What Happened ???
Posted: Sat May 24, 2014 1:25 am
Unlike previous years, my bamboo seemed to hold its leaves longer than usual. Finally last year's culms in my groves started to green up and put out new leaves. And of course there were the usual number of rhizomes trying to widen the grove. But my largest most vigorous grove held its dead leaves even longer and as best I can tell nearly if not absolutely all of last years culms are dead. New culms are coming up throughout the grove but being more slender I doubt that any will go as high as last year.
Last winter here was not particularly cold and the only difference is that this grove is the least sheltered from wind. It is also the closest to an area which is basically untended wild grasses and weeds. The grove is about 20 to 25 feet from the sewage lagoon and on ground about 8 to 10 feet higher. Nothing known to be toxic is discharged into our sewage system nor has anything disrupted the normal bacterial action in the lagoon. The grove could have extended roots into a layer watered by the lagoon and that water would probably have been high in phosporus and nitrogen from what I know about sewage. The grove retained green leaves just as long as my other groves but after the leaves died, apparently so did the culms they grew from. What would have caused this ???
If it were disease, I would think that the new growth within the grove would not have happened, although there are no new culms as thick as what I saw for last year. However the rhizomes running out of the grove seem to have put out normally and I dug up most of those to start a new grove and all have come through the transplanting and are doing well.
The new extension I planted at one end is growing normally Of course it does not yet share the same root mat. The only thing that comes to mind is that perhaps something affected a large part of the root mat of the main part of the grove.
Of all my groves this one is growing in the one spot in my lawn that had really good soil that grows lots of grass. The picture shows only about half of the grove but the density of new and old culms in the grove is uniform throughout.
Any suggestions as to what might have done this? I live on the boundary of climate zones 5 and 6 and the variety in all my groves is Phylostachys Aureao Sulcatta obtained from a well established mature grove locally. I am wondering if some sort of vermin might have attacked the existing root mat sometime last year or even last winter and damaged it. We do have a lot of voles and moles around here.
As the photo shows the new upcoming culms are about half the height of last years and I doubt they will go much higher and the vast mass of last years culms appear dead even though my other groves have mostly greened up. Last winter here was not particularly cold and the only difference is that this grove is the least sheltered from wind. It is also the closest to an area which is basically untended wild grasses and weeds. The grove is about 20 to 25 feet from the sewage lagoon and on ground about 8 to 10 feet higher. Nothing known to be toxic is discharged into our sewage system nor has anything disrupted the normal bacterial action in the lagoon. The grove could have extended roots into a layer watered by the lagoon and that water would probably have been high in phosporus and nitrogen from what I know about sewage. The grove retained green leaves just as long as my other groves but after the leaves died, apparently so did the culms they grew from. What would have caused this ???
If it were disease, I would think that the new growth within the grove would not have happened, although there are no new culms as thick as what I saw for last year. However the rhizomes running out of the grove seem to have put out normally and I dug up most of those to start a new grove and all have come through the transplanting and are doing well.
The new extension I planted at one end is growing normally Of course it does not yet share the same root mat. The only thing that comes to mind is that perhaps something affected a large part of the root mat of the main part of the grove.
Of all my groves this one is growing in the one spot in my lawn that had really good soil that grows lots of grass. The picture shows only about half of the grove but the density of new and old culms in the grove is uniform throughout.
Any suggestions as to what might have done this? I live on the boundary of climate zones 5 and 6 and the variety in all my groves is Phylostachys Aureao Sulcatta obtained from a well established mature grove locally. I am wondering if some sort of vermin might have attacked the existing root mat sometime last year or even last winter and damaged it. We do have a lot of voles and moles around here.