permaculture

["Eugene F. Monaco" <efmonaco@comcast.net>]

Not to contradict bambooru Rick (from whom I purchased some of my own most
prized species), but don't be surprised if you end up with a clogged drain
field in 5 years.  It might be easy enough to rip it up if you "have the
right tools and an understanding of bamboo's physiology;" but otherwise,
you'll have a job on your hands.  Besides, who wants to rip up bamboo ever?
True, the roots might not grow larger over time, but you can get multiple
roots adjacent to each other just like spaghetti.  That will most definitely
reduce the flow of effluent in your system by a whole lot.  Moreover, it'll
rip your plastic pipe to shreds.  It still might work because the roots
should form a mesh through which the effluent might flow well (if the soil
isn't too clayey).  But, don't be surprised if it doesn't work out.
I love bamboo and I plant it everywhere it I can and places I probably
shouldn't, like next to this pond I built 2 years ago.  I dug out a hole,
built up the berms down slope with some dirt I got from digging out a
basement, then lined it with a piece of EPDM I scrounged from a roofer
friend.  I'd planted the bamboo near there two years earlier and it was just
starting to get a foothold.  I was so proud of my bamboo overhanging the
pond; it looked so Zen.  I don't know if you've ever destructively tested
EPDM, but you can't tear it, and it's tough as nails.  Well, (you know
what's coming) the bamboo poked up a shoot right through it the next spring
but it died, then (I'm theorizing now) rotted and last week the pond drained
itself out just like someone unstopped a drain plug.  I never thought this
would happen.  Now I'm in the pond-patching business.  Live and learn.
Gene Monaco
Knoxville, TN


Eugene F. Monaco
www.knoxherbs.com
(865) 609-9025

-----Original Message-----
From: permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:permaculture-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Rick Valley
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 12:07 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: Re: [permaculture] planting bamboo over septic field

> I'd like to plant bamboo over the drain field of our septic system . In
> "Gaia's Garden", Toby Hemenway mentions that roots clogging the pipes in
the
> leach field shouldn't be a problem because bamboo roots don't grow larger
> over time like tree roots do.The bamboos I have are "phyllostachys vivax
> huanwhenzhu" and "phyllostachys angusta (stone bamboo)", both running
> bamboos that would be difficult to remove if there is a problem. The
> drainfield is located in a pasture, perhaps 30 meters into pasture before
> the drainfield starts.I'd fence the bamboo off so that grazing cattle
would
> keep these plants from becoming uncontrollable invaders.Any warnings or
> comments regarding this idea would be appreciated. I live in southern
> BC,Canada, about 100 km fom the ocean.

>> In your case the bamboo rarely has roots below 18in.  The minus side
about
>> bamboo is that the root/rhizome area becomes thick with root - a bundle
of
>> mass.

I must confess that I am Toby's bamboo info source. Bamboo roots are at
least as deep potentially as corn- which can go down 12 ft. Mike Brondi, on
the flats along the Skagit with groundwater at 15ft. finds that after 4-6
years he no longer has to irrigate a stand of bamboo. So the roots go down
15 ft. there. But I know of numerous cases where bamboo has coexisted with
septic tanks and leach fields. It is a grass, not a cottonwood, willow,
sweet gum or birch with cambium. Do not most septic fields have grass
planted over them? If anything, bamboo can improve a system that is
malfunctioning by sucking up surplus black water, and I have heard
professional bambusero testimonial to that effect, with 30 years of living
with a system.
Nor are running bamboos all that hard to remove, if you have the right tools
and an understanding of bamboo's physiology. Nor are running bamboos much
threat in the dry-summer west coast of N. Am., unless you are irrigating an
adjacent lawn. (can we assume this is not the case due to the audience of
this list?) Go ahead, plant over the drainfield. You won't be sorry.

-Rick
 
"raising cane since 1980"















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