# Live bamboo?



## Lord spider (Jun 7, 2017)

Hello. I'm kind of new around here and I'm hoping for some advice. i will soon be getting a p.ornata and I would love to put some live plants into it's enclosure. My question is, would live bamboo be a good idea for this kind of t?


----------



## Python (Jun 7, 2017)

Bamboo grows too fast and out of control. I would pass on bamboo


----------



## The Snark (Jun 7, 2017)

Python said:


> Bamboo grows too fast and out of control. I would pass on bamboo


Generally speaking, I agree. There are an incredibly diverse selection of bamboos that can be chosen from but they all share the same properties of root propagation. Even if you retard the upstairs, give the roots the slightest chance they are going to spread, almost indefinitely if the environment permits.


----------



## Python (Jun 7, 2017)

That's one problem I have where I work. I sell farm supplies and chemicals and from time to time someone will come in wanting a chemical that will kill a stand of bamboo. There aren't many chemicals that are labeled for bamboo or cane and bamboo and the ones that are are prohibitively priced. People here want a chemical that targets only the species they want to get rid of and they don't want to pay more than a dollar for it. It's crazy but this town is stuck in the 1930's. Bamboo is just too hard to control and I would think a small area would fill up pretty fast and the runners would probably make burrowing an impossibility pretty fast. Not to mention when it overtakes the enclosure it's in, tossing it out in a compost heap or out in the edge of the yard would soon cause your yard to become uninhabitable without intervention. The best way to get rid of it in a yard is probably napalm. I'd stay away from bamboo if I were you.


----------



## The Snark (Jun 7, 2017)

I got rid of several large bamboo clumps here. The farmers method is bring in a back hoe, dig up a clump and burn it with rubber tires for several days. Had a problem clump 10 feet across next door and in a gentlemans bet with the neighbor  I offered to kill it. Right. Like I could do that when these farmers couldn't. It was dead in 48 hours.  100 kg 95% sulfuric acid. Chemical napalm.


----------



## Python (Jun 7, 2017)

The Snark said:


> I got rid of several large bamboo clumps here. The farmers method is bring in a back hoe, dig up a clump and burn it with rubber tires for several days. Had a problem clump 10 feet across next door and in a gentlemans bet with the neighbor  I offered to kill it. Right. Like I could do that when these farmers couldn't. It was dead in 48 hours.  100 kg 95% sulfuric acid. Chemical napalm.


Nice. I'll have to pass that along. I do have sulfuric acid but I don't know if I could talk someone into buying that much of it lol.


----------



## The Snark (Jun 7, 2017)

Python said:


> Nice. I'll have to pass that along. I do have sulfuric acid but I don't know if I could talk someone into buying that much of it lol.


If you buy it at a commercial chemical supply house in quantity it's cheap. Around here, Thailand, about $15 for 50kg. It is also a weird way to restrict plants to certain locations. Very heavy, doesn't migrate readily, pH of the soil is predictable, organic, non polluting, selectively herbicidal by application control and predictably biodegrading. Unfortunately, some righteously evil stuff to handle and work with. A pH meter is mandatory if using it in terrariums or animal enclosures.


----------



## Lord spider (Jun 8, 2017)

Python said:


> That's one problem I have where I work. I sell farm supplies and chemicals and from time to time someone will come in wanting a chemical that will kill a stand of bamboo. There aren't many chemicals that are labeled for bamboo or cane and bamboo and the ones that are are prohibitively priced. People here want a chemical that targets only the species they want to get rid of and they don't want to pay more than a dollar for it. It's crazy but this town is stuck in the 1930's. Bamboo is just too hard to control and I would think a small area would fill up pretty fast and the runners would probably make burrowing an impossibility pretty fast. Not to mention when it overtakes the enclosure it's in, tossing it out in a compost heap or out in the edge of the yard would soon cause your yard to become uninhabitable without intervention. The best way to get rid of it in a yard is probably napalm. I'd stay away from bamboo if I were you.


Thank you. It sounds like you two have saved me a lot of grief.


----------



## schmiggle (Jun 8, 2017)

What are the terrarium conditions like? (Moisture, humidity, light, substrate, temperature) I might be able to suggest something


----------



## Galapoheros (Jun 8, 2017)

Bamboo grows too tall for terrs, bamboo is in the grass family, a little trivia there.  There are clumping bamboos that aren't so invasive.  I used to be interested in bamboo, even went to bamboo shows.  Some people also don't realize "water chestnuts" in their Asian meal is chopped young bamboo shoots, no nuts about it.  I heard cattle can eradicate bamboo, don't know if that's true, heard that on the radio.  I heard this is a good site for terr plants.  http://www.blackjungleterrariumsupply.com/Plants_c_1.html


----------



## schmiggle (Jun 8, 2017)

Galapoheros said:


> Some people also don't realize "water chestnuts" in their Asian meal is chopped young bamboo shoots, no nuts about it.


Not quite, I think they're corms that grow on one species of sedge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleocharis_dulcis
However, Chinese cuisine does also have chopped young bamboo shoots (at least the relatively little I've been exposed to). I rather enjoy them, although not as much as water chestnut, which is one of my favorite vegetables.


----------



## Alana (Jun 8, 2017)

Something like Pothos would be a much better idea. I use it for my planted tanks and it grows well. Might need cut back occasionally, but nothing like bamboo.


----------



## Galapoheros (Jun 8, 2017)

schmiggle said:


> Not quite, I think they're corms that grow on one species of sedge.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleocharis_dulcis
> However, Chinese cuisine does also have chopped young bamboo shoots (at least the relatively little I've been exposed to). I rather enjoy them, although not as much as water chestnut, which is one of my favorite vegetables.


I have to admit now that I don't know the difference between bamboo shoot taste and water chestnut taste.  For some years now I thought bamboo shoots were water chestnuts, I have no idea how that happened but I may try to find the water chestnut plant and grow it, I like it also, probably easy to grow, lots of water.


----------



## The Snark (Jun 9, 2017)

Galapoheros said:


> I heard cattle can eradicate bamboo,


There is one, or maybe more, bamboo varietal that only grows 2" to 4" tall. More like it's lawn cousin but with the distinctive bamboo leaf. It is used as an ornamental, I think primarily in Japan. It is a cold lover, not minding snow. I've always wondered if it could be trained into miniature, even terrarium anvirons.


----------



## Galapoheros (Jun 9, 2017)

Dwarf bamboo?, still too tall for most terrs but came across that also.  I typed in something like "smallest bamboo species".


----------

