Thread: Bamboo Borders
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Old 16-02-2011, 03:32 PM
echinosum echinosum is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Feb 2006
Location: Chalfont St Giles
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GrowGuru View Post
Once they are planted, when should they be pruned? Should I leave them to their own devices, and give them a trim with a hedgetrimmer every so often? Also, why can the trimmings not go to compost?
Depending upon how tidy you are, you can get away with a single annual pruning in late summer/early autumn, eg Aug/Sep. Then has enough time to recover before frosts (so you don't get any brown patches) and looks tidy for most of the year. Additional pruning other times in the growing season if you are of the nail-scissors tidiness type. Make sure that you prune EVERY YEAR once established, because if you don't, you'll discover you can't cut them back to the size you want without permanently exposing brown patches. If you miss the late summer prune, do it immediately the following spring.

Hedge trimmer fine for the sides. May need lopper or saw for controlling the height.

If you try putting the cuttings on your garden compost heap the compost, you'll find that they can survive undecomposed for years, unless you have a really hot efficient composting, and the resulting compost is very acidic. Fine to put in the council green waste.