Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

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Tracy
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Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Tracy »

After seeing some nice Fargesia dracocephala 'Rufa' clumps in a sunny area at Furman University (Greenville, SC) last fall, I decided to try 'Rufa' and Fargesia robusta in the sun here (SW Georgia). They were planted next to one of our irrigation pads to ensure they didn't dry out.

Halfway through their first summer, they seem to be doing fine.....leaves aren't as deep green as they would be in the shade, but otherwise appear healthy.

I've heard others in the SE US say that they couldn't grow 'Rufa' or robusta even in the shade, whereas they thrive here in a moist, shady spot. Conventional wisdom seems to be that our daytime heat and humidity combined with warm nights are problematic for these bamboos.

After seeing how well they do here in the shade and now doing OK in the sun also, I'm thinking that the problems people are having with these is due to insufficient irrigation. They definitely don't seem to be as drought-tolerant as the Bambusas, Phyllostachys, etc. Mine (sun and shade plantings) are all planted next to areas that receive regular irrigation during the summer, so they never dry out.

I have followed up with a few of the folks who said they couldn't grow these in the South, and none of them were providing supplemental water beyond the initial establishment period.
Tracy Cato
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Alan_L
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Alan_L »

Great to know! Keep us posted on this.

I've never had problems with 'Rufa' here in St. Louis, and it certainly gets hot and humid here. The problem I've had is any Fargesia other than 'Rufa' craps out in the cold winter, or maybe it's the combo of harsh summer followed by harsh winter...
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by johnw »

Alan - Have you had damage on Rufa from low temps? I see they rate it at -5F, that's overly optimistic. It was killed to the ground in interior Nova Scotia at -4F, 3 years ago and repeated the past 2 years.
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by T9D »

The problem is you have to water it a lot, forever. And can't go away on vacation on hot summers without some automatic watering. Even when it get's giant, that's a lot of water.

And then it may seem fine now but watch when it's really windy one summer and super hot, then it's toast. You're tempting fate.

Mine did fine when it had full sun but by about 4 pm it was shaded and protected by a rock wall. And I watered constantly.

I then moved them up higher where they got full sun and we had a lot of wind. I was watering them a lot. But one got totally completely fried from the sun and wind together and the longer sun amount. It might be dead. It was only a couple weeks in that spot. The other one that had slightly more shade but about the same spot fried some outer branches. They were both growing pretty strong and full in 20 gallon pots before. Rufa just really likes about half shade. As long as it has water it seems totally fine in half shade/half full sun days. But even then have a windy hot days at the same time and you can have problems. And it's a pain to constantly have to have tons of water on it all the time. Wont be able to even take a vacation without coming home to dead ones. It may not be now, but eventually it's going to bite you in the butt :)

For me personally In hot windy areas like I'm in, If I ever decide to actually plant them in the ground I don't think I'd do anything besides 3/4 day full shade with 1/4 day full sun.
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Tarzanus »

It fared really well in 35 do 37°C this summer (we're not over yet, might even surpass that) for me. Some of the leaves (most of the foliage that is constantly exposed to full sun) got a bit less dark green coloring, but they are not fried. I pruned it in early summer to make it a bit more upright and to expose the culms at least a bit. By now it's leaves, leaves, leaves all the way down to the floor. In a well lit place, it grows really well with more foliage. I've had it in a place with like 60:40 sun:shade ratio during the summer, now it's more like 80:20. Culms might have became a bit thicker, but it's height is at least 50 cm lower now than it was.

I use greywater on it, so it rarely dries out completely. Strange thing is, usually it started shooting in early to mid-summer. This year, it doesn't seem it's going to.. Well, it aint over 'till the fat lady sings..
Tracy
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Tracy »

Agree they will probably need irrigation indefinitely in the full sun, which is not a problem since they are on the edges of an irrigated zone controlled by a timer.

Not saying that planting in the full sun here is advisable, just that it may be possible to grow them in the full sun in the Southeast US, which goes against what I've always assumed based on reports from others in the region.

Of course, it's too soon to tell how they will do long term, but so far, so good.
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by needmore »

A friend - granted in upstate WA - told me that he had left lots of fargesia,borinda in the greenhouse too long and that most were fried by excess heat. He noted that both Rufa and Scabrida though looked quite fine so perhaps Scabrida is worth playing with in the shade in the south?
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Cooper12 »

my Fargesia Green Panda , Borinda boliana ( name change? )Borinda fungosa ,and Yushania anceps all do well in mostly sunny spots here in Northern California at 3400 feet in the lower Sierra.
Our pleasant summer nights may help though
Jason Floyd
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Tarzanus
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Tarzanus »

Cooper12 wrote:my Fargesia Green Panda , Borinda boliana ( name change? )Borinda fungosa ,and Yushania anceps all do well in mostly sunny spots here in Northern California at 3400 feet in the lower Sierra.
Our pleasant summer nights may help though
How pleasant are your pleasant nights? :mrgreen:
I've had problems with my Borinda fungosa seedling before, but this year, despite the fact that we're breaking heat records and we are already at 4th heat wave, it looks super-happy. It actually looks even better than Fargesia rufa that grows next to it. New shoots grow slower than Phyllostachys shoots, so I'm still waiting to see how tall it's going to get this year, but it still shoots after more than month and a half.

At 37C daily highs, we've had lower night temperatures around 24C.
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Tyke-A »

Don't know if Scabrida would work Brad. Have it here in S W Missouri. It looks good despite the extreme heat and humidity we've had lately but it is extremely slow growing. Rufa works great here. Have them in both full sun and partial and they have all had excellent growth.
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by Cooper12 »

Tarzanus wrote:
Cooper12 wrote:my Fargesia Green Panda , Borinda boliana ( name change? )Borinda fungosa ,and Yushania anceps all do well in mostly sunny spots here in Northern California at 3400 feet in the lower Sierra.
Our pleasant summer nights may help though
How pleasant are your pleasant nights? :mrgreen:
I've had problems with my Borinda fungosa seedling before, but this year, despite the fact that we're breaking heat records and we are already at 4th heat wave, it looks super-happy. It actually looks even better than Fargesia rufa that grows next to it. New shoots grow slower than Phyllostachys shoots, so I'm still waiting to see how tall it's going to get this year, but it still shoots after more than month and a half.

At 37C daily highs, we've had lower night temperatures around 24C.
upper 50's to low 60's fahrenheit. though when we have heat waves it can be warmer though our humidity is pretty low
Jason Floyd
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Re: Anyone else growing Fargesias in full sun in the SE US?

Post by needmore »

Tyke-A wrote:Don't know if Scabrida would work Brad. Have it here in S W Missouri. It looks good despite the extreme heat and humidity we've had lately but it is extremely slow growing. Rufa works great here. Have them in both full sun and partial and they have all had excellent growth.
When I was typing that about Scabrida I recalled that there are tissue culture plants and not, and there seem to be great differences between the two - at least in terms of cold tolerance. So hard to recall which I had the info on but I think they were TC plants.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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