Growing bamboo from seed can be quite rewarding, if you are lucky enough to actually get some fresh bamboo seed.  I say that because bamboo very rarely flowers, and when it does it may do so for several years sporadically until it does a gregarious flowering, after which the primary plant is said to die.  I have witnessed only a handful of bamboo plants producing seed, and even more so only limited germination rate from that seed.  My friend Rich currently has some Bambusa tuldoides in flower, from which he has gotten a few dozen new bamboo seedlings from a few hundred seeds.  A few years ago there was a stand of unknown Multiplex bamboo in St Augustine that was flowering and had tons of bamboo seedlings growing around it as well as tons of seed.  I managed to germinate some of the seed, as well as dig a few seedlings.  However, only a few have survived, of which one of them is now growing in a one gallon pot in my backyard.  In 2008 I tried to do some branch node cuttings from a Dendrocalumus minor amoenus that resulted in the cuttings setting seed rather than rooting.  Unfortunately none of the seed turned out to be viable.

Anyways, the problem with growing bamboo from seed is that it is sporadic.  Bamboo seed is said to lose it's viability quickly unless properly stored or planted immediately.  Another reason is growing environment.  Bamboo seed seems to like a damp growing medium and a little bit of warmth.  This is probably one of the reasons that the mystery Multiplex variety has so many babies growing around it as the mother plant was in a drainage ditch, so it stayed somewhat damp.  The third problem with growing bamboo from seed is loss of seedlings from transplant shock.  My brother and I germinated thousands of Moso seeds that we were fortunate enough to get access to.  As the seeds germinated they were transplanted before the primary root go too long into water bottles.  However, much to my dismay it didn't take long for these bamboo seedlings to become root bound in such a small container, and we lost a majority of these before we even realized what was happening.  Chock this up to inexperience.

So with that being said, if you are fortunate enough to have some bamboo seed you should germinate it as soon as you possibly can.  Germination rates will vary, and I have some detailed seed germination tips that you might find useful here Bamboo Seed Germination.  I actually use these directions for many of the various seeds I need to germinate, and it works.  If you have a large amount of bamboo seeds you can always try a few different methods to see if you get better results.  The only change to these directions would maybe to use the Jiffy pellets and plant one or two seeds in each pellet, as this will help avoid the transplant shock that I experienced in the past.

Every day people search out information on bamboo propagation and stumble upon my website.  I even get email questions from some of these people asking for additional information.  I'm hoping with the format change of this site that I will be able to share my bamboo propagation information, tips and tricks more easily, as well as propviding an open forum for which people can get their questions answered regarding the subject.

Being there are two types of bamboo, runners and clumpers, the easiest and fastest way to propagate bamboo is through division.  Quite simply this is the act of digging and separating culms from the primary plant.  Runners by far are easiest as the rhizome mass is limited.  Clumping bamboo can be a little more difficult as the rhizome mass is thick, and often requires the use of a sawzall, prybar, shovel and a few gallons of sweat.

The second method of bamboo propagation is through vegetative means.  This method is reserved for the tropical clumping varitety of bamboo and can be accomplished in one or more ways, culm node cuttings, branch node cuttings, whole culm burial and lastly through air layering of branch nodes.  Not all methods work with each type of clumping bamboo either, and some work better for some than others.  Time of year the the cuttings are taken are also a very important factor and vary from species to species.  I'll go into more detail in another post, but if you want you can view some pics of some bamboo I have successfully propagated here Bamboo Propagation Info.

The third method of course is through bamboo seed germination.  Being that bamboo plants do not flower very often makes this one method that many will not see in their lifetime unless they are fortunate enough to get access to fresh seed.  Bamboo seed loses it's viability rather quickly unless stored properly, but I have had success with germinating Moso bamboo seed after several years in cold storage with a germination rate around 50%.  For more on bamboo seed germination, you can see my pictures and detailed instructions here Bamboo Seed Germination.

The fourth method of bamboo propagation which is still in early stages of development and is probably the most difficult is  through tissue culture.   This mass production of bamboo seems to be the fastest way to get the most plants, however, many bamboo experts have found bamboo grown from tissue culture to be problematic when it comes to growth rate and bamboo development.  I have zero experience when it comes to this, but I know there have been many headlines regarding this, and I'm sure as the technology develops it will become a more viable solution to bamboo propagation.  If you are an amateur bamboo propagator I suggest you try out a few of the above methods before attempting tissue culture propagation.