How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (US)?

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Tracy
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How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (US)?

Post by Tracy »

Curious to see whether anyone knows how large robusta will grow down South.

My oldest plants are around 5ft. tall after 2-3 years from 1-gallon starts. Grown in heavy shade with regular irrigation.

We are in deep SW GA, about an hour north of Tallahassee, FL.
Tracy Cato
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johnw
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by johnw »

They say the Campbell form of F. robusta ranges in height from 4-6m (15-20ft approx). 'Pingwu' (syn. 'Green Screen') 2-3m and 'Woolong' 4-5m. Those who grow the last two might give you better stats on those ones as they're too tender for here.

john
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
Tracy
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by Tracy »

Thanks John.....I'm working on the assumption that robusta will not grow as tall here as it does in the Pacific Northwest and other cooler climates. F. dracocephala 'Rufa' (the only other Fargesia we've had any luck growing) does not grow as large here as it does elsewhere.

Our growing season is very hot and humid and winters are generally mild. Zone 8b.

We've had good success growing robusta but still unsure what the ultimate size will be, so difficult to make recommendations to others.
Tracy Cato
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by johnw »

Tracy

Have you heard of tall Rufas? If so how tall? Kimmei has one called 'Valkenswaard' that is reputed to get tall, I got another clone from them and it is only about 5-6ft tall. One plant of Green Panda here in NS is 8ft, the tallest I've heard of.

john
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
Tracy
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by Tracy »

Other growers in the South report that 'Rufa' seems to have maxed out in the 4'-6' range for them. Ours are all still small, but seem to be happy. The only large clumps I've seen in the South were at Furman University in Greenville, SC. They were around 5'-6' tall.

Bamboo Garden's website states that 'Rufa' will grow 8'-10' tall in Oregon.

As expected, robusta has easily outgrown 'Rufa' here, but still waiting to see what it's mature height will be....am hoping someone else in the Southern US can provide feedback.
Tracy Cato
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by johnw »

Tracy wrote:Bamboo Garden's website states that 'Rufa' will grow 8'-10' tall in Oregon.
One wonders where some of this mis-leading information comes from, if 90% of Rufas grow 6-8ft why state extremes to the customer. All too common with hardiness ratings too. When Rufa was first introduced to North America they said it was hardy to -15F & even lower but no one could tell us where that happened. It's in fact more like 0- -2F as absolute bottom; hammered a -4F and only a few shoots returned after that, inland from here.

john

Note Kimmei's heights! Regular vs dwarf....... :roll:
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johnw coastal Nova Scotia
Cooper12
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by Cooper12 »

my Rufa " Green Panda "planted from a 5 gal 3 years ago is about 3 1/2 tall. it seems to want to only add about 6" so far each year. the clump has gotten a bit wider.
we don't have to worry about the absolute low here. east of Sacramento California at about 3400 ft
ill be interested to see what they top out at as well.

I just got a Fargesia robusta Green Screen as well and have put it in a 20 gallon container. I'm anxious to see how that one does here as well.
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Alan_L
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by Alan_L »

johnw wrote: When Rufa was first introduced to North America they said it was hardy to -15F & even lower but no one could tell us where that happened. It's in fact more like 0- -2F as absolute bottom; hammered a -4F and only a few shoots returned after that, inland from here.
I have a few Rufas and they all survived -8ºF here but there was some snow cover. That's why plant hardiness ratings (and mature sizes) are suggestions at best -- there's a lot more contributing to hardiness than straight temperatures as we already know.

Back to the original topic of robusta -- I've only had one specimen but it did not survive our z6 winter. I didn't think they were happy with hot/humid summers either. Hmmm.
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Re: How large will Fargesia robusta grow in the Deep South (

Post by Tarzanus »

Rufa gets flattened to the ground by just 2 inches of snow and easily gets at least minimal cold protection during the winter. It can still get devastated by sun exposure and wind. Sub 0F temperature last year did only minimal damage to some of the exposed leaves.
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