I had thought it would be easy as well, but it seems that some varieties are hard to start from seed. Once established, they are easy to separate from the mother rizhome and propagate, but seeds take a lot of care and 4-8 weeks just to sprout. I found out too that most bamboo will only go to seed every 50-100 years, and when they do, the whole plant will die off. There are some species in China that have yet to go to seed in their entire recorded history. Thanks for reading!