Video:How to Thin Out Bamboo

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Transcript:How to Thin Out Bamboo

I’m Robert Call, Area Horticulture Agent for Cooperative Extension, The University of Arizona and I’m here for About.com. We’re going to show you how to thin out the shoots of a heavenly bamboo plant. This will increase its vigor and get new growth coming along.

Remove Old Branches

We’ll use loppers, and, if needed, some hand shears. So what we’ll do is we’ll look at some of the branches that aren’t doing too well. Here’s one that doesn’t have any leaves on the top. It’s an older branch. You can tell that because the bark is kind of runny. And, just come down to the base and cut it out. We look to see where there’s some old, even more older type wood – way down here. Just cut it out of the base.

Here’s another one that’s a little bit older and it’s not doing too well. So we’ll cut it out. And then, maybe one more. Over here, where it’s kind of all pushed together. And here’s where one was cut but not down to the ground. Take that out, and then there’s an old one right there. We might take this.

Pruning Stimulates Growth

And that should suffice for now. This stimulates growth. In the heat because it’s a desert adapted plant we prune during the growing season because the heat helps them grow and recover versus tempera plants that we prune during the dormant season.

Thanks for watching. To learn more, view us on the web at About.com.