Winter Damage

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Alan_L
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Winter Damage

Post by Alan_L »

We had a fairly brutal winter here in St. Louis, with almost everything showing significant brown (leaves). I'm going to do a full post detailing it all soon, but I just wanted to say that Ph. rubromarginata is not as cold hardy as I expected! We've had a cold spring so the leaf buds are not doing much anywhere yet, but the rubro culms look suspicious. Some are clearly dead, and it's almost entirely defoliated:

http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com/2 ... -peek.html

Blah. :cry:

(Can't post IMG links that contain spaces -- I've mentioned it before but the " " gets converted to html-friendly "%20", which breaks the image link)
Alan_L
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Alan_L »

Here's a look at my entire collection after the harsh winter.

http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com/2 ... -2018.html
dependable
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by dependable »

Looks like you got hit by a couple degrees colder than me, my Japonica is mostly brown, for instance, but F rufras and shibatea just have a few brown margins.

Even my hardiest runners look rough at top in exposed locations, but are OK where more sheltered. This makes me think wind was as much a factor in the cold burn as temperatures. Maybe that also explains differences in your rufras. Could be different strains, or could have been hit by a micro blast or eddy of damaging cold wind. The wind can be unpredictable in some of these gales ( I had mild hurricane force winds in one storm this winter), coming from other than prevailing direction, like trees falling in directions other than what wind was supposedly blowing.
johnw
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by johnw »

Alan - On the other hand we had a very mild winter except for an short arctic blast in late December. One night with a very brief -17c (0F) of an hour or so. Still P. aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis' looks much like yours, about 20% brown and that on the east side and the east wind is mild oceanic here so no explanation.

Initially I blamed some leaf burn on 'Rufa's that were tcs - specifically Green Panda. Once they settle in I see no difference in hardiness amongst them. Bright shade seems the answer but even in sun burn is very minimal.

john
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
Alan_L
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Alan_L »

Also note that buried in that post I talk about water. The two transplants that got watered during the autumn fared better than expected, and things that I thought would be okay but didn't get supplemental water might have topkilled (like the Ph. rubro).
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Glen
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Glen »

Alan_L wrote:Also note that buried in that post I talk about water. The two transplants that got watered during the autumn fared better than expected, and things that I thought would be okay but didn't get supplemental water might have topkilled (like the Ph. rubro).
In your area, do you typically go into winter with dry soil?

There is a lot of brown, but I am glad to see quite a bit of green in there too, especially on that P. aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'. I notice that quite a few plants have a little green toward the base/center of the leaf. In my experience with tropicals, this is a good sign, because it means that the bud at the base of that leaf is still viable, so the plant will releaf pretty well. Has your experience with running bamboos shown the same results?
Alan_L
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Alan_L »

We typically have a wet autumn -- 2017 was very dry compared to normal. I just look for any green leaves as a sign that they'll definitely leaf back out. Even when there's little to no green ones left they can still refoliate, but seeing green means there's no worry.
Alan_L
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Alan_L »

Another detail of the damage:
http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com/2 ... again.html

(Ph. aureosulcata 'Spectabilis')
Alan_L
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Alan_L »

So I've finally finished removing the most visible of the dead culms. Rough count: 200. There are still some dead ones in Ph. aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis' and many in Ph. bissetii (which seems to happen every year), so I'm guessing another 50-75 more to go. My Spectabilis looks ridiculous with only 20 culms surviving.

We've been getting a good amount of rain this summer, so I'm hoping that continues into fall. If not I'm definitely going to water throughout the autumn as I think drought was a major factor in the winter kill.
Rufledt
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Rufledt »

That's too bad, that's a lot of damage. Sure wish I had that many canes laying around though. Our winter was like yours, very dry. We got some cold but not bad, it just destroyed a lot of stuff without the snow. Then spring came quick and dumped a ton of water before the soil thawed and flooded the low lying parts of the city.

Interesting to see what didnt get too damaged for you, thanks for sharing in detail
Tarzanus
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Tarzanus »

Sad. I know what drought can do, especially when combined with winter. Your plants will recover, but you might have lost a year or two. It will upsize again.

We have the opposite issue last couple of winters. If it's not dry and cold, it gets wet and cold. Usually, we received rain instead of snow, so there was no insulation and soaked soil. Water saturated soil then freezes down to 1m deep and there's a good chance you loose your most precious plants.

Last year, we did get snow. A lot. My Moso was uprooted because of water saturated soil, drought during summer and vole infestation. Only small shoots remained, largest shoots just fell down with roots pointing sideways. It looks like it looked like 2 years ago. Well, not really true, it's the same height as it was, but it is more established and should upsize a lot again next spring if winter allows it.
Alan_L
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Alan_L »

I have fertilized (with Milorganite) the Spectabilis heavily, threw down some manure too, and am watering when it starts getting too dry -- which it hasn't for a while because we get a good storm every week or so.

Whenever a nice cool air mass moves in for a couple of days (highs 15ºF lower than normal) I really enjoy it, but then think "in 5 months that will be a polar vortex" :(
Tarzanus
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by Tarzanus »

Well, we had one similar just now. Temperature fell from 33C to 11C (daily high!) in 48 hours. Mountains around us have a nice snow cover now. I hope we won't have polar blasts like that during the winter.

I'm done fertilizing now, it seems we can get a nasty cold air any time now. Luckily, cold air is going to vanish just like it started. Mornings became chilly though, and will stay that way for a while.
UPBooMatt
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Re: Winter Damage

Post by UPBooMatt »

Alan_L wrote: Whenever a nice cool air mass moves in for a couple of days (highs 15ºF lower than normal) I really enjoy it, but then think "in 5 months that will be a polar vortex" :(

Truth.
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