Needmore Bamboo Co.
 
                   
      Using Bamboo As a Privacy Screen
   
     I receive lots of calls from people wanting information about the possibility of using bamboo as a privacy screen planting and I thought that it may be helpful to create a web page with some basic information about this topic.    Bamboo can serve as a beautiful & effective privacy screen in climate zone 6 (and warmer) but it does require some advance planning and the appropriate species selection.   
    
      Right off, I'm afraid that I must eliminate any species of clumping or 'non-invasive' bamboo as an option for a continental zone 6 privacy screen.   Due to their inability to take our hot summers, the genus Fargesia does not grow well in a continental zone 6 (in a coastal zone 6 perhaps).  Based on my experience growing all of the clumping forms that can take our winters, only one species - Fargesia dracocephala (formerly F. rufa) seems to do well in our hot summers.   A few others such as F. nitida, F. denudata will survive but not grow fast enough to provide any screening.   F. robusta in my experience can not take the cold and died off here, but it can take the heat, and so may perhaps offer zone 7 gardeners some screening opportunities.   Even though Fargesia dracocephala is very rewarding to grow as an ornamental, unless you need the screen to be shorter than 5 feet, it will not work for screens as it remains very compact and wide.  
 
      Creating a bamboo privacy screen comes down to economics versus patience - one plant will create a screen in 10 years, while more plants will greatly reduce the timeframe but require a greater initial investment.   Despite a reputation for rapid, invasive growth, it takes bamboo a minimum of 3 years to become well established and for the first couple of years not much seems to be happening.   Unless you are willing to spend the extra money up front for a dense planting of an 'instant' screen, I believe that you should plan on a minimum of 3 years for the bamboo to grow into a screen, this will depend upon the species selection and winter temperatures.  
 
       If you are in need of a privacy screen, chances are that you need it year-round, which means that you should grow the hardiest screening species for your area.   A number of Phyllostachys species will create excellent privacy screens and if one of my 'Zone 6 six' appeals to you by all means go with that species, but my number one recommendation for zone 6 is Phyllostachys bissetii.   Phy. bissetii in my experience is as cold hardy as any Phyllostachys, (the hardiest for me thus far) and will establish faster than anything else in zone 6.   Although Phyllostachys rubromarginata can also establish very quickly, it is a notch below Phy. bissetii in terms of hardiness.

        The area to be planted should allow for a minimum of 2 feet of bed width and ideally a minimum of 18 inches of soil depth.   Although a narrower/shallower bed is possible, down the road you will end up with a root bound grove that will begin to decline without regular maintenance.  If you have a narrow bed you should consider wider plant spacing, using fewer plants to allow more room for rhizome growth from each division.  Full sun planting sites are ideal, shadier sites will also support a bamboo privacy screen but with less light the plants will grow slower and will not produce as many leaves, resulting in a slightly less dense but effective screen.

    Establishing a bamboo grove is all about allowing the planting to create grove mass, so I recommend that for the initial 4 years you avoid pruning out any of the culms - with the exception of those that may be leaning into pathways.   After year 4 you should be encouraged to thin the grove to the desired look.    Refer to my page on controlling spread, to plan for the ultimate size of your screening grove.

        The photos below illustrate my recommendation for planning your bamboo privacy screen in a continental zone 6 garden.   I suggest planting Phyllostachys bissetii on 5 feet spacing.  If your area to screen allows for more than 4 feet of bed width, consider adding an additional row of plants per 4-5 feet of bed width and offset the rows as per below.   I estimate that Phy. bissetii planted on 5 foot spacing will close that gap in the 3rd year from 2 gallon and larger size plants, add another 1-2 years for other Phyllostachys species.  

    In the photos I am assuming that the bed area is 20 feet wide by 15 feet deep.   I have pushed back the first row 5 feet from the front edge of the bed; spaced the 2-gallon pots 5 feet apart; added a second row (and offset it) 5 feet back from the first row and 5 feet from the back of the bed.    With this planting formula I estimate that these 10 2-gallon Phy. bissetii divisions would fill an area 15'x20' in 3 years - assuming that proper feeding, watering and sunlight conditions combined with favorable winters describe the site conditions.   At a cost of $40 per 2-gallon pot this screen would cost $400 for the initial planting		      
                               
     
                               
           
Planning to screen an area 15'deep by 20' wide
                
                               
     
                               
           
2-gallon pots of Phyllostachys bissetii
                
                               
     
                               
           
2 rows, staggered, all plants are 5 feet apart
               
                               
     
                               
           
Closer view of the plant spacing
                
                               
               
                               
         
A 4-year old grove of Phy. bissetii screening the LP gas tank from view
          
                               
               
                               
              Phyllostachys aureosulcata providing a nice screen