Supplemental lighting for overwintering bamboo?

[cngodles]

I've got about 4-5 Moso is pots that are doing well. I still haven't tried growing them outside yet. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about wintering them this year. Does anyone have a plant light solution that works well?

Thanks!
Clint

[ShmuBamboo]

As for grow lights, the only ones that really work well for good growth are the high quality metal halide lights. You can also get the new Flouro lights that have good light but they will not produce as much growth as the metal hallide lights. Sun Systems/Sunlight Supply of Vancouver, WA makes an excellent array of professional grow lights. You need to get a metal halide ballast for a metal halide light (sodium takes a different ballast; sodium is better for getting plants to flower). I have never used them for bamboo seedlings, but they should work great for that. I use mine here in winter for my cymbidiium orchids to keep them warm and keep them growing, otherwise they just stop growing in October and do not resume growth until April. I would assime that bamboos are similar, as they are also monocots.

[cngodles]

I would not mind them stopping growth once winter hits, I just want them to not to die.

[ShmuBamboo]

Well, Moso is listed as growing down to zero degrees F. I would imagine that seedlings would not quite tolerate that cold a temp. Also while most boos will survive the lowest listed temps, they will commonly lose their leaves at higher temps and that sets them back for next year. And not all bamboos will survive those lowest temps listed. Stressed out plants may croak.

I do not know cold it gets there where you live in PA. All you may need is some type of plastic or greenhouse covering over them if temps dive in winter. Or just keep them indoors someplace, or next to the house where it is warmer, or even in the garage for a cold spell. You can also fill old gallon milk containers with water and leave them near your plants. When water freezes, it has to give off energy into the surrounding area. I use water jugs in my greenhouse for that reason. But once they freeze solid they are of no use.

[Mark Meckes]

I would not mind them stopping growth once winter hits, I just want them to not to die.
If you can withold watering, so long as they don't wither, and spritz the leaves occasionally with a sprayer to compensate for the dry indoor air, one can induce a bamboo into a state of dormancy.
The same thing can happen here in Texas in hot drought stricken years.
Some bamboos are more adept at even losing all their leaves as a way of reducing stress, and when the good times come they releaf.
I found, when living up north that I could induce a bamboo into dormancy and keep them relatively attractive indoors with very little light till at least mid winter, then I would need to rotate the plants near lighted windows for the rest of the winter, giving them minimal water and letting them dry out slightly between watering.
This was purely a survival tactic, and not for generating masses of new growth.

Mark

[cngodles]

This starts my offical experiment thread. This is copied from my own resource, but I will try to keep it updated, as there is a large community here.

Overview
Testing the ability to sustain bamboo using a single 2700k, 4 foot long, 40 watt, florescent plant and aquarium bulb.

Planned Work

Buy and install light - Done
Move bamboo up to area - Done
Observe changes in bamboo.
[edit] Supplies
1 single 2700k, 4 foot long, 40 watt, florescent plant and aquarium bulb.
Length of wire.
Plug for wire.
Timer.



Observation Log
2007
November
29 - Not 100% sure when I did this, but has been done for about 2 week now I believe. I haven't been turning the bulb on with any type of regularity, so results are not yet solid. I just moved my last two largest heteroclada seedlings up there last night. Most of the other plants went up a few weeks ago. Leaves started out bad looking, mostly from the abrupt change to cold PA fall temps to indoor drier climate. However, shoots appear to be moving and the leaves are looking very green. At times I will leave the light on for periods of 18 hours, and overnight. I will be adding a timer to regulate the lighting to something similiar to natural daylight, to suppliment the window light of early to late summer.
Shoots that do appear seem to be longer than outdoor shoots from this summer. This seems to happen anytime the plants are not getting enought light. These are the shoots that suffer most when the plants are moved back outside during the winter.

I believe I may try to add a second light sometime with the next month, but I am not 100%.

December
18 - Through observation I believe that the light is very beneficial to the plants in the room. The bamboo, while posessing dried leaves to start, has either put up new shoots, put out new leaf buds, or both. I don't believe I have ever had new leaf buds develop during the winter.
I may change the scope of this experiment and purchase more lighting. I think that 4 more bulbs and a few more places for plants to stay will benefit the bamboo. However, bamboo around here is supposed to rest during the winter months, so I'm not so sure what to do. It would die outside in the freezing cold, however it would grow all Winter with the lights. If I leave the plants in dim light, they tend to get elogated leaves. Some of the new shoots seem to still be doing that, so maybe an increase in light will help them not to get so large.

Last year, when I moved my plants outside, they suffered lots of leaf dieback, due to the dramatic increase in light energy. Also, most of the elongated shoots did not fair well, and could not stand up on their own. All new shoots over the summer where short and strong.

I am definatly going to purchase 4 more florescent lights, and use plant bulbs in them.