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Judith's cedar pergola...how to top with bamboo?

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posted 3 days ago

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Our son came yesterday with a load of cedar boards cut with his bandsaw mill and finished our board fence and most importantly finished the top to the pergola!!!
I plan to lay some of our cured bamboo across the top now but have not thought of the best way to fasten down...it will be good for a few years and then will need replacing so I didn't want to have it too complicated to remove.

Any ideas?

right now I'm letting the virginia creeper and mimosa and passion flower vine have their way but I really want to plant roses on one side and two grapes on the other...and let a clematis share it also 🙄

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Nancy Reading

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posted 2 days ago

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That pergola is beautiful - good job!

What diameter is your bamboo? Is it to provide more shade or as a plant support primarily?

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Judith Browning

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posted 2 days ago

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Thanks Nancy...I'm so happy with the results😊he did a wonderful job and sweat buckets all day...hot and humid here.

The bamboo I plan to use is an inch more or less and really only to support the vines but shade will happen.

I know we could drill holes and nail or screw each piece down but thought maybe there might be another way we have not considered?

Maybe somehow sandwiched between two boards on each end? can't quite picture that though.....some way to just lay it up there loose?

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Megan Palmer

gardener

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Location: Zone 9A, 45S 168E, 329m Queenstown, NZ

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posted 2 days ago

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Have you considered lashing the bamboo together and then tying the bamboo around the cross pieces of your pergola?

Twine would not be too obtrusive and you could stain it with the same colour that the cedar has been treated with?

The twine ought to be relatively easier to cut and remove when the times comes to take down the bamboo.

Judith Browning

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posted 2 days ago

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Megan, I had wondered about something like that.
If I could cut the canes to length, then lay them out on the ground to twine together?
If it was a prepared 'mat' I think fastening to the pergola top could be simple.

There's no need for the canes to be closer than two or three inches so I would want some kind of spacers.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
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Joylynn Hardesty

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posted 2 days ago

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Judith Browning wrote:There's no need for the canes to be closer than two or three inches so I would want some kind of spacers.

Perhaps two four inch long pieces of bamboo lashed between the rods?

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Judith Browning

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posted 2 days ago

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that's a good idea Joylynn!
Maybe even short hollow pieces threaded in between the canes.

I do know if I end up with a too complicated and time consuming project I will likely never start or at least never finish it.

I've cut bamboo a little with my pruning saw...this would be a lot of cuts and would need to set up a way to hold more firmly while cutting.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Megan Palmer

gardener

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Location: Zone 9A, 45S 168E, 329m Queenstown, NZ

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posted 1 day ago

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Hello Judith, this video shows how to tie the pieces of bamboo together - I’m sure there must be lots of others.

If you don’t want to bother lashing the spacers to the cross lengths, you could just drill through the nodes of the spacers and the cross lengths and thread a wire through to secure them.

Look forward to seeing what you end up doing.

Megan Palmer

gardener

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Location: Zone 9A, 45S 168E, 329m Queenstown, NZ

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posted 1 day ago

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Judith Browning wrote:

I've cut bamboo a little with my pruning saw...this would be a lot of cuts and would need to set up a way to hold more firmly while cutting.

Hubby bought me a battery powered mini Stihl chainsaw for my Christmas present a few years ago, best present ever - when is your birthday- maybe you could just get it for yourself as an early present🥰

Judith Browning

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posted 1 day ago

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This page has been separated from https://permies.com/t/160/273988/Judith-garden-plans-records-results#3828662 in order to focus on the pergola build.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

Judith Browning

Posts: 10518

Location: a temperate, clay/loam spot on planet earth, the universe

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posted 1 day ago

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Thanks, Megan, Ill try to watch your video at the library and it's probably time to check out the Big Bamboo Book again.

I was thinking the canes would be fastened together like a mat...all one direction except possibly the spacers.

I have baleing twine but I find it doesn't weather well.

no new tool for me in the near future but your chain saw sounds great!

At the moment the heat and humidity here is limiting my outdoor time so I have not pulled out any cane from the shed yet.
It might be that I won't add it to the top until the plants I want to grow there are more established....but if it works how I think I could roll it up and store with the other cane.

"We're all just walking each other home." -Ram Dass
"Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder."-Rumi
"It's all one song!" -Neil Young

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