Any theories to my bamboo's demise?

Controlling pests of bamboo

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needmore
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Any theories to my bamboo's demise?

Post by needmore »

I have a 'clump' of bissetii that is quickly dying off, I noticed a problem about 3 days ago and it is worse everyday and it looks as though the whole think will die off very quickly. Since I have plenty I'm more curious than concerned. The 'clump' is a 25 gallon pot with multiple old culms and several nice shoots that I planted in early April. The shoots all finished off at about 10-12 feet, leafed out and looked great until 3 days ago.

Da facts: This spot has previously had other species of bamboo - it is a raised bed with a straight rear/back wall/dam of mulch and an arc of dry stack stone wall - think D shaped.

This bed originally had rubro in it but it exploded with new canes so fast that I dug it out and relocated it. Next, it was a mixed planting of both forms of hibanobambusa. This bamboo also spread like wildfire, produced tons of culms and seemed happy. Last winter was so mild that my other plantings of this bamboo held up well but this one top killed again - as it has each year. The top kill now being unusual and certainly environmental caused me to go ahead and dig it all out and start over. Dang, what a rhizome bound nightmare that afternoon was.

In the process of digging it out, I 'hit' water under the patch - lots of water. This area tends to drain the slope above and clearly it was collecting in the bed as the soil was like quicksand once I got into it and a huge puddle in the middle. That explained the top kill to my satisfaction so I decided to dig it all out, put in gravel and try to improve the drainage.

I then salvaged some of the mucky soil at the bottom of the bed and I placed the bissetii division on top of it, surrounding and burying it in new top soil and potting mix. I then covered the whole bed with a deep layer of mulch. Next I dug out some areas of the mulch and planted ferns, caladium, pincushion flower, iris- several other flowers and packed them in new soil as well. They all are doing their thing and seem none the worse.

First, I noticed 3 days ago that 2 of the older bissetii culms were dying - leaves rolled up but not drought stressed. Next one of the new canes turned totally chocolate brown and croaked, today I see another one of the new ones has turned almost totally brown in just a day or so. This guy seems doomed. Tonight I dug around in a couple of spots and the soil was not dry and not saturated - it could be saturated where I did not dig but I believe I would have noticed, perhaps more probing is needed. The dead culms all seem firmly attached to the rhizomes. My eyes tell me that this guy is drowning as the leaf roll and browning suggest this but if so, then at least the top half of the rootball is not wet at all.

A possible cause? The mulch?...I am experimenting with cedar mulch in 4 beds to see if it will deter voles. I put a yard of only cedar on my prized atrovaginata grove and several bags mixed with hardwood mulch on my showcase spectabilis - these guys thus far seem fine. The bissetii I intended to use just cedar and the lower half of the mulched area is cedar but the top half is cypress - I was not paying attention to the bags and bought cypress instead, which I HATE because I hate participating in the extermination of the cypress groves in the SE US.

I'm guessing that I'll find a lake in there if I really dig down but does anyone have an alternate theory?
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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Markj
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Re: Any theories to my bamboo's demise?

Post by Markj »

Got to something mechanical- either something has eaten all the roots or like you say, it's flooded. Can't see how the mulch would cause that damage.

I've a large planting here of boryana that has pretty much the same symptoms but it's taken 3/4 years to spread , a slow death for each culm. Which l think is some form of disease /virus for yours to go down so quick it must be external.

At least it's not one of your showcase plants.
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Re: Any theories to my bamboo's demise?

Post by David »

It sounds as if you have a vole living (and eating) in the root ball. Little beggars! I don't think it's the cedar mulch. We have hundreds of cedars here and the bamboo seems to tolerate them well, and in fact, likes to send rhizomes into the years of dropped needles beneath the trees. The cypress I have no experience with, but it does produce tannic acid.
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Re: Any theories to my bamboo's demise?

Post by ghmerrill »

Whenever a gopher gets into a plant and starts eating, its the same thing- plant rapidly declines, leaves die, culms turn tan.
Since its dying anyway, I would pull it out and see if you can see anything.
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Re: Any theories to my bamboo's demise?

Post by foxd »

I've used cedar mulch for years and not had any problem, other than finding it for sale this year. :?

How well does Eucalyptus mulch work? For some reason when I went to buy mulch this year the first couple of places I checked only had Eucalyptus mulch. :?
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