How do you get bamboo culms into the ground as supports?

[PhilaGardener]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Not sure what those joints are really called.

http://www.bamboobotanicals.ca/html/...th-habits.html

[Gardeneer]

Maybe you can drive a short sharp ended bamboo into soft ground but How can you do that with 6ft tall bamboo ?

[Father'sDaughter]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

Maybe you can drive a short sharp ended bamboo into soft ground but How can you do that with 6ft tall bamboo ?

An 8' bamboo pole + a tall stepladder + a good sized dead blow hammer + a 5'2" very determined Italian female. That's how. 😂

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

An 8' bamboo pole + a tall stepladder + a good sized dead blow hammer + a 5'2" very determined Italian female. That's how. 😂

Maybe you can.
But delivering a dead blow to an 8ft bamboo, will make it buckle.

[Father'sDaughter]

Skinnier and greener ones I'm sure would buckle, but not mine. A couple of years ago I bought a bundle of 8' x 1" bamboo poles from Home Depot. A few have splintered a bit on the skinnier end which is the end I drive in to the ground, but I should get at least a few more years out of them.

[kurt]

At the node,cut up at 45% so as the angle point is solid material.At a the second node that is above your target height cut of at node for solid material,when driven trim as needed to target height.Fill tops to prevent decay for the season..Find nice fence pipes with threaded ends larger than bamboo pole.Cap top of two lengths with the fence caps.One say 4 foot a starter,then a two footer for finish.Some guys tack weld two rebar handles.Then with gloves up and down real slow steady,two men in tandem timed sets can do some depth(in remote,hard to get at, well digging operations).You can candle dip asphalt on the pole bottoms for some longevity.Out neighbors just built.a boar enclosure(temp)using 4'' 10 footers driven into concrete surface mount(cavitys) blocks.Use a green(match boo color) 12-14 solid electrician copper wire.Use the nodules of boo as you would rebar rod busting wire wraps.Always rest your nodules on top of the horizontal piece,wrap and tie so as the boo will not drop past supporting nodule.Bamboo is used for multistory scaffolding.If you can wait,deforest the poles,lay poles together with fat and thin ends matched .Wrap 10-15 together tight,let cure couple months,if not they will dry whatever way the want,BENT.I love the stuff.Up in the mountains its call "green iron"Have fun.

[throwaway]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

For what the originator of this thread was suggesting, I would buy some "T" metal poles and not worry about all that other stuff. Tractor Supply has 6 foot metal "T" poles for under $4 bucks if you buy a few. They'll last a few years even with heavy abuse. Most of my attempts at "Florida Weave" has utilized these "T" poles. That works pretty good for all kinds of things in the garden.

I'm running over budget as is! Regarding 6 foot t-posts, they seem to suggest 2 feet of depth from what I remember, and I think indeterminate plants could hit 6+ feet in height; I had a super sweet 100 that must have hit 8 last year in an upside down planter! Do you pinch them off after 4 feet or let them dangle at that point? Or do you go with a taller post? I cut the bamboo to 8 feet figuring 6 feet of above ground height would be plenty, but maybe more than I need from what it sounds like.

For what it's worth, I do have a single leftover 8ft t-post from putting up an ugly welded wire fence around the garden area. Not sure if that would be useful for the pilot hole, but it looks like it would be difficult to get out of the ground once its in? I couldn't fit the 8ft posts in the car (sedan), but maybe the 6 ft would go.

Question on the conduit idea. Would that warp if you are pounding it into harder soil?

[Worth1]

News flash on T posts and alkali soil.
They wont last long.
But if the garden is that alkali you wont be needing them anyway.

Next you can get the smaller T posts and tie the bamboo to them without driving the bamboo in the soil.
Next yes the EMT conduit will warp if you hit it with a hammer.
Get a few steel couplings and use them on the EMT to hit.
That way it wont warp the top of the EMT.
This is what they look like.


Do not use this type it is made of some sort of pot metal.


Next there are several types of EMT conduit.
Some is what they call aluminized or E-Z bend.
It isn't as strong as regular EMT.

As was mentioned Bamboo has to cure before you use it.
Using the right variety makes all the difference as to how strong it is.


Worth

[throwaway]

How alkaline would my soil need to be to destroy the t-posts? The $5 meter says we're in the mid 7's, maybe closer to 8.

Didn't cure the bamboo with heat or oil (wondered what the neighbors would think of my holding 8 foot culms over the grill, but that's another story), but I have them upright in the garage and they seem pretty well dried. Hopefully that's enough to last a season? Grows like grass, so replacing isn't much of a chore. But I suppose tying it to a post at ground level would grant some more life to them.

Regarding tying the bamboo to the t-posts, what about something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/YARDGARD-...183A/202025622

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by throwaway

How alkaline would my soil need to be to destroy the t-posts? The $5 meter says we're in the mid 7's, maybe closer to 8.

Didn't cure the bamboo with heat or oil (wondered what the neighbors would think of my holding 8 foot culms over the grill, but that's another story), but I have them upright in the garage and they seem pretty well dried. Hopefully that's enough to last a season? Grows like grass, so replacing isn't much of a chore. But I suppose tying it to a post at ground level would grant some more life to them.

Regarding tying the bamboo to the t-posts, what about something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/YARDGARD-...183A/202025622

Curing means in the simplest terms to dry out.
As for longevity you might go to the store and get the cheap black electrical tape.
Wrap the part of the bamboo going in the ground with it.

Alkali soil.
I dont want to get into any soil pH war but you might consider bringing it down below 7.
How you do this is your call.

As for high pH, an 8 is 10 times more alkali than a 7.
Here is the explanation.
The pH scale is logarithmic and as a result, each whole pH value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next higher value. For example, pH 4 is ten times more acidic than pH 5 and 100 times (10 times 10) more acidic than pH 6. The same holds true for pH values above 7, each of which is ten times more alkaline (another way to say basic) than the next lower whole value. For example, pH 10 is ten times more alkaline than pH 9 and 100 times (10 times 10) more alkaline than pH 8.

[ContainerTed]

Originally Posted by throwaway

I'm running over budget as is! Regarding 6 foot t-posts, they seem to suggest 2 feet of depth from what I remember, and I think indeterminate plants could hit 6+ feet in height; I had a super sweet 100 that must have hit 8 last year in an upside down planter! Do you pinch them off after 4 feet or let them dangle at that point? Or do you go with a taller post? I cut the bamboo to 8 feet figuring 6 feet of above ground height would be plenty, but maybe more than I need from what it sounds like.

For what it's worth, I do have a single leftover 8ft t-post from putting up an ugly welded wire fence around the garden area. Not sure if that would be useful for the pilot hole, but it looks like it would be difficult to get out of the ground once its in? I couldn't fit the 8ft posts in the car (sedan), but maybe the 6 ft would go.

Question on the conduit idea. Would that warp if you are pounding it into harder soil?

I'm retired on a fixed income. I "saved up my allowance" and bought my T-posts a few at a time over a few years. I also checked the local landfill and found a few more that folks had thrown. I pretty much have given up on wooden stakes of any type and will slowly replace those remaining with the metal ones. When I get a thunderstorm on the mountain to my Northwest, downbursts can hit me with winds over 70 mph. I get those about three times each year on average. I've had sawmill 2" x 2" by 7 feet oak poles driven into the ground about 18 inches get snapped off like toothpicks. This is why I'm converting to metal poles.

[ContainerTed]

Regarding the removal of the T-posts, I found that if you start by driving the post further into the ground by about 1/2 inch, then it loosens the posts from the compacted soil and then it's much easier to use a 2x4 stud as a lever to pry the post out. wetting down the area around the post also helps a bunch.

So, it's loosen the compacted soil contacting the post, attach a strong rope or chain from the post to the 2x4 and use your big muscles to apply lever action. Works great every time. I try to work smarter rather than harder.

At age 72, I really don't have many other choices.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Regarding the removal of the T-posts, I found that if you start by driving the post further into the ground by about 1/2 inch, then it loosens the posts from the compacted soil and then it's much easier to use a 2x4 stud as a lever to pry the post out. wetting down the area around the post also helps a bunch.

So, it's loosen the compacted soil contacting the post, attach a strong rope or chain from the post to the 2x4 and use your big muscles to apply lever action. Works great every time. I try to work smarter rather than harder.

At age 72, I really don't have many other choices.

You might try getting one of those T post removing lever things or making one.
Pulling posts is hard on the back big time.

[Father'sDaughter]

Ted, I'll probably go to T Posts at some point myself. What height and what grade do you use?

I see Tractor Supply carries a variety of 1.25 lb per foot posts from 5' up to 8' and even some in 1/2 foot increments. Then they have 6' and 10' ones rated for 1.33 lbs per foot.

[ContainerTed]

Worth, what I make is a wooden version of that one in the picture. The key is still (for me) to tap the pole down a bit to "unstick" the soil from the metal and then things come out so much quicker.

Father's Daughter = Because I grow a lot of dwarfs, I can use almost any length, but I prefer the 6 footers. If the larger indeterminates get to the top, then I just let them turn back down. One season, I had a Cherokee Purple that went 6 feet up and then 6 feet back down and was turning and reaching for the sun again when frost finally took it out.

Before you decide how much to invest, decide how long you plan on them lasting and then buy appropriately. Personally, I don't care about the staking looking "Pretty" or whatever. I'm always focused on the taste of those maters. Some of my metal poles have lots of rust and no paint left. But they still hold up the load of foliage.