Bambusa tuldoides 'Ventricosa Kimmei'

[Dean W.]

I have B.Tuloides ‘Ventricosa Kimmei’ on order and I’m wondering about the minimum temperature. Has any body in central Texas have any success growing this plant out doors or will it be better as a houseplant? Will it freeze to the ground on a nearly yearly basis? Does it have a tendency to revert from the Buddha Belly’s if planted in the ground?

Dean

[sasa fool]

I can't speak to how they'll fare in Texas, but tired of growing large potted bamboos I decided to kill off a few and I planted this one and the green form in the ground last summer. I noticed that they were topkilled at around +17F, a one-night hard freeze, I did not notice how they reacted to 'warmer' frosts. That was in November, they endured a DEEP freeze of sub-freezing temps for 15 days with lows in the range of -5F/-2F. Both plants produced new shoots in May and are currently shooting again, so they will experience Indiana winter #2. Perhaps their last? I'll see just how tough they are.

BTW - the green form I have in Honolulu (potted) flowered on one branch a few weeks ago and the in-ground Indiana guy flowered on several branches this summer - the flowers all disappeared and no sign of any more of them nor any ill health to the plants. This could be stress induced flowering but I have heard of the species also flowering in parts of FL.

[Dean W.]

sasa fool,

Wow, I’m surprised they survived such low temperatures. Sounds like theses puppies are tougher than thought to be. Perhaps I’ll divide mine when able or propagate one for trying in the ground.

Interesting what you say about flowering I thought they had already flowered, with all the seed available on the Internet and all.

Thanks,
Dean

[voodoolord]

Dean, just remember that bamboo's set their shooting cycle on ground temperature so if you put a boo in your house during the winter it will throw the plant off its cycle.

[Dean W.]

Hi voodoolord,

I was thinking about that. Would the shooting cycle begin once it warms up and I put it back outside? Or being placed in the house just continue the shooting cycle?

Dean

[sasa fool]

My indoor/outdoor tropical species generally start shooting outdoors in Aug/Sep on their 'normal' schedule. I drag them back indoors in Oct and they continue to elongate those shoots. Sometimes new shoots will appear after bringing them in and off/on during the winter and early spring.

[Dean W.]

Brad,

Great to hear they will continue shooting.

When do you trim the plants to height? Before or after the shoots have finished filling out.

Dean

[sasa fool]

I find growing bamboo indoors quite challenging, or at least so in terms of having attractive plants. Perhaps if I left them indoors all the time it would be easier but I drag them out in late April and back indoors in mid October.

Even though they have allday, direct sun indoors up against a wall of about 200 square feet of glass, due to the glass filtration and no overhead direct sun they drop about 60% of their leaves in the first 7-10 days after they come inside, as they apparently can no longer benefit from them. To minimize the daily leaf sweeping I try to prune the culms before bringing them in, to about 8-9 feet tall, but I generally leave the shoots alone.

Usually the shoots start to hit the 16' ceiling and then they 'crawl' down the ceiling. As long as the branches do not hang down too low, I leave these alone all winter, but when they come outside in spring those culms are uber-floppy and have to be pruned then. Right now I have one I left on the B. vulgaris 'Vittata' that came up last year, and I draped it over our Tory gate outside - it looks like a rambling, vining, bamboo covering maybe 8 vertical feet and then 15 horizontal feet.

I find it really tough to keep on top of the proper water/humidity conditions, partly because I travel every month and rely on my wife to hawk them. Even so, they are extremely unforgiving of drying out in the pots in a heated room, even though we keep the humidity at 60% or higher - more leaf drop every time they get too dry. Too wet and they will rot in the pots -especially if up-potted too soon. Sometimes I up-pot too soon to ensure adequate soil moisture but I am very careful about watering those very rarely having already killed several before figuring it out.

[Dean W.]

Brad,
Thanks for the info, quite informative, as I have never grown bamboo indoors.

Thanks,
Dean

[Mark Meckes]

Bambusa tuldoides 'Ventricosa Kimmei' should be very similar in cold hardiness to the regular form and it should be able to withstand occasional dips in temperature to the upper teens F with little damage here in central Texas.

A number of factors to consider ...

- Lower and sustained lower temperatures will cause more dieback.
Central Texas has not experienced a really cold winter for a number of years, but I'm expecting one of these years it will happen, when all Bambusa species growing here will require a major grooming to remove dead culms.
(In the winter of 1989 temperatures in Austin dropped to 4F)

- Location makes a big difference. Microclimates, and protection from freezes by surrounding trees, buildings, wind exposure, desiccation from drying sun etc etc plays a big role in how culms will survive ocassional dips in temperatures below their average cold hardiness rating.

For instance, here's a couple of contrasting examples ...
Bambusa tuldoides 'Ventricosa' growing 70 miles northeast of Austin in an open field:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/705/thumbs/BtVentChBTX070619-9544.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=5058)

Bambusa tuldoides 'Ventricosa' growing in our yard in Austin surrounded by other plants and house:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/705/thumbs/BtVentAuTX070911-8991.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=5060) http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/705/thumbs/BtVentAuTX070911-8994.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=5059)

- Later shoots emerging in later August > September have little chance of hardening up sufficiently.
Usually when temperatures dip into the mid 20'sF the tops of these culms, or the buds growing from the upper nodes will get zapped by cold.

Bambusa species are chiefly tropical bamboos, and only a relatively small percentage of species culms are able to cope well with temperatures in the low 20's F down into the teens F, though in reaction to dieback many will send up a new flush of smaller shoots in the spring, then later in mid-late summer.
However their typical shoot growth is in the summer season, and I think their "biological clock' is also more tuned (in tropical locations) with the dry season (shoot dormancy) and rainy season (shoot emergence).

The problem, here in central Texas is that our summers are "usually" hot and dry (2007 has been an exception) and as a result, shoot emergence is prolonged. (depending on moisture availability, from mid June through September ... sometimes into October)
Also I have found that Bambusa shoots take much longer to reach their full height and leaf out than temperate species like, for instance Phyllostachys species.

What I have learned is to selectively thin out smaller diameter culms, and remove almost all of the late shoots, directing nutrients to the developing culms.

Now, there is another issue is about preventing 'Ventricosa' from losing the bellying of it's internodes and reverting to the non bellying form.

As shown here, this Bambusa tuldoides 'Ventricosa Kimmei' growing at Mercer Arboretum, northern outskirts of Houston, has reverted to the non bellying form:

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/752/thumbs/BtVKimMcrTX050528d-606.JPG (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=3820)

Mark

[Dean W.]

Mine didn't fair so well this winter. I kept it inside and didn't water it very well. There is still some green to the shoots, but they look poorly developed. The rest of it looks desicated. Will it bounce back? I hope so!

Dean