How To Convert Your Chain Link Fence To A Living Bamboo Privacy Fence
Posted on: 15 September 2015
Chain link fence is an inexpensive and low maintenance fencing option to keep your yard secure from trespassers. But, because chain link fencing around your yard does not provide you with privacy, you may want to convert it to a privacy fence. Here are instructions to help you convert your chain link fence into a living bamboo privacy fence.
Remove the Chain Links
Your chain link fence has several parts and attachments that you will need to remove before you can detach the chain link fence material. With a screw driver, disassemble and remove the offset bands around the posts, then remove the tie wires, tension bars, and rails.
As you remove all the nuts and bolts holding the chain link onto the each of the posts around your yard, lay the chain link material onto the ground. Then, when the fence is fully detached, begin at one end of the chain links and roll it up. This is the best way to handle the fence material and keep the links from coming apart. Chain link fence can quickly twist apart and become a tangled mess of unusable fencing material. You can sell your fence material in a local online yard sale site if it is still in good condition.
Add a Wood Support Structure
Once all the chain link fence has been removed, you will be left with only the metal posts in the ground. By attaching wooden fence posts to the metal posts, you can build your bamboo fence structure. As your living bamboo grows, it will need support to help its growth. Natural-looking wooden fence poles and rails will provide this for the bamboo.
Select new wooden fence posts that you will attach onto the old metal fence posts with metal fence brackets. You can select wooden posts that are any height appropriate for your needs. Attach a wooden post onto each metal post with two to three metal brackets. The brackets will wrap around the metal pole and attach onto both sides of the wood post with screws. Mount each wooden post so its bottom is flush with the ground. You can mount the wooden posts on the outside or inside of your fence posts. This depends if you want the metal poles to show on the outside or inside of your fence.
Now you can build your wood fence support structure onto the wooden fence posts. Install two wooden fence rails with fencing brackets between the posts for each fence section. This will create a structure to tie your bamboo fence to as it grows.
Plant the Bamboo
Bamboo grows naturally on every continent of the world except Antarctica, so unless you live in Antarctica, you can find a variety that grows in your climate. Some bamboo can grow up to 120 feet tall, so choose the variety you want for your fence.
Bamboo plants come in two types: clumping and running. Running bamboo plants are more invasive and will grow and spread outward more quickly than the clumping bamboo plants. Clumping bamboo have shorter roots and will grow in thicker clumps that only need a three to ten inch circle of space to expand out at maturity. This type is better for a privacy fence.
If you live in a cold climate, it is best to plant your bamboo in early spring so the plants can become established before winter. If you live in a hot climate, plant the bamboo in spring or fall while the temperature is cooler.
Space your bamboo plants along the fence line every ten inches or less, depending on how quickly you want your fence to grow in. Dig a hole for each bamboo plant to fit the entire bamboo root ball. Bury each root ball in soil to cover its top.
Water your plant right after you plant it and at least twice a week to help your bamboo's roots become established. Make sure you give them plenty of water each time. For example, if your bamboo plants came in a five gallon pot, make sure you give it at least one gallon of water each time you water it.
As your bamboo grows, tie the shoots to your wooden fence as needed. Prune back any stray bamboo shoots that grow outside your fence line. Soon you will have a living, green privacy fence. For more information on fencing supplies, go to this web-site.
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