How to Plant a Bamboo Screen

In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook heads to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he helps a pair of homeowners select and plant a privacy screen using bamboo plants.

Steps for Planting Bamboo Trees

1. Space bamboo plants 5 to 6 feet apart in a staggered row to create a more natural look.
2. For each plant, dig a hole two to three times wider than the plant container, and as deep as the height of the container.
3. Use a garden hose to flood each plant hole with water, then wet the soil around the holes.
4. To the soil removed from each hole, add two wheelbarrows of planter’s mix (compost and organic fertilizer). Use a shovel to thoroughly combine the mix with the soil.
5. Moisten the mixed soil with water before backfilling.
6. Pull each plant from its container and place it in the hole.
7. Back fill around each root ball with moistened, mixed soil.
8. Soak the area around each plant with water.
9. Punch a hole into the existing irrigation line and insert a 2-gallon-per-hour emitter.
10. Cut a length of irrigation tubing to reach from the main irrigation line to the center of the plant.
11. Attach one end of the tube to the emitter and lay the other end near the plant.
12. Repeat to add three more irrigation lines, spacing them evenly around the plant.
13. Cover the root ball and irrigation tubing with 2 inches of cedar bark mulch.

Materials

• Garden hose
• Wheelbarrow
• Shovel

Tools