Black color on Bambusa Chungii culms? Ans. Freeze burn

[Dominion of the Vivax]

These mysterious black marks appeared last year on certain culms however they have greatly intensified and are now highly visible. It seems that this may be a type of fungus however it doesn't seem possible to scratch it off. Is this a problem and how can it be removed/eliminated?

[tharlow]

Wait for new culms. How small is that plant, as it's yet to take on the characteristics of how I remember chungii?

It seemed like even pretty small culms had these sheath characteristics.

Hopefully it will jump in size this year and develop bloom on the new culms.

Here are some links to pictures of this most beautiful bamboo. I wish more people could grow chungii (including me in Missouri).

http://www.tropicalbamboo.org/subspecies/Bambusa/bambusa_chungii.htm

Picture one on Smartgroups (http://www.smartgroups.com/pictures/openpicture.cfm?GID=675378&AlbumID=905097&PictureID=2782970&Layout=L&Sort=ordernum&Dir=ASC)

Picture 2 at smartgroups (http://www.smartgroups.com/pictures/openpicture.cfm?GID=675378&AlbumID=905097&PictureID=8228618&Layout=L&Sort=ordernum&Dir=ASC)

I don't think you do, but it's possible you might have to create an account at smartgroups in order to see the second two.

--Tom

[Dominion of the Vivax]

It is possible to see your pictures without an account.

I put this bamboo in the ground during either late August or early September last year. When it first arrived there were only two culms of which was at most 2 ft tall and another that was about 3 3/4 ft tall.

By contrast the height of the culms that emerged were much taller and thicker; it sent up two culms which were about 6 1/2 and 7 feet. The culm that now has the black stuff came up within one or two days of planting the Bambusa Chungii. This year there were two culms that appeared during the early Spring. They are very thin and are not the normal height however. Hopefully during the late summer/early fall there will be substantial shooting with blue culms and a lot of white powder. Although the winter caused some damage to the branches, killed all of the leaves (it has developed new leaves though as can be seen in the pictures) and the top of a culm it seems likely that the roots and rhizomes were largely unaffected.

The newer culms that have branches at the higher nodes do not yet appear to have the problem with the black substance.

This bamboo is definitely my favorite due to its great blue and white colors. It can get quite tall and decently spaced too. The only problem is that doesn't like that cold. It doesn't have rolled up leaves like H Hookeranius which seems unable to unroll them no matter have often it is watered.

[tharlow]

Wow, SC! What USDA zone, I'm guessing you'll be able to get cold hardiness data on chungii. How cold was it when they took the damage?

Hopefully with good summer rains you'll get some more shoots this summer that will size up. I'm still thinking those blemishes on the older culms are nothing to worry about. Eventually the better looking culms will replace them.

Thanks for verifying you can see the pictures without creating an account.

--Tom

[Dominion of the Vivax]

This area is zone 8b.

The leaves starting taking damage once the temperature reached the upper 20s. It may actually have started even earlier. A sizable amount of leaves survived until January though. The other problems did not occur until it became around lower 20s-17 during January. Branches have regrown from some of the lower nodes on the culms from last year however none of the upper nodes have displayed any branch growth and one of the culms has yet to branch at all. The new, extremely thin culms that appeared during the early spring have branched quite a bit though. This winter was unusually cold so it is almost certain that there will be far less problems this year.

It seems that the black stains probably will not appear on other culms. If this remains true then there is nothing to worry about. The stuff seems to be underneath the surface of the culm.

[Mark Meckes]

Hi, This color change looks like a frost or freeze burn (maybe there's a better definition?).

Bambusa chungii is listed as having a hardiness rating of around 21F / -6C (at which serious top growth dieback will occur)

Top killed Bambusas usually respond by putting up smaller culms in the spring,Many of these sprouts emerge from the base of the culms that were winter killed. The growth character of a culm side sprout looks more like a branch then an upright culm, as a result the plant may grow as a wide spreading shrub.
Later in the summer a few larger culms might rise above the shrub. The next winter decides their fate.

We have a B.beechyana, same hardiness rating, same zone/different climate, that has been shrubberized annually (4 yrs) except one.

--------
I had a lot of freeze burnt bamboo when living in PA.
See the effects on this Phyllostachys aureosulcata.
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/520/medium/1Mvc-070f.jpg
See thread ...
Winter freeze-burnt bamboo changes culm color (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=426)

Is it caused by desiccation / evaporation of moisture, leaving behind pigmented nutrients, or are pigments simply drawn to the surface by the effects of freezing, warming and condensation? another reason?

Newly exposed shoot culms will also change to shades of this color during cool springs with light frosts, but will green up later providing there's no heavy freeze.
See for example, the color of this new shoot of Phyllostachys nuda before it greens up ...
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/511/thumbs/1Mvc-084f.jpg See larger pic (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=570&cat=511)

[Dominion of the Vivax]

I suspected that the cold was the reason for this problem. It got unusually cold this year. The issue was compounded by the fact that this bamboo was quite new last year.

This sounds like it could be a serious problem if it occurs again. Fortunately only one of the culms has this black coloration. Hopefully the root system can withstand the temperatures without being affected then perhaps new, resilient, cold resistant culms will appear.

The odd thing is that it seemed like there were slight black spots prior to the winter. The current situation though definitely did not exist until this year though.

[Mark Meckes]

It's interesting how the darkened parts of the culm receded downwards from the top of the nodes.
Not knowing clumpers too well, I could have been foiled into thinking this was a black clumper doing it's 2nd year color change :)

Your bamboo appears well protected from wind, with the fence in the background. Providing you don't get too many single digit winters, and maybe add a blanket of mulch around the base of the plant if the weather gets frigid, I think that your plant will get bigger even if top killed.

In my neck of the woods, we have been having milder winters of late and our few varieties of clumpers are loving it.
However sometime down the road we're bound to have a string of colder winters that will turn these plants back into pip squeeks.

Mark