A Hardy Grass that Pandas Munch On

• Bamboo is a hardy grass found throughout Asia that serves as a key source of food for pandas. Bamboo also is grown in Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia. Bamboo stems, which are known as culms, emerge from branching underground roots called rhizomes. The culms on clumping bamboos tend to stay relatively close together while running bamboos like to spread out and often must be controlled. Bamboo plants rarely flower, with blooms sometimes occurring only once a century.
  
  

Choose Wisely

• There are more than 1,200 types of bamboo with varying colors, growth rates, sizes and tolerances to cold weather. Choose a form of bamboo that is well-suited for your climate. Generally, clumping bamboos are more vulnerable to cold weather while some running bamboos can tolerate temperatures as low as 0 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
  

Planting Bamboo

• Bamboo does best in well-drained soil that is moist and fertile. Do not plant bamboo unless the ground temperature is at least 40 degrees F. After buying your supply of bamboo, dig holes that are as deep as the containers that the plants came in and twice as wide. Carefully place the bamboo in the holes, which should be spaced several feet apart. Fill in the holes with soil and mulch. Water the bamboo thoroughly.
  
  

Growth Cycle

• Newly planted bamboo takes a few years to become well-established. Fertilizer should be applied in late winter, right before bamboo launches on an annual growth spurt that lasts for several weeks and results in the emergence of new culms that may live as long as a decade.
  
  

Controlling Bamboo

• Running bamboo needs to be controlled from spreading into unwanted areas. Growing bamboo near a pond can accomplish this goal. Mowing also works, as does use of ditches or other barriers.