I do feel for you. Bamboo is hard to break into on the cheap. You have 2 problems going this route. One is it can be alot of labor to dig a good living piece of boo. Two is they tend to be big and never a good size to ship. My pond plants were much better to start trading because they divide and ship so easily people are looser with them. But even then I bought a few that I saw people wanted then when it was time to divide I had my pick of traders. I suggest the same with boo. Look at what people are asking for and buy some. Its amazing what you can trade that into within 3 years.
And maybe some of us here can try and come up with a starter package of boo. People do it with pond plants. A little bit of many things for resonable shipping and bit for digging. We all have a few common ones we need to prune so maybe we should keep beginners in mind.
Damon

Nohadh, I'd be interested in some pond plants once it warms back up. I have various boos too.

Pyratejim...I have access to a large grove of local Bamboo... not sure of the ID... its a runner type and culms range from pinky size to as large as yer calf muscle. I can lok for a nice section w/ 2-4 culms close together... will have to cut them shorter to ship for sure... but its not what they look like but what the roots and rhizomes do once in the ground. I have several other varieties here on the deck in large planters but they will not be ready to divide till spring sometime.
Take care