What should I expect?

[yard e]

Hello Everyone!

Well here in Michigan we've had one of the worst winters in almost a 100 years.
I've been growing bamboo for about three years, and haven't had much experience in winter damage.
I have a three year old grove of P. Aureosulcata and P. Spectabilis started from #5 pots. On inspecting the damage
I don't have a green leaf left:(, Most of the culms have turned brown, except for the bottom couple nodes, and some
green on the side away from the wind. The Spectabilis has lost most of its color (green stripes).

I'm just wondering what I should expect, thanks.
Hope there's some good news!

[stevelau1911]

The bamboos in the aureosulcata family tend to hold a bigger portion of their energy in the rhizomes so even if everything above ground top kills, it should still get back to a decent size. I've found some auresulcatas almost completely top killed in my area too however there is one grove of it which still managed to not get a lot of leaf burn. That one happened to be growing right next to a swamp.

It has been the coldest winter with the coldest temperatures I've ever seen, but still not a zone 5 winter here so bamboos will likely rebound pretty well.

[yard e]

Yes, but will the mostly brown culms re-leaf. And will I have less shoots.

[ShmuBamboo]

Yes, but will the mostly brown culms re-leaf. And will I have less shoots.

The brown culms are dead, and they are not going to re-leaf or branch out. My experience has been that boos will not be able to salvage starches from the dead culms, so the shots will be smaller in colder/top-kill winters. Even when they lose their leaves, it takes them more energy to re-grow them, so growth is less the following year. The vigor of the new culms will also vary on how large and healthy the rhizomes are, and if they suffered any frost damage.

[Leo S]

I'm north of Chicago, on the other side of the Lake from you. My patch of aureosulcata has survived over 30 years, and one winter with a low of -27 F, and several slightly less cold winters. This winter we had - 17 F, I had complete top kill several times over the years, including this year. P. aureosulcata, a. spectabilis, 'Harbin Inversa' and P. aureosulcata fma aureocaulis all are totally top killed. I have no doubt that their rhizomes will successfully send up new culms in spring. Sometimes there is little loss of vigor and size after total top kill, but once or twice I have had shorter culms the year following a really hard winter. The good news is that you won't have to replace your plantings. They will come back from the rhizomes. Don't worry.

This is actually a good chance for those of us with older, well established plantings to get in there, clear cut everything down, and clean up the litter, cut low old stubbs, and otherwise clean up the groves. Harvest all the lumber. The thinner first and second year culms save for craft projects. The 3 to 5 year old culms, take care to dry and age them in the shade, these will be lignified enough to use for furniture, flutes, or other more durable projects. Get the clean out done before new shoots start, while the ground is frozen.

Don't worry, it is unlikely you will have to start over.

[Leo S]

Feel the branches that turned brown. Flex them in your hand. If they are still flexible, and still have a gloss to the branch, they might re-leaf out. The leaf buds should be glossy, and starting to swell a little bit. Then the branch, and its culm is still alive. If the branches are brittle, and break easy, the color is dull and there is no leaf bud swelling, then it is dead. Culms that are green on one side, might still be alive. If your planting is young, you could just wait and see if they sprout. At least with aureosulcata at my house, the culms don't leaf out until after the new shoots start popping.

At my place, my planting is old enough, well established with a very extensive root system. I'm just going to take it all down. It is a chance to paint the part of the house behind the bamboo.

[stevelau1911]

If your bamboos look kind of like this, then you will definitely get lots of culms, but they will probably be a lot skinnier and shrub like than you want. from my experience, the more damage you get, the more the shoots you will likely get, but they end up being much smaller than what would be desired.

It is pretty hard to tell if this is still hanging onto life up to its 6th node, or if everything is dead below the 3rd node. It's a moso division top killed after exposure to 0F inside an unheated greenhouse.