Yellowing leaves on recently planted Phyllostachys Henon

[Seattle-Bamboo]

Hello all. Our neighbors recently cut their cherry trees down and as a result they destroyed the perfect screen that we had between our homes. We decided that since we don't know how long that we'll be in this house it would be best to plant large trees to get an immediate solution. Anyway, we decided on a few clumps of fully grown Henon bamboo (approx 30 ft tall). We had the bamboo nursery in our area dig, transport and plant the bamboo for us (including barrier). About one week after they planted it, we noticed that it was starting to thin out. Maybe 30% of the leaves are currently yellow...and will be dropping soon. I can see some very small new buds coming in though. It is getting water, but we aren't over watering. The leaves are not curling. My question is... is the yellowing just part of the normal spring shedding process? Is this some sort of shock? Will in become full again anytime soon? I am not sure what to expect and I was hoping that someone could help fill me in. Thank you very much.
-bob

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Bob, 30ft tall Phyllostachys nigra `Henon' transplants! Now that is some hefty plants!
I've dug a few bamboos up this size during my (past) tenure in this trade, and the most important thing to assure transplant success is that they have a correspondingly large/wide rootball.
This will determine plant vigor and the number of years that the current culms will live to.
Bamboo, (unlike trees which live for many decades/centuries), have a culm-life of 3-5-7-10 years, depending on circumstances. With a healthy grove, producing many new shoots, culms are removed within about 5 years to prevent overcrowding.
Also important is that the culms selected as per transplant are young, not old culms, as per above - old culms will die sooner.
Other factors that will affect plant growth and also new shoot development are...
- how long before shoot emergence season were the plants dug and planted, ie, if the plants were dug at least a few months prior to shoot emergence (before spring, where regionally possible), then the plant directs it's energies towards root and shoot development, and not new leaf development which comes later. If plants are dug / transplanted at the onset of shoot emergence, then new leaf development is an added energy drainer.
- how were the transplants treated from the timethey were dug till planted.
- care of plant after transplanting
- weather, location, soil type and other environmental factors
These are just a few basic things showing that a number of factors will affect plant performance.

Did each transplants have many culms, or a few selected culms per transplant?
When I selected transplants for digging, from a grove, I would usually reduce/remove the oldest culms in the division, assuring the remaining culms would have more then enough energy to survive and prosper.

Now to your question.
> is the yellowing just part of the normal spring shedding process?
Partially, but also there will be more yellowing leaves if plants were dug just prior to your receiving them, and during the energy consuming, shoot emerging spring time.

> Maybe 30% of the leaves are currently yellow...and will be dropping soon.
That's acceptable, and part of transplant adjustment. Also some of the previous years leaves drop and are replaced with new leaves in spring.

> I can see some very small new buds coming in though...
Very good sign! You should know within a month or so, how well the bamboo has recovered

Mark

[Seattle-Bamboo]

Hi mark. I greatly appreciate your reply. I have answered some of your questions below and added in a few new ones for you.


>Also important is that the culms selected as per transplant are young, not old culms, as per above - old culms will die sooner.

It is tough to say if the young ones were kept or not. I do know that all smaller ones were stripped out leaving about 6 canes per each of the three clumps. The canes have about a 3" diameter.


> how long before shoot emergence season were the plants dug and planted, ie, if the plants were dug at least a few months prior to shoot emergence (before spring, where regionally possible), then the plant directs it's energies towards root and shoot development, and not new leaf development which comes later. If plants are dug / transplanted at the onset of shoot emergence, then new leaf development is an added energy drainer.

Our plants were dug about 4 weeks ago. They were monitored for one week and then planted. We were told that we could expect to see some small shoots in June.


>how were the transplants treated from the timethey were dug till planted.

They were potted, staked and watered regularly. This was all handled by the nursery so that is about as specific as I can get.

>care of plant after transplanting

watered via soaker hose with some additional watering. We haven't been over or under watering.

>weather, location, soil type and other environmental factors

They are getting direct sunlight.

> Did each transplants have many culms, or a few selected culms per transplant?

A few selected.


At what point will we know that we have a problem? At what point will we know that the plants are once again stable? Thanks for your help.

-bob