, or a pruning saw, etc etc to your shopping cart, then you will be able to progess through the checkout (including payment) with shipping costs automatically calculated.  

If, however your order contains one of more plants, then your cart contents will be converted to a quote and sent through to our sales staff for review. Your order will be individually assessed by our staff to ensure we can offer you the most economical delivery option, whilst ensuring that the live plants are able to be delivered without any delays in transit to ensure they get to you in optimum health. Please allow up to 24 hours for us to get back to you with a quote on shipping costs.

We also feel it's our responsibility to advise you against inappropriate species choices. If we feel that perhaps you have ordered something that is not suitable for your climate or location, then we will present you with other option, not just blindly process your order. Our aim is to provide you with geographically, functionally and aesthetically suitable bamboos.

You can cancel your order at any time. If shipping costs come back as being expensive to your area, then you always have the option of not going ahead with the order.

Sending live plants in a large country such as Australia, can be a challenge. But rest assured, we have dedicated staff on hand to see to it that your plants are sent by the most appropriate method, ensuring the plants get to you in a timely manner, without damage.

The shipping costs generally work out quite a bit cheaper on large quantities of plants (full pallets) on a per plant basis, where as small orders of just one or two plants can end up costing just as much in freight as the actual cost of the plants. Though we dont have any minimum order quantities, keep in mind that freigth costs can be proportionally high for small order volumes. As mentioned previously, you are always free to cancel order at any time.

For a more detailed run-down on our shipping methods, please refer to our delivery guide (http://bambooland.neto.com.au/page/useful-info/delivery).

If for some reason things do go wrong and your plants get delivered in poor health, then we will either arrange for a refund or arrange for replacement plants to be sent to you. In the event of such an occurance, you must let us know within 24 hours of the plants being delivered, as we cannot accept responsibility of the plants well-being beyond this period of time.