Rubbermaid Trashcan As Barrier?

[perennialnut]

Hi! I just found and joined this marvelous forum because Im interested in planting bamboo. I don't want to plant a grove, I just want to grow a small patch ornamentally and keep it contained. (Perhaps that use should be my question.) I live in metro-Atlanta. I have one 3-gal nursery pot of Phyllostachys aurea. My plan is to remove the bottom of a 32 gallon Rubbermaid trashcan and bury it to form my barrier. My plan is to contain the planting to this one patch and train the culms up like trees. Would the trashcan work as a barrier and will bamboo work grown like this? Thanks ya'll!

[Mark Meckes]

Hi! I haven't tried this out. I would make sure that the trash can is a high quality material.
I have an assortment of plastic type trash cans that I use around the garden to haul around weeds and whatnot, and the cheaper types soon crack after a year or two of use, and due to sunlight degradation. My more expensive `rubbermaid' bins have lasted for over a decade of use.

Strength is also a must to withstand the outward pressure of the rhizomes girdling the container.
It is recommended that the sides be slightly angled outwards to encourage rhizomes that reach the barrier to turn upward rather then girdle the container.

Mark