Aussie Finch Forum

Bamboo restrictions
These days all my grasses and bamboos are planted in restrictive rings made out of a section of a plastic 44gal drums.
If the rings are sunk into the ground by about 300mm minimum it will restrict plants running greatly.
I have Royal bamboo in my aviary while it looks good I think my birds prefer the fine Thai bamboo
I only wish I had of started this method years ago.

You coulld try reeds (Phragmites species), though they will probably want a bit more water than bamboo would.
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thansk guys I'll have nother discussion with mum, she seemed fairly sure they were not allowed, so will see how the news affects her views. I'll get back to you ;)

Bamboo Palm Jay-
Thats the go, have it mine looks great and its clumping no runners

Thanks guys
just had a look, apparently all parts of the sacred are poisonous but not too birds... how very odd!!
I don't think bamboo palms would survive very well in the Canberra climate, and it may become a bit of a battle trying to keep it under contol, as it appearsto be the same stuff as in P. mandry's aviaries, which are hard to access.
Will keep an eye out for the Sacred Bamboo

himalayan weeping bamboo is small, delicate and clumping. even planted freely in the ground it will not invade your aviary let alone garden.

unfortunately my saints love to demolish it. nibble, nibble.

My aviary arrives next week and I too have gone down the bamboo trail. Got four which includes a himalayan species, Nepalese Blue (Himalaya porcatus) which enjoys cooler weather and less sun, Malayan Dwarf which is often used as a hedge, a third which I believe to be a Golden Stipe and finally a Mayalan Pygmy, which is actually a grass

All are clumping, are in pots and max out at about 3m (the pygmy at 50cm), though I will trim them. I had some plants sent down from Qld bare root. That didn’t go so well but then found a bloke out at Toongabbie who has more stuff in pots in his backyard than most nurseries.

The cost was a bit of a surprise! I have a bunch of grasses in pots and so will rotate plants in an aviary 4.5*2.4.

Clawd wrote:The cost was a bit of a surprise!

I know what you mean there, I have been searching for bamboo for ages. Finally found some in Bunnings, they wanted $29.95 for a plant that was only about 1 foot tall. I declined.

Try Pampas grass in large pots and Guinea grass. If the pots are not too heavy for 2 people to move you can alternate them in and out of the avairy so they can recover from the birds attentions. But do check that there is no nest in them before moving.
LML

bluebutterfly213 wrote:

Clawd wrote:The cost was a bit of a surprise!

I know what you mean there, I have been searching for bamboo for ages. Finally found some in Bunnings, they wanted $29.95 for a plant that was only about 1 foot tall. I declined.

You shouldn't have! Bunnings has the cheapest bamboo by a LONG SHOT!

Its worth remembering that you are essentially paying for the rootstock. The plant may look scrappy but with plenty of water and care a year later its a glorious plant 3 times the size.
It wasn't that long ago that all these new attractive varieties of non-invasive bamboos became available in Australia commercially. The price will eventually drop somewhat. But not by that much - $29.95 is an absolute steal!

the Nepalese blue mentioned above is another great aviary species. There is also tiger grass, a thai, bamboo like grass species. it doesn't have the delicate leaves but is considerably cheaper and won't get much taller than 6ft in a cool climate.