How Do I Know if My Bamboo is Still Viable?

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ZZZ
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Location: Longboat Key, FL

How Do I Know if My Bamboo is Still Viable?

Post by ZZZ »

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I am aware that it seems like a stupid question at face value, but please consider my situation.

As I posted on an earlier thread, my previously beautiful & thriving Ghost Bamboo a/k/a Angel Mist a/k/a Dendrocalamus Minor Amoenus has been in a downward spiral ever since a tide surge from the hurricane 2 months ago flooded my yard with salt water. Amazing how an hour or so of salt water can do such extensive damage, but I digress.

The majority of this bamboo now looks like furniture, i.e; dead. There were two culms that sprouted green at the nodes over the past 2-3 weeks which thus gave me hope, but alas, the green is now dried up for whatever reason. Some sections of a few culms still show the beautiful light green with yellow stripes, but again--no green leaves anywhere at this point. By virtue of the fact that there are no green leaves can I assume that this bamboo is not viable, or since I am seeing color in certain sections of the culms, is there hope that new culms will pop up in the springtime?

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and hoping for a different result, but I am resolute in having exotic bamboo. I have sourced another large Ghost Bamboo for a better-than-average price, and my plan would be to build a raised bed in the existing spot, cut off all the culms of the Ghost Bamboo in question, and place the new 30 gallon specimen right on top of the old one while filling around it with dirt in what will be a new 6' x 6' raised bed.

Does anyone have first-hand experience with nearly-dead bamboo that in fact came back to life? Any/all opinions and advice welcomed. Thank you!
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needmore
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Re: How Do I Know if My Bamboo is Still Viable?

Post by needmore »

Your photos look typical for the type of cold damage that I've seen too many times so if you did not mention salt and instead had cold damage I would encourage you to be patient as a bamboo mature enough to produce culms like that in many cases would have the vigor to send up new survival shoots. But in your case I would have expected them by now and it is not cold damage it is salt, sooo....they might well be goners.

If again, it were cold damage even though they should be able to produce survival shoots, it would be a couple years before they approached the size before the damage. So in your case, even if they may have some life in the rhizomes are you willing to wait a couple years to get back to that point?

I think if they were mine, I'd dig them out, rinse the crap out of the root/rhizome system, cut them back, pot them and see what happens. In the meantime I'd plant new plants above the salt line such as you describe.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
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