"JimR" wrote

snip snip snip

Giant timber bamboo is Bambusa oldhamii and is a semi-tropical variety. I
cut some today to thin out the clump and the ones I cut were about 40'
tall. The grove is 8 years old. Side note - I cut the first ones on
Saturday and noticed some new shoots coming out of the ground. I finished
the work today, and the new shoots are already about 4' tall and about 6"
in diameter.

What is the internode distance of your bamboo and the wall thickness of
the culm at mid height?

What do you do with the culms that you have cut?

Now that many of my culms have reached a "decent" diameter (1.25 inch do
not laugh!) I plan to use some of them for a kind of simple decorative mini-
fence which I have seen described in a book about japanese gardens and
similar things.

It has proved to be a great source of shade, keeping that part of the
house much cooler. It's also thick enought to be protective bird habitat
and I've got cardinals, jays, etc. that stay there. It also is,
unfortunately, a great source of leaf litter . . .

I have noticed that birds like to take refuge in my little groves but they
do not nest there... I have also noticed the leaf litter (!) but I rake it
and use it as mulch.

I believe in your area you can probably grow Phyllostachis nigra, black
bamboo, which is a beautiful plant, but needs to be controlled. I've got
several extra root-culm sections to dig up if anyone within reach of
central Florida is interested -- if no takers I'll plant them in a couple
of large pots at our front door, where the golden goddess bamboo has
outgrown the pots.

Thank you for your suggestion,