Growing P. nigra in Central Florida

[pressurewave]

Greetings! New on the forum, and I was looking over topics on here... lots of great pictures, great ideas and fun projects to try!

I have a small piece of property in Central Florida, and I'm attempting to get my grove growing... I'm entirely inexperienced with Bamboo growth, and have been stumbling through the first steps to keeping my plants healthy and happy.

First off, since I have a small property, I was considering placing Rhizome guard (plastic 2 foot deep barrier, if you haven't heard of it) at my property line to prevent my more aggressive plant from invading the neighbors yard (Phyllostachys nigra) - is this product effective for containing running rhizomes? Wanted to ask here before investing in it.

The other issue I'm having is that, after an initial growth spurt, the P. nigra has pretty much relaxed it's growth, and is just sort of sitting there now. It's still green, but is definitely growing at a relaxed rate compared to how it was initially. We were measuring a steady growth of nearly 3 inches a day (with some variations) for a good solid 2 weeks. Once I found a good place for the plant in the yard, I placed it there, and now it has stopped growing. For lack of a better way to ask, did I screw up?

It was a maturing plant (I think about a year old) that was purchased for us in a city about 2 hours away then cut down pretty small for transport (apparently), and I am pretty lost on how best to encourage this thing to grow and spread. One thing I had considered was clearing and loosening up my yard where I want it to grow (since at the moment it's grass - see pics below). In the same area in my yard at the moment I have a relatively young/small Golden Goddess plant (in sun/light shade being given occasional watering) and it's currently not doing so hot. I suspect that may be more an issue of the nursery from which it was purchased... I was also given small rhizomes from an arrow bamboo variety... what is the best way to start these growing?

Sorry to ask so many questions in my first post!

Anyway, here are some pics of my p. nigra... any suggestions are more than welcomed!!

http://pics.livejournal.com/nymphie/pic/000w290h
http://pics.livejournal.com/nymphie/pic/000y0sb4

[Mark Meckes]

Hi, I'm not sure how rambuctuous Phyllostachys nigra behaves in your part of Florida, as many Phyllostachys species do not attain the height and stature as they do further north, in more temperate climates.
Hopefully others will write about their experience growing P. nigra in your area.
Here's some basics about your planting...
- Your new shoots won't get any bigger - ie, as big as they shoot is as big as they'll ever get. Next years shoots should be bigger.
- The number of shoots in the first year is proportionate to the mass of the rhizomes that came with the plant, as shoots are formed from eye-buds on the rhizome - some develop into shoots, others become rhizomes.
- If the plant had been planted in the preceding year, or months prior to their shoot emergence season, and if the plant had some leaves to draw in extra nutrients for shoot development, you would see a larger number of shoots on the rise in the spring.
Otherwise all you will see in the first year are smaller tillering shoots around the base of the plant.
Because each bamboo species does all it's major shooting within a short period of a couple of months per year, this means, alas, that you will need to wait till next spring for any sizeable shoots to emerge, though you should see smaller sprouts rise around the base of the plant, if the rhizomes have viable buds intact.

Re: rhizome barriers - yes they are effective providing any joints are secured tightly. It's also suggested that the barrier walls be angled slightly outwards so that rhizomes will turn upwards when they reach the barrier.

What is the surrounding soil like? If sandy, easy digging, the rhizomes will travel faster, further, deeper, though you can root-prune around the perimeter of the planting with a spade to curtail any over-adventurous rhizome leaders.
Adding mulch around the base of the plant to suppress weeds and retain moisture during dry times greatly improves plant growth.
Though anything organic will do, if your soil is alkaline, adding peat will help to increase acidity, which Phyllostachys nigra has a preference to.
You can also fertilize your bamboo lightly - lawn fertilizer pellets/liquid any garden type with nitrogen. Bamboo isn't fussy, just don't overdo it initially, rather, do it periodically in smaller doses.

Re: starting from small arrow bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica) rhizome starts - not always successful unless done with healthy fresh pieces with viable buds. Depending on size, plant in pot or ground, cover with 2-3 " of soil and see what happens. Good luck!
Mark

[tharlow]

I had a friend in Palm Bay (Melbourne) who had nigra. After 5 or 6 years, it was still what I would consider weedy looking and hardly anything I'd recommend for people in the southern half of FL.

Cheers, Tom

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Tom, what height/diameter did Phyllostachys nigra grow to in Melbourne Florida, and what height/diameter do you think it might get to in Orlando.

According to the Floristic Inventory of Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, in Gainsville (North Florida), see... UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA HERBARIUM (http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/scripts/dbs/herbs_project/herbsproject/herbs_pub_proc.asp?accno=149627&output_style=Report_type&trys=2) COLLECTIONS CATALOG
Culms grow up to 5 m tall and 2.5 cm in diameter.
They grow only slightly larger then this here in Central Texas.

Actually we really like the thin wiry black stems they used to produce when they were smaller, for making bamboo jewely etc...
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/527/thumbs/PnigraATX050416-138F.jpg see larger pic (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=984)
- Small dried/polished pieces 2mm -10mm diameter

Now that our nigra is getting bigger and not producing thin stems, I'm thinking of either clear cutting a section just to produce small diameter culms, or planting some more on a dry hilly outcrop for this purpose.

Mark

[tharlow]

To be honest, I never took the time to measure the culms in my friends yard. My guess would be after 5 years in the ground they were still less than finger thickness and not particularly tall (maybe up to 10-12 ft?). It was early in my introduction to bamboo and I was far more taken by his other specimens in the ground for the same length of time. So unfortunately, I can't give a precise measure. I think Roy Rogers (and some other FCC members in Miami) had some in Tampa early in his bamboo collecting days, but I never saw any other nigra in central or south FL. I'm not sure how big it can actually get there.

--Tom

[pressurewave]

Hmmm - Tharlow - I'd be interested to hear what type of bamboo grows well in melbourne if you know the species. It would be nice to have something that does well in the CFL area growing... give it a good fighting chance to be strong. The particular plant I have is from gainesville, and the sections that were still in tact were pretty thick... like, maybe a good inch to an inch and a half. Wondered what they did to get it that big, there.

Mark - thanks for the advice! Super helpful, and I'm actually about to head out into the yard to work on some of it.

Thanks again -

[tharlow]

Be sure to visit the Brevard County Extension Office in Palm Bay, near BCC Palm Bay on the Malabar exit of I-95. There you can see about 30 varieties that have been in the ground 3-5 years. It will give you a good idea of what different ones look like and how they do (even after surviving the hurricanes). I rather doubt the bamboo has been labeled. So see if Dan Keene is still at the extension office when you go.

South Office
1455 Treeland Blvd.
Palm Bay, FL 32909
(321) 952-4536

Commercially, Rockledge Gardens and Valkaria Gardens are two nurseries that have good selections of bamboo. Both have people who know what's up with bamboo. They can show you what does well.

Feel free to email me off list and I'll put you in touch with knowledgeable bamboo people in the area. I no longer live in Florida (now Missouri) but know a lot of people who would be happy to share with you their knowledge of bamboo.

You can email me tharlow (at) yahoo.com, and I'll make sure you can get in touch with bamboo people nearby.

Have Fun! Bamboo is the greatest!
--Tom

New Stuff below!

Oh...I think the secret that Gainesville has is colder winters. Temperate bamboos like Ph. nigra like a change of temperature to regulate their growth. Thus, they are helped by changes from cold to warm. The tropical & semitropcals are more regulated by rainy/dry seasons than by temperature changes. The southern half of FL better matches the habitat of the latter groups. Two of my personal favorites are...
Bambusa chungii sometimes called Blue Bamboo (http://www.tropicalbamboo.org/subspecies/Bambusa/bambusa_chungii.htm)
and Bambusa oldhamii sometimes called giant timber bamboo (http://www.tropicalbamboo.org/subspecies/Bambusa/bambusa_oldhamii.htm) . There are lots of ones that will do well in central FL.
Have fun looking at this Species Table of the Florida Caribbean Chapter of the American Bamboo Society (http://www.tropicalbamboo.org/bambusa.htm)

[pressurewave]

great info! Thanks for the tips/names!