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Different bamboo varieties and plants respond with varying success to propagation by culm cuttings. Probably the best technique for home gardeners is to cut off and bury complete culm sections of the desired bamboo. early springtime would be the best time to do this. this will not work however on running bamboo as they require rhizome sections for propogation. select a mature culm 2 or 3 years old. cut it into sections 4 to 6 feet long. cut back all the branches leaving a sigle bud on each branch. you can leave the largest branch at each node(one per node). these large branches should be selected so that they are all in the same orientation on the culm, so they will all stick upwards when the culm is buried. dig a trench long enough for the culm about 4 to 6 inches deep. bury the culm section with the longer branches sticking up above the soil. flood with water daily for a week, then twice a week for a couple more weeks. after that water often enough to keep the soil damp. you should start to see buds and new leaves. hopefully new roots and new small rhizomes will develop and produce new shoots and eventually a new clump. after about six months you should be able to carefully dig up the entire buried culm with roots and rhizomes intact. cut the culm on either side of each rooted node and pot or bag the rooted sections and grow in a protected environment until large and strong enough to be replanted in its permanent home. commercial nurseries use a variety of different culm cutting techniques for different varieties of bamboo which require more technical skill and controlled environments not usually available to home gardeners.

If I dont want to move the bamboo after it has started to grow well, can I leave it where I burried the culm and let the plants grow to full size. This seems like a good way to extend and fill in my bamboo privacy screen.

sure, be sure and take special care to keep the new plants moist and protected.

This seems more like whole culm burial than true culm cuttings propagation. Most culm cuttings propagation is done using either single or double node cuttings. One starts the process by cuttings about an inch before the node, then cut about 6 inches above the node. Branch trimming is the same as stated above. The culm cuttings are then placed in pots at an angle, burying the node about 1 to 2 inches below the soil. Cuttings are then either misted occasionally or placed under plastic to keep the humidity high. This reduces moisture loss from the remaining leaves and aids in rooting. Some also have said to keep the open portion of the culm filled with water.


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You can see more pics on this page here: http://www.gator-ventures.com/bamboo/bamboo-propagation/root-bamboo-cuttings.htm