Phyllostachys shoots growing at an angle?

[vinniedriver]

Hi all, about 2 months ago, I bought a P. aurea standing about 5 feet tall from a DIY store and planted it out in my garden. Since then, I have been lovingly watering it every day and I noticed that now it's started sending out 5 shoots :) . They are not thicker than any of the existing culms, but I suppose that'll start once it is a bit more established.

My question is, these shoots are at some alarming angles, one is actually horizontal :eek: is this normal? I'll try to attach some photos.

(Note: It has since been determined that the species is not P. aurea but Phyllostachys bissetii.
The species name has been changed in the posts, but the query eventually leading up to ID'ng the species has been kept in this thread to retain it's integrity ... MM )

Phyllostachys bissetii

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/whole.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1325&cat=765) View larger (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1325&size=big&cat=765)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/small_angled.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1324&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/right_shoot2.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1323&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/right_shoot.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1322&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/left_shoot.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1321&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/horizontal_shoot.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1320&cat=765)

I think I'm hooked on bamboos now :D

[tharlow]

Yes it's quite normal. While it's getting established let those new ones help provide photosynthetic area. In a few years as larger, more aesthetically pleasing culms become the norm, you may wish to thin out the smaller culms and any that you think do not add to the aesthetics.

--Tom

[vinniedriver]

Thanks Tom :)

[Mark Meckes]

Hi vinniedriver, Tom said it succinctly, I'll do the ramble ...

The curved shoots up top are really tillering rhizomes that have misplaced their up/down directional bearings. This is also kind of like a kneejerk evolutionary adaptive reaction that happens if ...
- Top growth is cut down or killed back by inclement weather.
Near surface rhizomes curve upward and sprout leaves, sustaining the plant as it builds it's energy reserves back up to produce new culms the following year.
- In your situation you have a plant that was previously living in a contained environment, is bursting with juvenile vigour and is hog-wild about it's new home.
It looks like a very healthy plant, so we can assume that plenty of rhizome growth is also underway below ground.
Amazingly, the rhizome depth that anchors our own 7-10 M / 20-30+ ft Phyllostachys aurea culms are only at a depth of 15 -30 cm / 6-12 inches below ground level, though the roots that grow off the rhizomes grow much deeper.

Q. Did you plant your bamboo after spring shooting season?
Here in Texas, Phyllostachys aurea shoots in early April ... maybe May, further North.

Whatever, you won't see any `real' shoots till next spring.

As you have plenty of top growth for this year, what you want is plenty of rhizome development to provide energy for next years shoots.

If you see a shoot coming out sideways, you can lay something heavy on top of it to force it back downwards, or try poking it back into the ground if you get it early enough ...

Considering the good health of your plant, I would cut off the angled tillering rhizome sprouts, purely as a matter of aesthetics. There's no harm to leave em there.
You could also have your first `harvest' (haha) by cutting out those teeny tiny whippersnappers in the middle of the clump.

Photo References - Gallery Bamboo Flora: Phyllostachys aurea (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=503)

BTW This here is a different situation related to shoots growing at an angle:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/569/thumbs/BmAKarrATX050728-893.jpg
Bambusa multiplex `Alphonse Karr (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1293)
These angled shoots lost their libido or umpah, flopped over while shooting and continued to grow sideways.
I have since removed them.
Mark

[vinniedriver]

Thanks very much, Mark :cool:

Just what I needed to know. I tried to poke one of the horizontal ones back into the dirt and it made a nasty cracking sound, so I have snipped them all off at ground level as you suggest to put the plants energy into below ground activity.

It also looks much neater now with all the little stalks removed from the middle. I wasn't sure if I should have removed them before as they had the odd leaf on.

I planted it in June I think, and mixed in miracle-gro time release beads into the potting compost. It looks much more happy than it did when I bought it. Very few leaves are dying now. My car was full of leaves that it was shedding when I took it home.

Once we have finished planting the rest of the beds, I'll mulch with fine bark chips before first frost.

[Mark Meckes]

Yep, a good 5-10 cm / 2-4 inches of mulch of any kind around the plant will keep the soil from compacting, and retain moisture, and may encourage rhizomes to grow deeper, though initially some may slither along just under the mulch, depending how heavy your soil type is.

more rambling thoughts ...

Because (an established) bamboo has only a short season of a couple months of a year that it sends up new culms, and because they are at first very delicate and can be damaged, broken, eaten, destroyed, ... bamboo has developed a safe guard by overproducing new culms to compensate for losses.
The rhizomes are also abundantly produced, and their period of growth and development continues throughout the growing season.

So it's only natural that bamboo can produce more growth then the growing conditions can actually sustain.
Even if all other growing conditions are met, there's only a limited amount of available sunlight. Thus the reason why selective thinning, in addition to being aesthetically appealing, can benefit the planting, especially in larger groves.

A multi network of rhizomes
A single bamboo planting has the appearance of being one plant.
However each rhizome leader, or point of rhizome growing from the plant soon develops a mindset of it own, and may become capable itself of becoming a grove or part thereof.
This would depend on the growing conditions and competition between rhizomes for the space.

Selective removal of culms helps to direct energies to the predominant supporting rhizomes.
And as older culms mature and die, so do the attached rhizomes.
replaced by new rhizomes and shoots, and the cycle continues on ...

Mark

[vinniedriver]

Thanks for placing the pics in it's own part of the gallery :) you keep the most organized forum I've come across so far! :cool:

This evening I watered my baby, after a couple of days almost constant rain, and noticed 3 more shoots! one of them is at the edge of the paving, some 6-8 inches away from the edge of the original pot ball. It's a bit thicker than the largest culm.

I am thinking I'll let the furthest one grow, and see what it is going to do, and cut back the two others to promote underground growth.

This is fascinating! This is the first summer of being in a house with a garden, and I can actually make stuff grow :p

[vinniedriver]

The Aurea is coming along great now. It has around 23 new culms, two are about 5 feet tall - from the original ones I left to grow.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/full-plant-20-9-05-very-sma.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2491&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/distant-shoot-on-left-20-9-.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2490&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/right-side-shoots-20-9-05-v.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2489&cat=765)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/shoots-20-9-05-very-small.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2488&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/two-tall-shoots-20-9-05-ver.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2487&cat=765)

[Mark Meckes]

Thats' some impressive new growth on your bamboo!

BTW your pics are the first bamboo pics here from the UK. Thanks for showing them!

Do you get frost & freezing weather in your area?

If so, the main concern is that these shoots leaf out and harden up enough for the winter.

~ Mark

[vinniedriver]

Thanks Mark :)

Those pics were from a week ago. I went out to water it (and the rest of the garden, though it's been raining - I'm obsessed) and found that the tall new culms have branches unraveling from the sheathes from the bottom up and the low culms are noticably much bigger. I'll take more pics tomorrow if I can.

It is getting close to frost here. night time temperatures are dropping to about 8C, but daytime is still getting unusually warm - up to 20C and sunny but with some heavy rain. I would expect the first frost within a month.

I have been wondering if I should just let the new growth do it's thing and see if it gets killed off by frost, or cut it all back as it appears until it stops during the winter (keeping the two tall ones). The amount of it doesn't seem to have effected the established growth as I have no dying leaves anywhere, so I am tempted to leave it.

I plan to pull back the mulch soon and apply a load more "Miricle Grow" slow release fertilizer beads, then re-cover.

[Mark Meckes]

What is your average coldest winter temperature?

Tillering sprouts also occur after an established bamboo planting has been root pruned, ie, had it's rhizomes severed around the perimeter of a planting.

I saw some Phyllostachys groves in Georgia USA which had been perimeter root pruned in late summer > sent up a lot of small shoots (like yours) in the autumn > winter low was about - 6C / 20F , and even though the leaves were partially frost burnt, tiny buds on the branches were unaffected and produced new leaves in the spring.

The other time tillering occurs is when plants have been dug out from a grove, smaller tillering sprouts may form near the dug-out plant hole.
These tillering sprouts, after growing on for a year can be dug up as smaller starter plants ... otherwise these smaller sprouts can be cut down.

~ Mark

[Mark Meckes]

Even established groves can have tillering rhizomes.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaureaTiller050909-054.jpg See photo (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2503) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaureaTiller050909-055.jpg See photo (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2502)
Growing 2-3 metres/ 6-8 ft out from the perimeter of our grove, this near surface Phyllostachys aurea rhizome grew just beneath a layer of woodchip mulch into an area used as an outdoor workspace.
After getting past this area, it sent up a tufted sprout and would have set anchor were it not subsequently removed.

~ Mark

[vinniedriver]

Hi Mark

The temperature here gets down to about -5C max, but it doesn't stay like that for long periods.

As this plant came from a hardware store, I couldn't say if it was cut out of a pre established grove, or grown in the pot. I saw one in the same store that has nice fat culms with the uneven congested internodes today, and I'm very tempted to buy it place it in another corner in its pot.

Incidentally, it's situation is probably not ideal. The sun never really comes round fully hitting the plant from base to top. I was hoping that as it comes over the top of the fence it's against, it'd grow up to get the light it needs. Perhaps this is causing the thin profuse culm growth.

I have attatched some more pictures taken today. You can clearly see the new growth on the side shoots as they are all leaning out of the plot (towards the right) and the original culms lean slightly to the left where I planted it slightly off vertical.......

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/small_from_side1.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4213) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/small_from_side1.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4213) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/from_front_you_can_see_new_culms_at_the_left.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4211) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/tall_new_culms.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4209)

[Mark Meckes]

Wow! that's some major tillering!
The container plant must have had a lot of rhizomes in the top portion of the pot. Hopefully there were rhizomes at the bottom of the container and the same scenario is going on under ground.
Near surface shoots will be more floppy like this, and in ensuing years, shoots emerging from deeper down will have a more upright stature.
Angled tillering shoots can be removed then, in favor of the well anchored shoots.

One thing about Phyllostachys aurea is that it is very amenable to pruning the tops and side branches, producing bushier growth. I have seen it clipped and shaped into hedges.
... got pics somewhere which I'll find one of these days.

Another way to trim tillering culms so they are less floppy, more bushy and upright, is during their late shooting stage ... when they are about half to 3/4 height, still in shooting stage, pull the top portion of the shoot off, and as the side branches open, pull the ends of these off. Their remaining side branches will grow more bushy.

Thanks btw for posting about the book ... Hardy Bamboo (Taming the dragon), Paul Whittaker (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1595)

~ Mark

[Mark Meckes]

(28th February 2006 - See post - Fargesia robusta in a pot? (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1761)
Spend a few weeks here at this time of year, and you'll soon change your mind ;) :eek: Right now its 2 celsius with a -5 wind chill, colder by the end of the week.
Although we are lucky to get 4 distinct seasons, sometimes they can all happen in 1 day. I was wearing shorts and t-shirt 3 weeks ago, it was 15C.

Warm greetings from Austin TX!
March 3rd is our 'average' last frost date.
It's supposed to get to 80F / 26C today, this last day of Feb!
However ... This is the first combined summer/winter drought + warm winter I've experienced since living here - 5 yrs.
It remains to be seen how new shoots will be affected.
Most of our bamboo receives no irrigation, with the exception of an occasional soaker hose at newer (>5 yr old) plantings.

In March 30, 2004 our Phyllostachys aurea looked like this:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaureaAuTX040405-140.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2641)
Will our grove look like this one month from now? ...

My wife, Carole, who has lived here longer tells me that one year the spring was very dry and the shoots weren't up till June!
That's Texas weather for you!
Mark

[vinniedriver]

Wow - thats impressive growth!

The temperature has been very much up and down here and all the dormant shoots are really starting to get into action developing their leaves and little branches. Its also been a dry winter, and the news is telling about possible hose pipe bans.

I'm thinking about thinning the older foliage at the base of the plant to allow light in. I guess I just prune branches at the main culm. I havn't found any guidelines other than recomendations to prune out old culms. None of mine are old.....

In a couple of weeks or so, I plan to mix a load of slow release fertilizer into the top mulch to help the whole garden into spring.

[cngodles]

I've got a shoot about the same diameter and 3 1/2 inches coming up after planting a root ball 10 days ago. It's shooting at a 35 degree angle (0 is ground level). Would something like that happen so fast?

I'm in the Pittsburgh, PA area, so therefore the weather is cool here as well.

My leaf tips seem to be turning brown, or it might have already been that way, I forget. Could giving the plant water from the sink do this?

Thanks,
Clint

[Mark Meckes]

Hi Clint,
Yellow Groove Bamboo sometimes comes up at an angle and does a zig-zag ...
Phyllostachys aureosulcata - NE Pennsylvania USA
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/520/thumbs/1aureosulcata7.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=897)

My recollections are that this bamboo begins to emerge in the last week of April / 1st week of May in higher elevations of NE PA ...

As your plants were dug during an active period in which the bamboo is drawing in resources for shoot growth, you may have some transplant shock. ...

You may also get small pencil-thick shoots that grow from buds on the rhizomes.
See a bud on the rhizome of this P. aurea:

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaureaCulmBaseRhizome-884.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1240)

Young rhizomes carry many dormant buds that will awaken if the need arises.
On older rhizomes the buds may have lost their viability.

Well, within a few weeks you should know how well the transplant took :)

Mark

Hey vinniedriver, what's the angle on new shoots for this year?

[cngodles]

These culms were quite busted up when I got them. Figures I snapped the only nice one of the group. What is left is 3 green culms, that have half dead healf alive branches. The bottom half of the snapped culm is doing ok. They were not very tall in the grove, so I think they were not getting enough sunlight.

I figure it needs some leaves now that it's in full sun.

All of the culms are budded out. The buds seem to be taking forever, but I'm impatient.

I looked over pictures from when I first planted. The leaves were brown tipped, so my whole paranoid city water thing isn't so. I first planted 4 culms last October, and they did not take. The last one was maybe going to make it, but my dogs tore it out. The fence around them has since grown larger. So I've been itching to get bamboo to take in my back yard over 6 long months of what seems like forever winter.

Also, did you read my other reply? I've got semi dried leaves in a group of 3 18' culms I brought home. The rhyzome was maybe 3 feet long, I couldn't tell, I brought dirt and all home. They dry during warm low humidity days, and open up in the morning when the humidity climbs. I really don't want to, but do you think that removing a culm will help, or should I wait it out? They've been in the ground 4 days now.

Also, one last question in this long string of questions. I purchased Moso and Water Bamboo Seeds. They are on their way. Any suggestions for getting these started? Could either one be planted outside before the end of the year? I know the moso is a gamble here in Pittsburgh, but the Water should do just fine. If I can't get the moso to take outside, I was thinking of keeping it as a trimmed potted plant.

Attached is a picture of the shoot from last night.

Thanks a bunch, your answers are great.
Clint

[vinniedriver]

cngodles,

thats just how mine were coming out last year shortly after planting it from a pot. It continued shooting until about October, which was completely out of season. I'd leave yours to do what they want for now, maybe cut off the dead culms though.

Mine has started shooting real shoots now that are quite upright close to the middle of the plant, and still at a rather steep angle further out, but they turn up as they are growing. I've kind of put this down to finding the light as its against a fence that blocks the sun.

The new shoots are growing much quicker than the old dormant ones from last year, still not thicker than the thickest old culms yet.

Most interestingly though, I've found a shoot appear out of the ground about 2 feet from the original plant, and its almost comletely horizontal, and quite thick. I didn't have these down as runners, but I'm going to leave it to see what happens.

I think my aurea is still a bit confused from its re-homing ordeal. If it starts sending up some nice tall culms this year, I'll cut out a load of the angled ones as they are blocking my tiny paved area.

I'll post some pics when I find my camera.

[cngodles]

As in it shooting all summer long? That would be great. I don't care what the shoots are, as long as they are shooting. I can cut if off later if they look unsightly, I just want it to grow.

Btw, those culms are cut. The camera just barely missed. I had to cut them off to transport them, or it would have been noiser. Where I get my bamboo, the guy that lives near by doesn't like people near his property. The grove is only half on his property, so I get it from the half that is not his. He still gets mad. I have to sneak. Lol. Anything for bamboo...

Here is the tall set from the front of the house that has the dry leaves...

http://www.15656.com/media/images/xanga/2006/bamboo_tall.jpg

The shoot from the set in back grew 1 inch yesterday. It's up to 4 1/2 inches now! My neighbor has a whole lot of bamboo, and it's shooting huge shoots like a weed. I'm jealous.

Pics are great!

I'll post more too. They are all on my laptop, I don't have them here.

Later,
Clint

[vinniedriver]

Man - thats tall! I'd guess that perhaps the plant would be happyer if you'd "liberated" a bigger section.

Isn't it a bit dangerous creaping round by annoyed gun-touting country folks land without a bullet proof vest? :eek:

[cngodles]

I hope he doesn't shoot. I don't think legally he can...

But who would I be able to tell?

It's hard to dig up short ones, they are very unhealthy due to lack of sunlight. I didn't even think mine were that tall until I drug them out of the grove. The funny part was that I had them inside my acura integra. The root ball was in the passenger foot well, the back stuck 8 feet out from my open trunk. And I had to drive them 25 miles like that.

Bamboo Bandit.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.

Also, did you say that they shooted all summer long?

Thanks,
Clint

[cngodles]

I'm going up to get some more today. Hopefully two root balls. I'm willing to bet that it's shooting now, seeing that three other people who have it in their yards have shoots.

I read once that you should not try to move it when it's shooting, but I'm going to try anyway. Maybe I'll lose the shoots, but hopefully I'll gain the plant.

My little shoot is up to 6 3/4 inches now!

[Mark Meckes]

We're looking at two types of tillering here ...
Vinniedrivers plant was a well rooted container grown bamboo, busting to get out of culmfinement. It's rhizomes were growing prolifically in every which direction as shown by the amazing growth in the first season planted.

Clints bamboo is a recently dug transplant, and the small the sprouts are in reaction to the digging.
With a freshly dug bamboo, all the rhizomes that are growing through the rootball may not all be connected to the attached culms.
It may contain separate segments of rhizomes, and their only chance of survival is to grow some leaf-bearing shoots.
When digging taller plants, if they fail to take hold, the small sucker growth may be all one has left.
But If the transplant is a success, one can with discretion, thin out excessive tillering

Even an established grove can have tillering shoots, usually sprouting from shallow rooted rhizomes ...
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaurAuTX060505-2777.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2965)

[Mark Meckes]

Ah, finally! New Shoots!

And what? They look bigger than the original plant!

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/520/thumbs/bambooshoots.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2974&cat=500&ppuser=1718)

Yes!! NEW SHOOTS!

Seriously, I looked outside every day last winter looking at where my live bamboo plants used to be before they failed from a late planting and vicious dogs. This is about the highlight of my 9 months experience with bamboo.

Thanks,
Clint


Clint, your Yellow Groove Bamboo needs it's own thread that you can cultivate and reference to, so your above post has been made into a New Thread for you :) Phyllostachys aureosulcata - New planting - PA USA (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1904)

Also ... Your suggestion on photo image size has been moved to the Photo How to Forum (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1903), which I'll reply to ... but later ;) ...
------------------
vinniedriver,
You have enough rhizomes to grow a bamboo forest, ie more than what you need for your back yard, so you should have no culmpunction (http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2000/02/06.html) to begin snipping out excessive rhizome growth and tillering shoots, now that your bamboo is well rooted.

P. aurea, when grown in cramped spaces can produce a lot of rhizomes and closely spaced culms.

Shaped into a hedge or screen, P. aurea responds well to topping off of new shoots and clipping long side branches back, which makes them more bushy ...

Phyllostachys aurea - Clipped hedge at gas station - Jan 2002, Blanco TX USA
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaurBlTX020128-289.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2975)
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaurBlTX020128-285.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2976)

On the other hand, if you want to give more space per culm to give a grove effect, you will need to selectively remove excessive or smaller shoots and culms. This also helps by coaxing the plant to direct it's growth to the rhizomes with attached culms. It is from these rhizomes that you want new rhizomes to grow from to produce subsequently larger shoots the following year.
The rhizomes that have had their smaller culms and tillering shoots removed either continue to grow or die off.

You'll be happy to hear that, culmpared to many other Phyllostachys species, P. aurea has a more upright growth habit, due to it's somewhat closer internode spacing and branching habit.

Here's a pic of a typical upright growth:
Phyllostachys aurea - Jan 2002, Blanco TX USA
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaurBlTX020128-282.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2977)

BTW...
P. aurea and P. aureosulcata, though sounding similar by name, are quite different in nature of growth. For instance ...
P aurea:
- Less cold hardy - about 0 F / -18C
(Didn't bother growing this one when living in the NE PA)
- Will grow in warmer, even tropical climates and doesn't seem to need as many 'chill hours' for good shoot growth.

P. aureosulcata:
- One of the cold hardiest of bamboos at about -10 F / -23 C
- Diminished size of culms in warmer climates.

Etc,
Mark

[vinniedriver]

Mark - I'm shocked! Are you OK? My rampant Aurea seems to be rampaging further, I'll post up some pics is you want. But it does not get taller. I'm putting it down to the fact its in the shade mostly.

[Mark Meckes]

Pics? Yeah!
You can upload them in a post or gallery.

Sorry to hear of no big 'uns for this year yet.
Still, it's barely been in the ground for a year,
and your ready for the big leap ...

Grove Management 101
Signs of vitality and vigour are to be desired in a new bamboo planting,
but an over-abundance of culmpeeting rhizomes can result in a reduction in the size of culms produced.
Selective thinning is a forever ongoing thing with bamboo.
At some point a distinction is formed and it's called ... !:)! Harvesting !:)!

Mark

[vinniedriver]

But I don't want to cut any of it :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I've had to tie it back with string as the floppy outer culms droop over the paved area and get in the way, but they are in the best position to collect the most sunlight.

I promise I'll get some pics within the week. I'm busy working tomorrow, then I pick up a new motorbike sunday, so if it's not raining monday, I'll do it then.

[Mark Meckes]

But I don't want to cut any of it :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
HA!HA! ... just preparing you for the inevitable day of the 'rotation of the culms'

Here's also ...

Alternative Plan B:

Cut off one of the two branches per node, and leave one branch per node in an alternating pattern, (each successive branch up the culm pointing in an opposite direction).

I just did this to some P nigra growing next to my work area that was giving me a crook in my neck.
I've also tied some up to a chain link fence.
Neat thing about bamboo is that because bamboo doesn't have a bark/cambium layer, or expand as it grows like trees, you can tie tightly without killing the culm.

Oh BTW, This years shooting may not be done yet.
Our P.aurea is still sending up a new shoot here and there after we got a good rain (following a drought).
Unlike most Phyllostachys that have a very distinct window of shooting,
P. aurea has a little bit more of a quirky mindset, relative to local environmental conditions.

... then I pick up a new motorbike

Yeehaw!! Have fun!

I expect we'll be seeing a thread soon on bamboo biker accessories ;)

Mark

[vinniedriver]

Update: I just whent to inspect the aurea, and noticed two new, but noteably different shoots have just appeared. they are not thin, green with a nice pointy point at the top like all the shoots I've been having, they are yellowy/brown/green with kind of messy tops like ones you'd see in books. they seem to have come out differently because the bark mulch is all pushed aside by them rather than the shoot delicately making its way through with no disturbance.

I've been hunting for the camera. I think the Mrs has got it. I need to post some pics :cool:

[cngodles]

Those sound like large shoots to me. Hopefully by now they should be alot taller.

My small tilting shoot maxed out at 20 inches and started opening up. It's quite leafy now.

As for harvesting, I hacked the tops off of my very dry 18 footer in the front (now it's a 15 footer), and I'd say 50% of the leaves turned back to healthy green as a result. Never fear cutting down excess culms, but I certainly understand not wanting to do it. I've got 4 unhealthy half dead brown spotted culms that go along with mine, but I won't dare cut them down until I've got 4 new replacements.

Later,
Clint

[vinniedriver]

Nice one Clint, I'm glad to hear yours is recovering.

I just got home from prague, so didn't look at it since Tuesday morning. The shoots are now about 8 inches tall and perhaps a half inch round :eek:

I have now taken some pics, but, as luck would have it, I can't find the card reader.....

[cngodles]

My large shoot is growing on average 3 inches a day and has reached 24 inches today (at least, I'm expecting 26 when I get home).

It's 1/2 inch as well. They might be twins.

The shoots I transplanted and have not moved for a couple weeks finally look like they are starting to emerge. I am curious of how they will grow without the supporting energy of the grove they once had.

Can't wait to compare baby photos.

Later.

[vinniedriver]

Here are the pics :)

You can see the shoot that appeared some feet away from the main plant in one shot. The new big shoots are obvious ;) - there are 5 of them.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02308.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4220) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02309.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4219) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02310.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4218) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02313.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4217)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02314.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4216) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02316.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4215) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02317.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4214)

[Mark Meckes]

Far Out!!!
Now we know where this saying originated from

and culmgratulations!

[cngodles]

So cool.

Now you can cut at least that many smaller culms down shortly after.

Mine hit 26 inches today. You can see it in the middle.

http://www.15656.com/media/images/forum/bambooshoot05.jpg

Enjoy,
Clint

[vinniedriver]

It took me ages to spot the shoot there Clint - it looks so similar to the railing spindles behind it ;) Thats quite a beast you got growing there.

I just noticed 2 more on mine :cool:

[cngodles]

I know, it's like Where's Waldo.

[vinniedriver]

We had wheres Wally here - same animation, different voice ;)

Mark - I feel its the culmination of a years loving care ;)

[vinniedriver]

I've just given it a hair cut, i've taken off the lower branches up to about a foot and a bit. Its allowed me to see the new shoots much better :)

Oh. Another one is showing up now.

I just took these shots, it's been raining lots over the last few days, and for some reason the mulch has grown a white fur on it.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC02318.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4226)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02319.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4225) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02320.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4224) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02321.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4223) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02322.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4222) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02323.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4221)

[Mark Meckes]

Nice manicure and great shots!

These shoots have set the standard for what stays and goes.

Imagine this ...

You have the equivalent of 2 seasons growth.
If we were to assume the average age of a culm as 5 years before removal.
(5 year rotation = 20% removal each year)
Visualize having to accommodate 3 more years of culms in the same space!! :eek: !!

True, that some culms die younger or can be harvested at an earlier age, but some culms will stay alive for a decade or longer if given the chance.

This year I harvested the last few P. aurea culms in our grove that emerged in 1995!

Mark

[Mark Meckes]

Well, actually you have about 3-4 years worth of culms in your planting, but I wasn't counting the lil'uns ;)

The mould on the bark should not bother the bamboo, but bamboo is more prone to getting rust on it's leaves in humid overcrowded conditions.

Bamboo Rust: Puccinia phyllostachydis(?) on Phy. aurea leaves
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/553/thumbs/Puccinia_phy-P_aurea-AuTX050526-541.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=553)

[vinniedriver]

Quick update:

The tallest shoot (of the propper man sized shoots) is now 31inches tall :cool:

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02336.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4228) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02337.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4227)

I think we now need the rain to stop for a while and the sun to come out to heat the soil a bit for them to really get going.

[Mark Meckes]

Beautiful!
When the sheaths start falling off, let us know if you see any shortened internodes.
Apparantly there is a P. aurea that doesn't have the compressed or distorted internodes, but I will restrain myself from rambling on about it here and save it for a new thread topic.

As they get going if you can get some close-ups it would be much appreciated.
- as close as you can get ie like this part etc ...

Phyllostachys aurea ligule /sheath blade - Austin TX USA
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/040426-19PaureaAuTX.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1229)
I had pulled down the sheath blade gently to expose the ligule.

Cheers,
Mark

[vinniedriver]

Apparantly there is a P. aurea that doesn't have the compressed or distorted internodes, but I will restrain myself from rambling on about it here and save it for a new thread topic.

Do you mean f. takemurai or f. formosana? As it happens, there are still no congested internodes on mine yet and the lower sheathes have come off. My book, Hardy Bamboo (Taming the dragon), Paul Whittaker (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1595) says f. takemurai is unknown outside of america, and it's reputed to be more vigorous then 'ordinary' Aurea - odd, as mine seems very vigorous too. I wonder if it is one of these......

I just got back from a weeks holiday, and to my joy, I was greeted by lots of tall culms. The tallest is 7 foot 7 inch :d They still have more growth in them, as the leaf at the top has not yet appeared (I've noticed that the leaf seems to signal the change between gaining height and starting to pop their branches out) I gave it 10 liters of water this morning as I don't think it had much to drink over the last week, so I'm hoping that and the hot sun will spur it on to bigger heights.

I'll post some pics later.

[Mark Meckes]

Hi vinniedriver,
Sounds like your baby's becoming a teenager!
Look forward to seeing pics.

Here's a thread started about P. aurea without distorted internodes (http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1984)

Mark

[vinniedriver]

A teenager? Oh NO! it's going to start smoking and drinking, and one day, it'll come home pregnant :(
It is starting to look very good, and once the branches open out, it'll do exactly what we want - mask next doors garden out :)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02458.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4233) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02460.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4232) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02461.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4231) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02462.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4230) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02467.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4229)

I don't know what the white dusty residue is on some of the shots. Also my camera won't go any closer than you see and still focus.

[Mark Meckes]

Ah look out! Monocots are self impregnating. :eek:

Need more closeup pics of the sheaths, especially near the sheath blade.
Got a step ladder? hehe

The white powdery stuff (terminology unknown) is a type of lubricant on the sheath that clumps together here and there as the shoot telescopes skyward.

You can see it here on this Phyllostachys nuda shoot.
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/511/thumbs/PnudaSkvTX050412-038.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1204&size=big&cat=511)

and this Phyllosatchys elegans shoot
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/545/thumbs/PelegAuTX060309-483.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2890&cat=545&size=big)

Numerous spp. exhibit this, though it is not always so obvious, and it varies or may be lacking at later phases of shooting.

I need to take a closer look at my P. aurea pics ... have some more recent ones to upload ... as I can't remember it being this much on our shoots.
... or maybe it's just my memory fading ...

Mark

[Mark Meckes]

vinniedriver,
It is very odd indeed that I can't find this white waxy substance on the P.aurea pics that I have taken.
See Phyllosatchys aurea (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=503) at Bamboo Flora

Maybe because ...
- my old camera wasn't good at taking distance shots?
- different climate/growing conditions?
- failing memory? ... but you know me, I specialize in paying attention to details ;)
- yours is a different species?

Well, such is the mystery of bamboo species ID.
Unless I find a pic on one of my disks, which I don't have time to look for at the moment, I may need to wait till next year before I can verify this.

One thing we can be very certain of ... our grove is definitely P. aurea :)

Mark

[Mark Meckes]

vinniedriver, did you take any more pics of the culm sheaths?
Show as large attachment if you can.
Can you see if the sheaths have any resemblence of auricles.

I'm wondering if what you have is Phyllostachys viridiglaucescens.
I don't have good closeups of this plant, but after I hear from you I'll explain my hypothesis.

Mark

[vinniedriver]

My camera won't take pics closer than what I already got Mark. And unfortunatly, all the branches have popped out on the big new culms. There is one more new, but small shoot round the back, but it's the weak kind I've been getting before.

Funny you should mention p. viridiglaucescens, after reading up on it, the culm sheaths that came off had prupley streaks on them. Also, the new culms are producing 3 branches off the culm, one big, one smaller and one very small.

I'll upload some pictures of the dried sheathes and of the branched out nodes and some hairs where the leaves pop out.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02461Closeup.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4235) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC02462Closeup.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4234)

[Mark Meckes]

Unfortunately bamboo species do not show their mature identifying characteristics until they reach the age of 'puberty', ie when culms get to a larger size.
This is especially true in regards to their auricles, or ear like projections at the juncture of the sheath blade, as these may be completly absent in smaller culms.
Also, regardless of culm size, the sheaths on the lower portion of a shoot are usually lacking any auricles (even if the species is known to have them), and are generally less useful for ID purposes, except to show what it looks like in it's early emergence stage.

This is why it is best to observe the upper half of a growing shoot when it reaches a couple yds/Ms in height for any signs of auricles.

The reason why the presence of any signs of auricles is important in this discussion is because P. aurea is lacking auricles, and oral setae (filaments or wispy hairs attached to the auricles)


Also, the new culms are producing 3 branches off the culm, one big, one smaller and one very small.


Is it like this in only a few places?
This occasionally happens with Phyllostachys species, though I'm not sure if it happens with greater regularity on some species.

Mark

[Mark Meckes]

Hi vinniedriver,
How's your bamboo doing this spring?
Can you provide more new shoot pics?
I'd like to culmfirm whether this is P. aurea or possibly another species.

Cheers,
Mark

[vinniedriver]

Hi Mark

I just noticed your reply :) - it's been a long winter.

Spring is springing, and the first shoot is shooting, though it's not as decent as what came eventually last year. I can see a bigger one just beginning to poke through the mulch. It has sent out plenty of up and over running feelers. In February I thinned it out, taking the smaller, old spindly growth out, and have started watering it.

The Father-in-law has just bought a nice digital SLR camera that I'll use to get some pictures when the shoots come properly, I hope he has a macro lens. One small problem is that I am off on vacation in 3 weeks for 2 weeks to get married. I hope I don't miss the best bit of growth!

[Mark Meckes]

Good to hear from you again vinniedriver!
Uh oh, you haven't told your wife-to-be of your previous engagement with bamboo? :eek:
LOL When spring shoots arrive, all other earthly matters are put on the side lines.

(For my sake) ... I'm hoping your boo turns out to be P. viridiglaucescens.
This is one species that has completely alluded me and have never had the good fortune to be in it's presence when it is shooting, or know of any plants growing nearby. I may need to acquire this boo to satisfy my yearnings. It's also a good craft species.

The reason I question it's P. aurea validity is ...
- from the accumulated powdery globs of wax on the sheath surface that results as the shoot telescopes skyward.
- the hint in your last pic that the sheath may have auricles or 'ear-like appendages at the top near the sheath blade, which P. aurea doesn't have.

From McClures Phyllostachys handbook for P. viridiglaucescens, with some definitions added ...
Phyllostachys viridiglaucescens

Culms green, copiously but sometimes loosely farinose (covered with a sort of white, mealy powder) at sheath fall, entirely glabrous, (smooth; having a surface without hairs, projections, or any unevenness), not ribbed ...

Culm sheaths pale buff, tinged with green and strewn with small brown spots and blotches throughout, loosely farinose, scabrous, and often sparsely setose (bristly hairs) ...

Auricles, usually 2, sometimes 1, rarely 0, long narrow, falcate, (sickle-shaped), dark wine, very frangible when dry (capable of being broken; brittle; fragile; easily broken)
Oral setae (filaments extending from auricle) few but prominent when the auricles are present, otherwise lacking,

Ligules (tip of sheath at juncture of sheath blade) rather tall and narrow, often asymmetrical, more or less strongly convex at the apex, the margin more or less regular to lanciniate, finely to coarsely ciliate (fringed with tiny hairs), at length smooth.

Sheath blades narrow, ribbon shaped, reflexed, usually more or less strongly crinkled ...

Leaf sheath with auricles and oral setae usually developed, fungacious; Ligules exserted, soon split and mutilated ...


... something to chew, on and an interesting discourse in bamboo ID-ology ;)

Mark

[vinniedriver]

She knows all about my affair with my boo. In fact she has her own Pseudosasa japonica (poor taste, in my opinion ;) ) but I seem to be the one that cares for it.

I also doubt it's P. Aurea now. This shooting season will tell if it is or not, especially with your expert eye watching over it. I can spot an 'aurea' at 20 feet now, and this looks different. Greener, smoother, bushyer and bendyer..... are they words?

If it turns out to be P. viridiglaucescens, you are more than welcome to a dividing of it, although I don't know how we'd get it to you knowing how paranoid US customs are with plant and food things being imported.



I must get my books back from the person I loaned them to.

[vinniedriver]

Well, I just got back from a few days in Dublin to find vigorous shooting :)

I don't have access to the digital SLR camera yet, so just took a couple with my mobile phone's camera. I realise they don't show the bits you're after, but they do show the difference in size from last years growth!

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC00081.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4239) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4239&size=big&cat=765)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC00082.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4238) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC00083.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4237) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC00084.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4236)

I think this is going to become a very prominent plant in my garden.....

[Mark Meckes]

Nice pics vinniedriver!
I am still culmfounded as to it's ID ... and savor the delightful mystery of basking in blissful ignorance. :)

Generally at this shoot height, the characteristics, ie, the development of auricles or ear like appendages near the sheath tip blade, if they have any, are often absent or poorly developed.
As the shoots rise to waist height and higher, the growing shoot tip may reveal oral setae or filaments attached to the auricles peeking out between the sheath blades.

You are beginning to get some nice sized shoots, and this will give a better opportunity to see culm sheaths in their true form, as small diameter shoots often don't exhibit true/mature characteristics that larger shoots reveal.

This is also a good time to selectively thin out smaller shoots, tillering rhizomes and shallow shoots emerging at weird angles.
... (wow! - back on topic! ;) )
Some are probably getting too tall/bitter for eating and may be too small in diameter to end up on the dinner table, though one can cut them open lengthwise and extract the heart/core of the shoot.

The main advantages to thinning early is to divert the plants energy to the the shoot growth that you want, and in having less amount of thinned out materials to compost.

Mark

[vinniedriver]

right, the tallest shoots are about 2.5 feet tall and definatly thicker than the old ones. As far as me being able to identify them - no chance.

I go on vacation on tuesday, I will get some last pics then (for 2 weeks).

I hope these help you recognise it. I must say the number of shoots this year are astounding! It's a shame it has to be tied up because it flops over when it's wet and blocks out my tiny patio area.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC03157.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4245) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4245&size=big&cat=765) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC03157a.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4244) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4244&cat=765&size=big)

[vinniedriver]

More photos
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC03159.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4243) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4243&cat=765&size=big)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC03160.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4242) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC03162.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4241) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC03165.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4240)

[sasa fool]

Phyllostachys bissetii looks like a real possibility.

[vinniedriver]

From my books Phillostachys Glauca is also possible. Some of Marks pics look very similar, but some look strikingly diferent.


Hmm.

[vinniedriver]

Looking at this page: http://www.bambus-lexikon.de/phyllostachys-bissetii.html

Bisseti could be very possible.

Actually, even though it's all in German, the pictures are fantastic.

[Mark Meckes]

Great pics vinniedriver!
Sasa I believe you hit the nail on the head (culm on the node)!

Phyllostachys bissetii (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=594) - at Gallery Bamboo Flora

(I've just uploaded some more pics of our small P. bissetii planting )
Yep, I just couldn't see the forest for the trees, er grove for the culms, blinded by a desire that it would be an exotic species unfamiliar to me.
I can usually ID bissetii with ease at a distance.

A mature planting of this species is easily distinguished by the fairly broad base of the sheath blade where it attaches to the sheath as shown here:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/594/medium/PbissF10BGA930414-3.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1950)

But ID characteristics of this species varies culmsiderably when it is a small plant.
The sheaths do not produce auricles until the culms reach a larger size, and then sometimes only ocassionally.

BTW McClure states ...
... culms erect or nearly so, except at the edge of a dense grove where they lean noticeably toward the most intense light

... but this can be alleviated by removing the smaller crowded out leaners which will have no way to grow but at an angle.

(As soon as I get a chance I'll upload/crosslink your pics to the P. bisettii gallery)
Please do show more pics as you can.
That's some phenomenal new growth you've got and you may be returning from your vacation to an elevated jungle in your back yard. :)

Mark

[vinniedriver]

To be honest, I feel happy and sad now we know what it is. It has been a great discovery. I owe you Mark and Sasa a pint next time you come across the pond.

If I'd seen this pic of yours:

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/594/thumbs/PbissAuTX070317-5567.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4090) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4090&size=big&cat=594)

I'd have known instantly. But it's only this year that it has looked like this.

Perhaps I should have mentioned it gets very windy here at times and it shows no adverse effects, but it didn't cross my mind that it was special quality. The tallest shoot is now almost 5 feet tall and still has about 6 or 7 sheath blades all culmped together at the top, so I'm hoping it'll double in height by the time I get home.

Once the branches have popped out and leaves unfirl, I'll cut out all of the small culms from it's first year (if I can get my cutters in there!). I have cut off 3 severely tillering shoots (still don't like to), and I need to find a better way of tieing it all back so it doesn't lean across the patio area (the wind blows it from behind the fence its sitting against).


I might be moving in the next year or two, guess what plant I'll be taking with me..... :)

[Mark Meckes]

To be honest, I feel happy and sad now we know what it is
Ditto! ... even though now you have a background history of this species to explore, and may know more what to expect of it's ultimate size and so forth.

Phyllostachys bissetii was first introduced into the US (USDA Plant Introduction Station, Savannah Georgia) in 1941, obtained by John Tee-Van from plants in cultivation at Cheng-tu, Szechwan Province, China.
... Don't know it's history of introduction into the UK ...

This species is in the top of the Phyllostachys species list for cold hardiness. It's listed (in the ABS Source List) as minimum temperature: -15F (-26C) ... though top damage will occur before reaching these temperatures.
It has a very rich green overtone in it's leaves and culms, and appears capable of withstanding shady conditions.
It's one of the first Phyllostachys species to shoot in spring.

Our bissetii (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=3025&size=big&cat=594) still has an element of mystery, as the local source where we obtained it is uncertain of it's origin, and unsure whether it might be the dwarf form (which grows to 1" diameter/18ft height, vs twice the size for the regular P. bissetii) or if it's just the Texas heat and rocky swale that is growing in keeping it small.

Mark

[vinniedriver]

Just got back from my vacation / wedding in Cyprus to find the Bisetti's growth outrageous! It's hard to gage how much higher the new growth is in the dark after a long flight, but branches are starting to unfurl, and the culms have a nice thickness. Plus there are lots more shoots about 6 inches or so high! Most are of the thin old type, but there is one very fat one that will stay if I prune the others out.


Oddly, my now wife was not impressed that the first thing I did when we got home was to run into the back garden to check the bamboo's. What did she think I was going to do?.?.?.?.?.

[cngodles]

Loved that feeling last year of being in Florida for 6 days, only to come home to larger shoots, sprouting moso seeds, and my little YG shoots started to move again.

Also, would love to see pictures!

[Mark Meckes]

Oddly, my now wife was not impressed that the first thing I did when we got home was to run into the back garden to check the bamboo's.

Me and the Missus just returned from a working vacation (thus a backlog of postings to reply to,) and she was the first to check out the garden. ;)
I sought out an inclination of a horizontal angle and caught up on some zzzzzz's ...
... now I've checked out the garden and it's amazing how much the bamboo has grown. With the unusual amounts of rain we've been having, the top leaf growth in the canopy has turned much of the understory of our aurea grove into a dark forest.

However ...
Due to an abundance of spring rainfall, our Phyllostachys aurea grove continues to produce tillering rhizomes sprouts scattered throughout our grove, (long after our late March/April main shoot emergence season).
... which I'll be cuttting out and chopping up for compost to feed back to the grove.

Supposedly the dry summer season is about to commence, so tillering sprouts should soon cease until the cool autumn weather returns.

Phyllostachys aurea - Tillering shoots Photo - June 6, 2007
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/503/thumbs/PaurAuTX070606-9189.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4155) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4155&size=big)

I too, look forward to seeing progressive pics vinniedriver, if you want to upload them with your post.

Mark

[vinniedriver]

Some more pics:
My apology's for the rather horrid background contents, and the odd appearance of some strange woman who has taken to hanging around constantly...........
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/thumbs/DSC03336.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4250) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4250&size=big&cat=765)

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC03338.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4251) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4251&cat=765&size=big)

[vinniedriver]

and another
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC03339.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4252) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4252&cat=765&size=big)

finally, apologies for it being dark, the sun (well, bright clouds - remember where I am) was behind the subject.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/DSC03341.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4253) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4253&cat=765&size=big)

[Mark Meckes]

By golly that is a gorgeous bissetii! Amazing growth since planted in 2005.
... though I must say it's appearance is culmplimented by the beautiful model in the pic!

I can see your wife's Pseudosasa japonica on the other side and it too is quite striking.
hmmm .... a His 'N' Her's bamboo garden divided by a concrete patio.
Now you're married your bamboo can become culmjoined at the roots ;)

Mark

[Mark Meckes]

It looks like you may be finally achieving what you originally sought vinniedriver, and it's amazing to think that it was only a couple years ago that you planted this beauty!
The big transformation now will be as the leaves unfurl from their branches.
Now you can feel more at ease about removing any whipper-snappers and selectively thinning the planting. :)

Mark

[vinniedriver]

The leaves are unfurling, and I have my eye firmly on lots of the old growth with designs on pruning them out. I already pulled off the juvenile branches below 3 to 4 feet when they just shed their sheaths.

The batch of shoots that appeared more recently all aborted, but I think I have no reason to worry about that considering the size it put on this year. I just pruned them back to ground level.

It looks like the old culms are dropping some of their leafs maybe partially because they are now swamped by the new growth, and partially to make way for the new growth. They have another month or two of photosynthesis left in them yet.

[Mark Meckes]

A trip down memory lane ...

You have enough rhizomes to grow a bamboo forest, ie more than what you need for your back yard, so you should have no culmpunction to begin snipping out excessive rhizome growth and tillering shoots, now that your bamboo is well rooted.

Mark - I'm shocked! Are you OK? ...

and now ...
The leaves are unfurling, and I have my eye firmly on lots of the old growth with designs on pruning them out.

Haha vinniedriver, you have become more brazen now that your bamboo has become a teenager. ;)

Looking forward to seeing how it looks with it's leaves unfurled, and if you managed to give it a haircut.

Mark

[vinniedriver]

A quick update.

One haircut later and it looks stunning. It still needs to be tied back to the fence it stands against because it bows too much into the garden - you can see the white wire just under where the branches start.

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/765/medium/PbissettiiDSC00140.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4978) View large (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=4978&size=big&cat=765)

I can now see the top of it while sitting at my computer (in the window hidden behind the boo).

Its colour is a very nice even green with virtually no leaves dieing off (we have had quite a bit of rain in the last few months though....

[Mark Meckes]

Stunning!
You have become quite the pro at selective thinning ;)
I like the way you removed the lower branches to expose the culms.
One way that helps a little, if eventually needed due to overcrowding or overhanging culms is to remove a single branch at each node alternating up the culm ... one needs to make a prejudgement as to which series of alternating branches would be least missed.

Yep, Phyllostachys bissetii is one of the best of this genus for vibrancy of green. :)

Cheers,
Mark