Growing Moso Seedlings - College Station TX

[TAMUmpower]

http://www.photodump.org/stored15/DSC00617.jpg

http://www.photodump.org/stored15/DSC00616.jpg

Heres our moso setup. Its not aluminum foil, it just looks like that cus of the flash.

[Mark Meckes]

Hi TAMUmpower,
Looking good! Nice to see your at the 'second set of leaves' stage.
The main thing I'd look out for is to keep the moisture level to a minimum so that your seedlings don't get too spindly, or get damping off (stem rot problems) in this initial stage.
I would withhold potting them up until they harden off some and develop a bettter root system first.

Don't know how much light your plants are getting.
The seedlings certainly don't need full sun/all day, which can be too stressful on the young seedlings.
But they can benefit by being given a little dosage of (filtered) sunlight outdoors or some extra indoor supplemental lighting.

Mark

[TAMUmpower]

O really. Ive been misting them everyday. I usually try to leave this one light on above them. There is a decent amount of light that comes through those windows, but maybe there could be more. Im worried about putting them outside with like bugs and animals and stuff. Would it be ok to leave the light above them on all the time....or do plants need darkness to....sleep?

[Mark Meckes]

Now that they have sprouted and formed leaves, misting is not as necessary.
Of course, if they were growing like crazy, and in dry conditions with low humidity, misting is refreshing to any plant.
The biggest issue right now would be the amount of light they receive.
No it shouldn't adversely affect the plants by keeping the light on continuously.
However if you're just using a regular (incandescent) light bulb and not a full spectrum light, this can cause plants to stretch.
They are getting some natural light through the window though ...
True there's more risks involved putting them outside, the main one, being able to keep an eye on the plants and getting them to acclimate to stronger sunlight, especially in the summer, when they can get easily burnt from getting too much sun - too fast, and with the soil drying out faster and not being around to give them a drink.
I suppose you could get a better quality grow light.
It's hard to suggest what to do, not knowing exactly how much (intensity of) light is coming in through the window ...
It really comes down to learning by experiences through successes :) ... and failures :( ...
One possible way is to place some of the pots in a different location and see how they perform.
Again, the main thing it that they don't stretch out and become excessively lanky, and one way is to not over water them.

Mark

[TAMUmpower]

http://www.photodump.org/stored15/media1.jpeg

1 sprout in 2 of the planters, and 4 sprouts in the other planter thats been growing for one day longer than the others.

[Mark Meckes]

Hi TAMUmpower,
I thought I'd mention, as I previously discussed the amount of sunlight, and because you're growing these in the very sunny state of Texas ...
It seems that Moso is quite sensitive to very strong doses of sunlight, especially through their juvenile stages of growth, and I think they may prefer to begin their first years of life with a mix of filtered sun/shade.

I saw some Moso seedlings recently (in East-SE border of Texas) that had been planted out several years ago and are now very bushy 6-10ft plants, still juvenile, but really beginning to take off.
(I took pics and will upload them when I get my photo journey sorted out).
Anyway, it was mid-day, and even though they were growing in a forest environment, (partially cleared by a hurricane a couple of years ago), the direct sun was causing the leaves to temporarily curl - even though there was plenty of moisture in the ground.
Later on the trees gave the plants shade and they uncurled.

We have a Moso here in Austin, (a small division from a large Moso grove) and after (I think) 4 years it is still quite timid, with barely 1" (2.5cm) diameter culms and about 6-10ft tall.
It's been the poorest performer of our Phyllostachys species, I think mostly due to the hot summers and low humidity, even in partial sun/shade. (Though one would never believe it with the rainy season we've been having this year)
The problem now is that all the other bamboos we have growing around it want to move in and grow in it's place.
I don't have the heart to cut the other plants back and am hoping the Moso will slither out of it's culmfined spot and grow towards the open space.
I'd prefer not to try digging it out lest it gets set back somewhat.
I do have another (hopefully more favorable) spot though that I'd like to try another plant. It would be a dream come true if I could succeed in growing really large diameter bamboo here in Texas. ... though there's a good chance it may turn out to be a pipe dream.

Meanwhile once a year (February-ish) we get the opportunity to help groom a large Moso grove in Louisiana, and bring back some poles, and if you want an experience of a lifetime, keep in touch for when the next grove grooming get together takes place.

Moso - Phyllostachys edulis - Avery Island, Louisiana USA
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/528/thumbs/PedAvLA050225-672.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2131)
Cheers,
Mark

[TAMUmpower]

Yea, it does get hot here. I think I have some areas in mind that have lots of trees and shrubs that I could drop some moso in. I mean, in a few months we are going to have about 50(hopefully) moso plants.

My real question is how long I can keep them in the cups before having to go larger. Is deeper soil the objective or a wider pot. I'm pretty ghetto and could see using old chopped in half milk jugs.

This will be interesting to see how these seeds sprout because 2 of the planters (the ones with 1 sprout each) are in cheap soil, and the one with 5 sprouts now has this more expensive "seed starter" stuff

Oh, and one of my plants has a leaf with a yellow tip. Is that from a lack of water? Im assuming the root system on these plants is probably growing much faster than the plants.

I honestly know nothing about gardening or anything like this, so any common knowledge about how much watering is normal or anything is new to me so...I'm just kinda paranoid about the health of my babies.

[cngodles]

Yellow tips are not generally bad, they just seem to happen. I always thought they were from not using distilled water. But, research continues on that topic.

I've got seedlings that are around 14 months, so if your interested about anything, feel free to ask.

One of my best producers grew in a little play sand bucket for a full year before I changed it to a larger pot. I had a 1/2 layer of sand on the bottom, and the roots had totally taken over that area. When I moved it outside, it was certainly too tall for it's own good and had to regrow it's leaves.

Well, I have 6 pots of it total. Not sure how they'll survive my winters when the time comes. I'm going to try one next Spring for sure, as it's too late this year for it to get a good foothold in the soil.

It may not look like it now, but within a year, you may have leaves that are up to a foot long all by themselves.

Also, love the styrofoam cup idea. I'd leave one in until it busts out on it's own, just to see what happens.

[TAMUmpower]

7 sprouts in one trough
1 in another
1 in the the third

heres a question. would it be a bad idea to pour boiling water on the soil to kill any germ gremlins that might have been there. Because that is what I did on the 2 troughs that ony have 1 sprout right now, but not on the the one that has 7. besides the fact that the one with 7 has a "special" seed starter soil, and the others are something more gereric.

[Mark Meckes]

Thanks Clint (cngodles) for chiming in. You're the expert here. ;)
My thoughts are only based on experiences growing other seed varieties.

TAMUmpower, 50 seedlings = bamboo nursery = like having lots of growing kids who become increasingly demanding and quickly require more and more growing space.
Be careful what you wish for or you could have a lot of work on your hands.;)
Growing bamboo from seed is a long term project that can take some years to get a plant really established.

One advantage that we do have from Clint, up north, is that here in some parts of Texas we 'can' plant out bamboo in the autumn season when the weather cools, and the bamboo can grow more roots and become more established by spring before the onset of our (usually sizzling summers).
(Disclaimer: Texas weather has a reputation of being unpredictable - our record low for Austin TX is -2 F set in 1949.
That year and some other years hence many boos growing down here would have been top killed to ground level, but their roots would've survived.)

Re: Soil type ...
As Clint has shown, you can grow bamboo from seed in a lot of different mediums. I think the main thing is that the soil be friable, ie, not too compacted, so that the seeds are able to sprout through the soil, and roots are able to grow throughout the medium.

Re: Plant container shape ...
I don't think this is as important when they are young.
When bamboo gets bigger, the generally preferred container is a large squat pot - wider than deep.
This is so that their rhizomes can spread out more and so that the container doesn't blow over as easily from a gust of wind.
(Note ... rhizomes are not roots. Roots grow off of rhizomes, and the next hopeful stage of growth for your plant is after they grow more leaves is to grow rhizomes. New shoots grow from buds on the rhizomes )

Re: Pouring boiling water over the soil to sterilize it. ...
This can be done, though I don't think you mean doing it with the seeds already planted.
There are actually some plant seeds that can benefit germinating by pouring boiling water over them - but I don't think - bamboo seeds.

Mark

[TAMUmpower]

Ive got a few little brown spots on the leaves of 5 of the 6 plants in the cups.
also, there are now 11 sprouts in the one trough with the different soil and still only 1 in each of the others. Dont know why my others arent taking off.

Just moved the 6 cups outside near a bunch of trees. They should get some sun, but its decently shaded. Now that they are outside in this heat, how much water should I be giving them.

[Mark Meckes]

I don't know what to say about the brown spots. Sometimes that justs happens with leaves. Keep us posted if it gets worse.

Re; Why some haven't sprouted in one trough ...
Maybe soil compaction, or if the seeds were planted too deep?

Re: Plants put outdoors ...
Keep on eye on them as it looks like just maybe our Texas weather might start getting back to 'normal' = hot and dry periods.
Now that they've got some leaves, when the top of the soil dries out it's usually time to give them a drink.
After a while you should be able to gauge by the weight of the potted plant too, if it's getting lighter and needs a good soaking.
It's usually better if they dry just slightly and then give them a good soaking but better to give them some water then come back later and find they have really dried out.

[TAMUmpower]

So lets say that I dont get anymore sprouts from the 2 troughs. Thats a good 60 seeds that are still in there. Are they dead now or can I try to plant them again or what.

[TAMUmpower]

Im up to 16 sprouts in one
4 in both the others.

so im going to have plenty to play with here.

[TAMUmpower]

Moso isnt doing so good right now.

Of the 6 in the cups right now. one stem broke below 2 of the leaves and is still attached, but its hanging down touching the soil. almost looks like something took a bite, its well into the second month so im hoping that i might get some new shoots before the whole thing is toast. Another one looks pretty much dead, the leaves are yellow or rolled and it just looks crappy. The other 4 havent been growing much in the past few weeks. Really ever since I put them outside. Im hoping the roots are developing. It doesnt help that it poured rain and i had forgot to poke a drain hole so the plants sat completly submerged for half a day.

Of the other 90 planted seeds, we had 19 sprout in one trough, and 10 total from the other 2. I transplanted the 10 into cups yesterday. These sprouted in a different soil than the 19 and most are twice the height of the 19...

so yea, my trough of 19 isnt looking great. lots of yellow leaves, some are curled. ive been giving them a nice soaking of water. They were just recently all moved outside under the awning of a barn. I think they get a few hours of sun in the evening. Basically the growth of all these is pretty stunted right now.

Im about to put these in cups as well, but im not going to be buying fancy soil for them. im just going to go shovel up some dirt from the field. i cant imagine it will make a huge difference.

[cngodles]

did we find out what kind of water your using? I had one planted at work, and there were so many chemicals in that towns water that I had to bring water at home to water it, because the leaves got very beat up.

[TAMUmpower]

using tap right now. what would be the best water to use, i might try that just to see if things improve.

[cngodles]

Just spring or distilled.

My water at work actually has a chemical smell to it.

[TAMUmpower]

Well, now that I only water these solidly once a week the color has stablized. They are all pretty established now as well. They are not growing fast at all though. Ive probably lost about 5 plants. The rest are looking pretty healthy but there is only 1 or 2 that have new shoots coming up.

Heres a pic of one of the really symetrical and healthy looking ones.

http://www.photodump.org/stored16/08-31-07_1628.jpg

[TAMUmpower]

http://www.photodump.org/stored17/moso1.jpg

http://www.photodump.org/stored17/allall.jpg

Only 1 moso has a second sprout right now.

[TAMUmpower]

Within 2 days of watering all of my bamboo turned a light yellow and is dead.

2 of the buddah belly plants had leaves that had green patches in the middle but the rest of the plant was dead. They were not moved and were receiving the same amount of sun they had been getting for the past 2-3 months.

[TAMUmpower]

So as it was turning out, someone that worked on my friends land were we were keeping the bamboo, didnt like it and decided to spray it with poison. to make a long story short. nothin we can really do to bring it back now.

[CharlindaBob]

This is an old thread, but I would like to know out of all the pictures of seedlings on this thread, how many are actually surviving now?

[R e x]

Within 2 days of watering all of my bamboo turned a light yellow and is dead.

2 of the buddah belly plants had leaves that had green patches in the middle but the rest of the plant was dead. They were not moved and were receiving the same amount of sun they had been getting for the past 2-3 months.

I'm not sure, but does this answer your question?

[CharlindaBob]

Hi and thanks, yes, it does answer my question. The problem I had a few years ago was not germinating the seeds, but keeping the little seedlings from becoming spindly and dying. I am going to try a little different approach to my seedings this year. Altho, this time I am delving a little deeper into trying to grow bamboo as I am going to attempt Bambusa varieties. If I couldn't keep Moso alive and growing, I have no idea why I am trying an even harder specie, but never say never. I have the faith.....