When this poor guy, a great supplier in my experience, right smack in the path of Katrina, gets back on-line, buy B. oldhammi from him:

bambooplantation.com

Jim Bonner
Bamboo Plantation
642 Columbine Ln SW
Brookhaven, MS 39601

I'm sure he needs your business more than you need to steal bamboo.

robanalog-
Besides the questionable ethics, you could find yourself arrested. If it were me, I'd go buy a latte, and then ask to speak to the manager with cup in hand. Ask nicely and see what he/she says. If the answer is "no," then go buy yourself a plant that you don't feel guilty about every time you look at it.

darn it. all saints in here I guess...OK. No stealing bamboo from Starbucks then...Just seeing if anyone would push me over the fence onto the darkside. Maybe I will go ask the manager and try to do it the right way.

Rob - you don't live in San Diego do you? I saw a Starbucks in sports arena with some big Oldhammi growing tall the other day...

Anyways, what you propose is also known as poaching, which violates a number of California Penal Codes. Wouldn't bother asking the manager if you can cut them, but you might want to ask if he knows who does the landscaping and/or who the landlord is.

Better yet, you can usually buy Oldhammi for pretty cheap. Jim Bonner is a great guy and offers good products for a fair price. Let's all hope that Katrina didn't wipe him out. There are other reputable mail order sources and/or local sources depending on where you live. You can email me privately if you want these. If you are in my neck of the woods (san diego co.), i can point you to 3 or 4 sources locally than can take care of your thirst for Oldhamii.

And think on the bright side, if the propogations failed, not only will you committed a number of crimes, but you don't have any shoots to show for it!

pcberner@gmail.com

Yeah, I'd ask. They will probably will not care, as was the case of a McDonalds when I wanted to harvest seed from some of their palms.

Let me know is you need any other info on the process...

Its only a crime if someone sees you do it. They are growing by a starbucks, people are everywhere, you do the research.

I spotted some bamboo in pots in a local Starbucks. On closer examination I found that they had taken dried bamboo culms, drilled holes and put in fake plastic branches. *sigh*

That's so funny Socalboo. That is exactly where I saw it! I was headed towards the drive thru, looked right and BAM they were all there in a row. There is a guy down here that I do buy from. It's just that he sold me one potted culm and just one of their (Starbucks) shoots could give me at least 8 or so to quicken and thicken my future Oldhamii grove and also some experience propagating this way. I won't just go and cut it. I just figured that nobody cares about landscaping plants and that nobody would miss anything if I wanted to snip one down.
Off the subject though, my next purchases will be a mei-nung and timor black or bamusa lako. Thanks for all the advice everyone. I won't steal I swear.

If you can find out who does the landscaping, you can probably find out which days they work on the plants.

I've gotten culm segments from the local university by just being around when they do their thinning/trimming.

You can get alot of propagate-able material that they would normally trash, if you show up at the right times.

Rob - did you notice that they just topped that bamboo. It had some BIG shoots coming up that were wacked...I was so bummed. I work up in Banker's Hill close to the park but Sports ARena is a frequent lunch spot. If you haven't taken a look, go to the Walter Andreson nursery off Morena and take a look (but don't buy - way overpriced).

Not to condone any type of stealing, but Oldhamii is about the most readily available and inexpensive bamboo you are gonna find. A shame to take the risk for anything, much less the bargain of the bamboo world.

Let me know when you are looking for Lako or Atro...I have both in small format from Florida and Miss (I sure hope Jim at BambooPlantation weathered Katrina is good form) that I'd part with.

Paul

I've just cut some B. vulgaris from a Lawer firm near to me, I was kind of nervious and they were kind of surprised when I asked them permission to let me cut one of they 30's culms they have there..

history short....now I have a big bed of soil/perlite/peat moss with 20 or more culm/branch cutting hopping to grow...

Congrats on the find! Keep us posted.

I grew up in San Diego,was ther this summer and there was no shortage of oldhamii all over the place ,First thing you see when you drop over the coronado bridge,saw it all over in coronado and near ob sunset cliffs and pointloma erea,saw it on 94 near 125 interchange,,just find someone and ask,,,but keep in mind ,oldhamii is easy to propogate by culm cuttings but a young shoot is not your best bet,a two yoer old culm is better

What features allow one to ID Oldhamii? I mean, heck, I trianed my wife to ID Yellow Groove in a few minutes but the ...Yellow Groove... makes it pretty easy. Does Oldhamii have easily recognizable features?

BTW Boonatic, the Nitida seedling is alive but yet to shoot and the Robusta is still shooting and starting to approach 2 1/2 feet tall and has about 6 culms. Not a monster by any means but it did come back from -12F last winter better than many of my other Fargesias.