Those photos are very interesting. At first sight the leaves do look very much like the dreaded Sasa. But to my mind, those stems (culms) do NOT look like Sasa. Sasa stems tend to be slimmer and more bendy and do not tend to branch. Yours look a lot more like proper bamboo canes. So I'm not sure that yours is. You may be OK, but it needs watching. The way that invasive bamboos spread is by thick underground roots, which are just beneath the surface of the soil. If a bamboo is non-invasive clump-forming, then it will not attempt to put out long roots near the surface. So the best thing is just to see what's beneath the surface of the soil. Take a few spots about a foot away from the plant, and scrape down about an inch, and see whether there are any long exploratory roots radiating out from the plant. The absence of surface roots now doesn't mean that the plant might not put some out when it grows more. Just keep an eye out for any, now, and in the furture. Or was the shoot that you got, from the parent plant, coming up from a long root just beneath the surface that had been sent out by the parent plant.
It's only a little plant, just keep an eye on it.
the darker looking shoot is new growth, which came up from the base of the original shoot, and the stem of the original shoot is very rigid (garden cane like) for such a small shoot (0.5cm thick).
As yet i havent been able to identify any roots spreading under the surface, so i think i'll be safe, but i'll keep an eye on it.
How far beneath the surface would invasive roots be if was spreading as such?
We have six of the Sasa bamboo's in very large pots as a screen standing on slabs,they are over seven feet tall, we started out with one in a pot, but it got so big we had to devide in half so if it is the sasa type and you plant in a pot in the ground you will have to remove it and devide it in half as in two years it will outgrow the pot,also in dry wheather you will have to water it as it will get very dry in the pot even in the ground.
The large leaves of Sasa are big, unusual and attractive. As Noweed says, the plant makes a good screen and can be grown satisfactorily in pots. I have some growing in lawn, and it's not difficult to control. This is mine...
The photo just below shows the stems (culms). This plant is several years old. But none of my stems appear like thick bamboo canes. They are all thin, spindly and flexible, which is why I thought yours might possibly be something else...
These two thick tough roots are what the spreading roots look like. They are about 1 inch below the surface, and this is about 1 metre from the plant...
The roots don't normally spread more than 2 or 3 metres from the plant without putting up some shoots above ground, so if that area is kept under control, then there's no problem.
There are some other species (with small leaves) that are invasive, but these tend to be more obscure species, and not readily sold in garden centres. Sasa is the most common. Any spreading bamboo, of any kind, will spread by roots similar to Sasa's. A clump-forming bamboo does not put out any lateral roots like that.
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Looks likea Phyllostachys, possibly Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aureocaulis)
Golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) has very different leaves to Sasa.
I have several of both plants in my garden. The two leaves at the left are Golden bamboo, the one on the right is Sasa...
Typically, the leaves of Golden bamboo are 20-25mm in width. Sasa is much bigger, typically 80mm in width.
But your bamboo might be something else.
Your right - re looking at the plant, the leaves are very large! Much larger than Golden Bamboo.
the darker looking shoot is new growth, which came up from the base of the original shoot, and the stem of the original shoot is very rigid (garden cane like) for such a small shoot (0.5cm thick).
As yet i havent been able to identify any roots spreading under the surface, so i think i'll be safe, but i'll keep an eye on it.
How far beneath the surface would invasive roots be if was spreading as such?
We have six of the Sasa bamboo's in very large pots as a screen standing on slabs,they are over seven feet tall, we started out with one in a pot, but it got so big we had to devide in half so if it is the sasa type and you plant in a pot in the ground you will have to remove it and devide it in half as in two years it will outgrow the pot,also in dry wheather you will have to water it as it will get very dry in the pot even in the ground.
The large leaves of Sasa are big, unusual and attractive. As Noweed says, the plant makes a good screen and can be grown satisfactorily in pots. I have some growing in lawn, and it's not difficult to control. This is mine...
The photo just below shows the stems (culms). This plant is several years old. But none of my stems appear like thick bamboo canes. They are all thin, spindly and flexible, which is why I thought yours might possibly be something else...
These two thick tough roots are what the spreading roots look like. They are about 1 inch below the surface, and this is about 1 metre from the plant...
The roots don't normally spread more than 2 or 3 metres from the plant without putting up some shoots above ground, so if that area is kept under control, then there's no problem.
There are some other species (with small leaves) that are invasive, but these tend to be more obscure species, and not readily sold in garden centres. Sasa is the most common. Any spreading bamboo, of any kind, will spread by roots similar to Sasa's. A clump-forming bamboo does not put out any lateral roots like that.
Agh ... ! Memories. Bad memories. Hideous memories.