The costs to create a bamboo hedge or privacy screen vary greatly from project to project. However, it would blow your mind to know how little it actually takes to create an amazing, Japanese style garden or a simple privacy hedge using bamboo.
Wide Open Spaces
Naturally, you can assume that the larger the hedge, the more expensive it will be. Creating a 12 foot long screen is much less expensive than creating a screen that is 50 or 75 foot long. However, there are also other factors to consider, such as how fast you want a full screen, what type of bamboo you are using, sun exposure and climate.
Spacing For A Hedge
Let’s assume that you have already chosen the perfect place for your bamboo plants. Ideally, they should be placed between 3 and 5 feet apart in order to form a dense screen or hedge. So, depending on whether or not you’re looking to grow a fast, dense hedge or give it time to fill in naturally, you have to decide how far apart to place your bamboo plants.
Determining The Number Of Plants
Now, we can get to the part where you estimate how much your bamboo hedge will cost. Determine how long the space is where you want to place your bamboo hedge, and then divide it by 3 (or whatever number of feet apart you have decided to place your plants). This will give you the number of plants that you need to create the hedge you want. For example, if you are wanting to create a bamboo hedge that is 18 feet long, then you will need 6 clumping bamboo plants. At Bamboo Plants Online, we currently have Seabreeze Bamboo 3 gallon starters for sale for $29.95. That would make it $180 for the plants to make a bamboo hedge.
Additional Bamboo Hedge Planting Care
Aside from simply determining how many plants you need, there are also a few other considerations to make. Is your soil adequately drained for bamboo? How will you provide the nutrients that it needs to grow?
Soil Amendments & Fertilizer
After examining your soil, most bamboos prefer soil that is fairly acidic and loamy, you may need to purchase mulch or a soil amendment in order to ensure that your bamboo will thrive. In addition, you should also check on finding a high nitrogen slow release fertilizer that can provide your bamboo plants with the nutrition they need year round.
Provided that your soil needs an amendment, as well as fertilizer, you can safely plan on spending another $45 or so. Whether your soil needs an amendment or not, it will surly need a high quality, slow release high nitrogen fertilizer. Our Bamboo Special 13-3-13 is a once yearly high nitrogen fertilizer that provides our bamboo plants with everything they need throughout the year. It is also one of the most economical choices as it won’t easily be washed away and into the local water pool.
So, How Much Does A Bamboo Hedge Cost?
While determining the costs for every individual project is not possible, as we can see from our spacing and nutrition needs, it is possible to create a full bamboo privacy hedge that is 18 feet long for $200 or less. In the provided example, you could also save some costs by spacing the plants further apart and waiting longer for them to fill in at maturity. Spaced at 4 feet apart, instead of 3, it would only take 4 or 5 plants to achieve the same hedge. Likewise, if you’re happy with your soil quality, you could opt only for the annual fertilizer to provide your plants with the nutrition they need.