Don't dig while it is shooting. This is the worst time to dig it. Wait until it has it's leaves and branches. Get as large a rootball as humanly possible for best results. Wrap all plants with a tarp to keep them from drying out on the way back with them.Do not break the canes from the rhizome canes must have a long piece of rhizome attached to the canes to survive. Get deep rootballs at least a ft. deep the deeper the better. Keep the rootballs wet. It's best to water heavy the day before digging to make sure the plants are fully hydrated. After planting water heavy for the first few weeks. Lastly fertilize and mulch. Be careful growing bamboo is a very addictive hobby and can get quite expensive. I started with one species and now I have 20 different species and still on the hunt for more. Enjoy your magnificent plants.

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Boomantoo gives excellent advice - no matter how tempting, even if free this is the worst time to dig bamboo. They'll be very low on energy and although the divisions if properly dug will be fine, they will be very wimpy in new growth for a LONG time. Wait until August or later if you can or buy divisions that are already potted and well developed.

Is August really the earliest I can dig???? That really bums me out. I've been trying to get this done for a couple years. Perhaps I'll just go onsite for a tour and prepay.

Inversa is correct however, I have dug them when they were shooting and the plants are still doing good. It just takes a much bigger rootball and good luck not breaking the new shoots. But Inversa is also right it takes a very long time for them to recover. I have even dug bamboo in the middle of January and it's just fine. But these were cases when the bamboo was going to be bulldozed and I was actually saving them so it can be done but the plants will suffer greatly and may take a couple of years to recover. If you buy plants in the pot already you don't have to wait. And they will not suffer from transplant shock. If you do dig the boo anyway make sure you take a pick axe and dig a 1 ft deep trench around the clumps you want then cut the roots underneath with your shovel. This is the easiest way to do it trust me. I have taken out 10 groves so far. This is by far the best way. But be careful I have broken about 30 shovels so far even some of the best shovels are nothing to break digging bamboo. It is very hard work no matter how easy I make it sound. Good luck and keep us posted.

The idea is to avoid digging just after shooting when they are weakest, it generally takes several weeks for them to begin to re-build energy reserves. By August (assuming they shoot in April/May) they are generally recovered and will reward your patience in the following year with larger growth. I try to do all my digging between September and late March, with March being ideal in my area.

As I said, you can dig now and the divisions look fine, it is next year that you'll see the weak new growth.

Boomantoo - I use a beveled/'sharpened' steel shovel - the King of Spades, and it severs the rhizomes plus can be used to lever them out of the hole, I've not resorted to a pick axe yet as the shovel works very well for me.

Is the shovel(king of spades) worth the money? I saw a really good idea on tv the other day. It was a shovel with serrated blades cut into the sides of it. Looks like it would do the job well if the handle were only steel. As of yesterday 34 shovels broken so far. Does the king of spades have the solid steel handle that is all one piece? Whatever works it's still never easy. Which I'm sure you are well aware of. Happy digging. I love shooting season.

I was actually going to do this last month but I had to dig up and replace a sewar line so that ate my time and money.

I do appreciate the advice I was just hoping to get it in the ground before it gets too hot. We have already sharpened our shovels with a grinder and are ready to go.

It looks like we are going to tour the farm and prepay for the bamboo. I'll take some pics so perhaps we will know how far along they are.

Should we dig the new bamboo or go for the more established older bamboo?

Dig the newer canes on the outer edges of the grove, usually they will be darker in color if a green form of bamboo. My rule of thumb is to get a bare minimum of 8 cane diameters - by this I mean that is you are digging a 1-inch diameter cane then make your rootball extend 8 inches out in all directions - a 16 inch diameter rootball in this example.

Not to diagree with inversa but I personally would go for a rootball with many canes in it the bigger the canes the better. And then get as big a rootball as you can lift even if it weighs a couple a hundred pounds. The bigger the rootball the least amount of stress on the plants inside it. The larger the canes the less time you'll have to wait to see large canes shooting. Starting with small canes takes many years to get the large canes. I have dug both and the larger ones always do better. Secondly water heavy spraying the leaves often if the leaves curl they need water.