No more bamboo!!!!

[Warren]

this bamboo is driving me crazy!!! it rained yesterday and this morning I find a few of my plants laying on the ground. the bamboo has broken and bent.

I know I have posted this before but I just needed to vent in a new thread!!!!!!!

[feldon30]

I would not count on bamboo as your sole support.

I've posted before, and it's probably too late this year for you, but there are pluses and minuses of those 50 foot rolls of galvanized fence material at Home Depot/Lowe's.

Pluses:
- Cheap!
- Won't rust
- Lightweight metal which is relatively easy to bend

Cons:
- Holes are 2" x 4"

The solution?
I took a page from Bully's garden and make circular cages with this galvanized fence material BUT leave a gap of about 1 foot and use heavy wire to brace the gap open. Then I used a heavy staple gun to staple the bottoms of the cages to the sides of my raised beds. I used more wire to wire the cages together, like wiring up a set of braces. Later in the season, the tomato plants started getting heavy and all started to pull one direction, but I undid 2 of the cages and propped up part of the cage up on the side of the raised bed and that pushed all the cages back into place.

Bully actually puts T-posts for a more permanent fixture. I just didn't want to cough up for the T-posts.

[cecilsgarden1958]

How are you using your bamboo? I have used bamboo for years without any problems. I make 4 legged teepees and put 1 plant at each leg. I read this in a Cook's Garden Catalog years ago and have use it ever since.

CECIL

[pooklette]

I quit using bamboo a few years ago for this exact reason. Once the plants got to be about 4' tall, one tiny gust of wind would snap the bamboo poles like twigs. I decided that bamboo just won't work with tomatoes in my yard, no matter how cleverly I think I've arranged them. (And now that I'm growing indeterminates that get 8' tall or more, there's no way I'll risk trying bamboo again.)

[dcarch]

Because of its high strength, (tensile strength similar to steel) bamboo is commonly used for high-rise scaffold construction in hurricane areas.

dcarch

[Worth1]

I only see three idiots on that thing.

Worth

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by Worth1

I only see three idiots on that thing.
Worth

The others are not up there due to gravity.

dcarch

[Warren]

well that is why I thought "hey I will use bamboo they use it for scaffold in japan."

Well after about a few weeks the bamboo started breaking at the joints were the plant grows. then as it gets older it bends very much.

[DavidinCT]

Originally Posted by Warren

well that is why I thought "hey I will use bamboo they use it for scaffold in japan."

Well after about a few weeks the bamboo started breaking at the joints were the plant grows. then as it gets older it bends very much.

The bending is strange. How thick are the canes? Are they splitting as well as bending? I have an 8'x6'x2' bamboo box frame from Gardener's Supply. Really not worth buying--canes too thin, too short and some canes are splitting --but the canes do not bend. Pretty stable too with one leg tied to a wooden stake sunk 3 feet into the ground.

For most of the garden I'm using 9 foot canes over an inch thick. Box construction with diagonals. The leaves will blow off the plants before those cages go down. No bending with that stuff (people do bend bamboo for certain usages and its quite a chore). Trouble with the thick long canes is price. If you can get it for free they are terrific. If not, the cost of the canes and the freight eats you up.

[dcarch]

I am using some bamboo sticks that are 6' long and only a little bigger than 1/4" round and they are not bending.

Problem with bamboo is that its so dense and solid that you cannot nail without splitting. Also it doesn't take glue well.

dcarch

[Tomstrees]

I only use bamboo poles for my pots. I do use stakes as well ...

How I do it:

1. I stick bamboo or stake into the soil
2. Then I drill two holes in the pot on either side of it
3. Secure with cable ties
4. Tie with ripped clothing as they grow

I've heard of others using a tee-pee method in a "main garden", but yeah, depending on how heavy the fruit gets, in the full sun and rain, they can weather ... I'm using them for dwarf and a couple Ind. plants.
Going well so far ...

~ Tom

Some examples (I do back-fill pots once the plants fill out a bit)









I used 2 ties on this one:

[Warren]

I checked Atwoods here in town. T-post are $2.84 per six foot t-post. next year I will have no problems