On Monday and Tuesday, we had the Singleton family from Scrubland Farmz visiting from N/C Florida.

Sam brought me some plants for the Alabama Food Forests nursery, and also showed me how he propagates clumping bamboo.

This video shows one method:

The method Sam used was similar, except instead of putting the cuttings vertically, he lays them horizontally and buries them about an inch deep. He’s told me that the nodes usually root well that way and they don’t dry out as much.

We stuck a bunch of Bambusa multiplex cuttings in a bed of sand in the nursery areas. I’m looking forward to seeing them shoot up.

Here’s a follow-up video from Bamboo Sourcery showing the results of their propagation:

Even though I’ve done a lot of plant propagation, there’s always more to learn. And there’s always someone that has figured out a new and interesting method.

Note that this method of bamboo propagation does not work on running bamboo varieties; only on clumping.

We just cut sections of cane with about 3-4″ on either side of a single node, then buried those pieces in sand.

Keeping my fingers crossed!