Pleioblastus of some sort?

[boobookat]

Hello to fellow bamboo fiends.

I wouldn't worry over much about which bamboo this is, except it was marked as "dwarf", and after its first spring in the ground, its 4 feet tall- uh oh. I planted it beside some black bamboo, and I don't want this to wind up being something that'll get much bigger and hide the black culms. I thought I was planting a ground cover. Yikes!

I'd love to have some opinions about what this is, so I can guess what its going to do, and figure out if I need to extricate it before.... well, before it gets any happier. I'll put it somewhere else.

I'm guessing its a Pleioblastus of some sort? Any clue which?

Marci

[sasa fool]

Looks like it could perhaps be Pleioblastus shibuyanus 'Tsuboi'. Possibly one of the many variegated forms of Pl. chino, or a long shot would be a variegated Chimonobambusa but I don't know that genus at all.

If it is indeed one of the above it will likely exceed 2 meters in height, a big 'dwarf'.

[boobookat]

Thanks Brad- 'Tsuboi' was my main guess, too. But then, I'm brand new to this, and only have one book (so far). Of course, lots more are already on the way to my mailbox. This addiction is rather intense. :o

Marci

[voodoolord]

Hi Marci, nice to see one of the locals on the forum. Im in merlin and currently have 60 species planted over a 2 acre area. I haven't seen a Tsuboi reach 4 feet yet. Im sure its possible. You have some fantastic growth out of that plant. I would be interested in trading some other bamboo for some of your "tsuboi" I have a very small tsuboi but many pleioblastus that would probably suit you better for a ground cover. Give me a shout.
541-840-3864 Isaac

[boobookat]

Isaac, what an offer! Can't refuse that. You'd probably better come here and see this thing, first, though, and see if its truly something you don't already have, or truly a 'tsuboi'. I'll shout at you shortly!

Marci

[ghmerrill]

hey Marci!

say the post, and figured I would weigh in too.... w/o looking at shoots, it is hard to tell of course, but a couple of things that I seem to see about this plant- the obviously variageted leaves, it seems that the culm sheaths are semi persistant at least, and the "fan" of leaves, which seems different than the pleos, so how about Hibanobambusa tranquillans 'shiroshima'?
Gene

[voodoolord]

hey Marci!

say the post, and figured I would weigh in too.... w/o looking at shoots, it is hard to tell of course, but a couple of things that I seem to see about this plant- the obviously variageted leaves, it seems that the culm sheaths are semi persistant at least, and the "fan" of leaves, which seems different than the pleos, so how about Hibanobambusa tranquillans 'shiroshima'?
Gene

She would be able to tell if it was shiroshima by checking for a sulcus on the culm. That would be a giveaway.

[sasa fool]

hey Marci!

say the post, and figured I would weigh in too.... w/o looking at shoots, it is hard to tell of course, but a couple of things that I seem to see about this plant- the obviously variageted leaves, it seems that the culm sheaths are semi persistant at least, and the "fan" of leaves, which seems different than the pleos, so how about Hibanobambusa tranquillans 'shiroshima'?
Gene


Gene, to my eye the Chino forms of Pleioblastus do have that fan look, the Shibuyanus tsuboi perhaps less so, I think the leaves are too narrow and the variegation is different from Shiroshima but the sulcus test is a good idea as environmental conditions could explain those differences. It is the fan look that has me wondering about a Chimonobambusa
but as I say, I don't know that genus 'tall.

[boobookat]

Mmm... just snipped off a culm, and spinning it between my fingers, its perfectly, smoothly round.