Why is Moso so hard to grow large?

[stevelau1911]

Rick, if those trees are blocking out a lot of sun and casting a shadow on the moso, it may help to trim them down a little bit just so they aren't in the way. The tree roots may be sucking up some of that manure eh. I've been used to taking down trees all the way if they were close to where I wanted to plant bamboos, but I trimmed about 30 feet off my red maple with only a $47 electric single arm operated 14 inch mini-chainsaw only because the tree is left to support my trellis.

The softwoods still cut through like butter even with the absolute cheapest chainsaw I could find. Those tall straight ones are pretty easy to take down, but I usually borrow a neighbor's gas chainsaw for bigger trees.

[rickw]

There will be some tree felling as the Moso spreads that way. The grove gets full sun til about 1 or 2pm.

[Robbie78]

Well the 20 gallon Moso is putting up some shoots, there probably 3/4 dia, and it ran pretty good for being fresh in the ground. My soil here sucks, its clay, i have a bunch of compost down, so I hope it helps. With the Oregon rain and the clay soil its not a good mixture

[stevelau1911]

I really doubt clay soil is much of a concern especially since it is rich in nutrients. If it's too tough, you could simply get a dump truck to drop a 10 yard load onto your moso, spread it around, and then you will have very good soil eh.

The soil is not exactly clay here, but I add regular layers of manure/compost onto my moso twice per year. It's getting taller and taller as the biomass accumulates so hopefully it starts spreading out, perhaps outgrowing the greenhouse in a few years.


Shooting season has either been May 8th, 15th, or 24th on this guy so if history is an indication of its shooting time, it should shoot in about another month. Some leaf buds have elongated to the point where they have mini-leaves already on the ends of them so it has definitely waken up.

[Robbie78]

Here's what my soil looks like around my vivax it's horrible I'm not sure what to do
This is after a typical Oregon rainy day


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[jd.]

Here's what my soil looks like [...]

That looks like a good location to add many layers of soil and finished compost to create a raised bed or mound of well-drained soil for the bamboo. As a bonus, bamboo often grows more vigorously with a ton of extra fertile soil.

[Tarzanus]

I noticed that a bit of standing water from time to time in soil layer a bit below rhizome growth doesn't hurt. I have Ph. aureosulcata Spectabilis planted in a bit boggy location on just a bit elevated area and it thrives. Deeper rhizomes that get exposed to excess water can rot, but those above do more than fine. This year I'm again seeing a lot of new shoots.

[stevelau1911]

One possible explanation for slower growth on moso is due to smaller leaves that are on average a lighter green than most other bamboos meaning less photosynthesis for energy production. The rhizome growth just seems to never be as strong as many of the other species of phyllostachys.

Here's the bicolor being compared to the shanghai III to show the difference in leaf size and color. Could I be simply under-fertilizing the moso? S3 averages 5 leaves per branch while bicolor only averages 3. I have fertilized both of these with basically the same regiment using milorganite, and other organics. Perhaps I need to upgrade it to straight urea, or super strong grass fertilizer eh?

[Robbie78]

What I'm noticing is that moso really likes to put out rhizomes. This year being the first shooting season in the ground I got 10+ whip shoots and no real shoots. This was on big 20 to 25 gallon specimens. They are running all over though...

[stevelau1911]

Rhizome growth on bicolor is starting to accelerate, but I already know from exp that most rhizome growth on this one will occur in September through mid November. I'm not sure if it is because early summer sun curls the leaves a bit, the culms still need to fill up with starch or if it is because there is more foliage overall towards fall. I expect some of these rhizomes to get to 3 meters because this plant is even darker now than it was in the last picture after a couple applications of urea.

For all the guys who are waiting on divisions, I know there are at least 10 rhizomes under there and will be able to get some off by next summer.

[Tarzanus]

I also saw it started to look pale and some leaves actually appeared damaged - only veins appeared, between them, there was empty space.
I used fertilizer because soil must be leeched by now with all the rain we have. Weather also got colder with daily highs at 16C. That alone made the leaves darker green. Perhaps they become lighter green when growing faster with insufficient flow of nutrients.

There are rhizomes everywhere. They seem to be three times thicker than the thickest culm. The soil looks completely colonized by rhizomes an inch below ground, even if there are no culms above.

Moso more than other bamboos starts by colonizing the soil, before it explodes above ground. At least that seems to be the story of my seedling. I'm afraid I'll have to remove it from current position, because it started traveling way too much. I have to find it a better place, perhaps in a bit more shaded location.

[Robbie78]

This looks like it's gonna be a good year for the Moso I have some pretty good shoots popping up



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[Cooper12]

does anyone out west have Parvifolia growing? I am excited about the small one I got . looks like it has small foliage as well. does it do well in the heat?

[David]

I've been reading through this thread and there is considerable hog wash in it, and I am responsible for some of it.
Hog wash list:

1. Min Temp Anderson clone is -5°f. Hog wash. Half of our 12 yo grove was killed to the ground in 2013 with temps in the teens F, strong dry wind, and frozen ground.

2. Moso will become more tolerant of cold as the grove sizes up. Hog wash. As the grove sizes up, the culms grow taller and become more susceptible to cold dry winds. The tops will die and the plant has wasted lots of energy growing a large culm. This sets the grove back and it may not shoot the following spring, or it will downsize.

3. Moso only grows in the southeast. Hog wash. Moso grows best in the southeast US, but it will grow anywhere the humidity is high, the ground never freezes, and air temps rarely drop below 20°F.

4. I stated that I thought that our grove would continue to size up. Hog wash. It will size up one year, freeze solid, then downsize or not shoot the next. What you have left is a plant that has lots of dead wood, and struggles to survive.

I wanted this grove to grow and mature, but wishing, and pampering did not make it so.
I am removing the moso grove this spring, and replacing it with parvifolia, which has proven to be the hardiest large bamboo I grow.

I'll be cutting it down soon. If anyone wishes to come and dig some or all you are welcome to do so. I'm finished with it.

[T9D]

does anyone out west have Parvifolia growing? I am excited about the small one I got . looks like it has small foliage as well. does it do well in the heat?

There are a lot of threads and people who have Parvifolia on here. You can bump one of the old ones. I just started growing it and it seems fine with temps in the 90's. But I also watered it everyday. And it's potted if that matters. We usually have 3 months straight of temps in the 90's - 100. With high winds. We'll see how it does in a full summer of that this year.

Anyway as far as Moso, that's why I never even tried to grow it here in 7a. Everything I read from others is that it's not remotely cold hardy. Not worth the Anguish. Would love to grow some though if it was possible. I'm guessing Zone 8b would probably be the minimum to be happy, and not have a really bad year wipe it out.