Clumping Bamboo on a small lot

Has anyone tried growing clumping bamboo?  I know there are a few that will grow in N. Ca. zone 9b.  They are very expensive, so I wont be getting any, any time soon, but it's on my list of want to grow that some day.  It is such a useful plant.  I've considered the other, read several ways to keep it contained, but then I think of the mint that grows in the paths of my garden.  I didn't manage to keep that contained did I.  The difference is I don't mind the mint in the path and yank it out of the garden beds when it has the nerve to sneak in, but if bamboo takes over that could be a real problem.  Any way just wondering if any of you have grown it and if you are happy you did?

I grow three kinds of bamboo in BC near the coast, but I have enough land that I have fewer worries of it taking over (not to mention, the geese will eat the shoots, as will the bunnies and the deer, so there's a certain amount of unpaid help keeping it controlled).

One patch, P nigra, is in front of the house where containment is more important.  I dug a pit designed to encourage any of the runners to come to the surface, and lined it with heavy pond liner. That was years ago, and so far it hasn't escaped.

A friend's neighbor planted a much larger bamboo variety, and used a concrete containment that had straight sides and it escaped and had to be taken out as it was threatening building foundations. Since one of those foundations was my friend's, she was unfortunately very panicky about the situation, so I was unable to try and rescue some of the plant - it was *not* a "bad" plant - just a wrong plant in a wrong location. I hate to think what the owner paid for it... sigh...

My first bamboo, P. nigra, was a chunk dug up from a friend's backyard. I knew very little at the time, but still managed to keep it alive. I have since taken several chunks from my patch and given it to other friends. Now I know that it's important to take a runner with a growing point, some roots to support it, and a couple of attached culms. The culms provide the strength for the runner to survive.

Bamboo does have a learning curve and requires knowledge to work cooperatively with it. Keeping it cut back rather than letting it to grow too tightly has helped me manage mine a lot. And, of course, the older culms I cut out, have no end of uses around my homestead!

I got a clumping bamboo on clearance a few years ago. Not only has it not taken over, it took quite a while to establish. I'm pretty sure I wasn't watering it enough. I haven't used any of the bamboo yet. I'm a little afraid to. It's finally growing well , so maybe I'll cut a pole or two.

Jen Fulkerson wrote: I'm pretty sure I wasn't watering it enough.

One trick to keeping it where you want it, is to water the center of the clump and keep the area around it on the dry side.

Bamboo is a "heavy feeder" - the year my P. dulcis patch was getting runoff from the duckie's bathtub, the following spring showed significantly more and larger culms. Of course, such things have a down side too - the culms weren't as strong as the smaller ones and suffered more snow damage the following winter.

there are many types of bamboo it grows in many many zones. many years ago I started bamboo with just 1 sprout that I got from big stands of bamboo that I saw while driving by and asked property owner if I could have a sprout. one type grew taller than telephone poles and was 5"-6" thick at the base the other type was a much thinner and smaller type that could be used for a fishing pole  maybe 10-12' tall at max and the larges at the base maybe 1 1/2" I lived in that house from about 1990 to about 2010 there were hundreds of stalks when moved out the big tall stuff there was probably 100 stalks, a very substantial building material, and the smaller variety there were two stands with probably close to 200 stalks in each stand. the soil was poor. just plain old Florida sand and coral rock and after the first year they were never watered.
as your traveling about look for stands of bamboo nearby and ask property owner for a sprout or a few to get it started. dig it up cleanly get all the roots to the sprout you are digging and get it home put it right in the ground and water it in well. that's my experience.