Fargesia in southern Missouri?

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wolfedg
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Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by wolfedg »

I'm thinking about perhaps a clumper for my third bamboo. I have been closely eying Fargesia murielae for its beautiful blue culms and general appearance. Nevertheless I keep reading that fargesia doesnt like the heat and humidity of the southeast. So my question is will the plant suffer badly here in southern Missouri(not quite the deep south or east, but still fairly hot and humid). I have a location in the yard that I think may help its chances. It is along the woods to the west where it would get morning full sun up until about noon and would be in shade/deep shade for the rest of the day.

As a side note my other two plants are doing well. I have ordered some Wilt-Pruf(TM) for my vivax so hopefully it might not fully defoliate this year like it did last winter. Any thoughts on using this stuff, have any of you used it?
Im not overly concerned about the Atrovaginata as it is in a well sheltered location and is considerably hardier than the vivax.

Vivax (Hwengwhnzu Inversa or Aureocaulis-Parent plant was Aureocaulis but current culms are like H.I.) (Year 2)
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Atrovaginata (Year 1)
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dependable
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by dependable »

I can not speak to your specific location, but most Fargesia do best in more shade where I am. Many tend to curl their leaves in direct sun eg nitida and jiuzhaigou. The one that takes full sun, F robusta, is not particularly cold hardy, and will top kill at 0*f.

From what I have seen, rufra or denudata might be worth trying.
wolfedg
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by wolfedg »

dependable wrote:I can not speak to your specific location, but most Fargesia do best in more shade where I am. Many tend to curl their leaves in direct sun eg nitida and jiuzhaigou. The one that takes full sun, F robusta, is not particularly cold hardy, and will top kill at 0*f.

From what I have seen, rufra or denudata might be worth trying.
The robusta doesn't sound like it would be a good idea here in zone 6b, but I have also been considering the Rufa. Rufa is the only bamboo i've seen available at local box stores under the name (Sunset Glow), though so far I have gone online or drove to the nursery in Eureka Springs to buy bamboo anyway.
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needmore
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by needmore »

Check out posts from Alan in St Louis, visit his website at

http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com

he has multiple posts about bamboo and you can see photos of his rufa, I think he has a post about one in shade and one in sun.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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wolfedg
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by wolfedg »

needmore wrote:Check out posts from Alan in St Louis, visit his website at

http://www.itsnotworkitsgardening.com

he has multiple posts about bamboo and you can see photos of his rufa, I think he has a post about one in shade and one in sun.
Ok after reading several posts about fargesia in Alan's blog I wnet ahead and ordered the Rufa. He mentioned he planted a Murielae(sic?) but there are no updates on it that i could find so I can only assume it didn't fair well.
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stevelau1911
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by stevelau1911 »

I've played around with wilt pruf before, and in my experience, if it makes any difference at all, it appears to be very marginal. Vivax will still completely defoliate even if you load it up with wilt pruf.

I've found that bending the culms down to the ground and tarping them over seems to be the single most effective way to keep them green in the spring. It's not that hard to get tarps as they can be found on craigslist or on curbs. I often see old tents, pool liners. Stay away from the rugs as they tend to permeate moisture through which can rot the leaves. Bamboo doesn't like having wet leaves all winter long. Tarps can also be purchased at paint stores, or hardware stores like Lowes. The plastic transparent type works fine as long as you put it on late enough in the season so that it doesn't over-heat under there. Adding jugs of water inside the tarp can help even more. The idea here is that it keeps the plants close to the ground where they get insulation from the warm soil, and a solid barrier can prevent heat from escaping. Snow can add another layer of protection.

If you have decomposing woodchips or compost, that underneath a tarp can even add a few degrees under a tarp, but for the most part, that shouldn't be necessary as long as you have solid tarps. I just use logs, cinder blocks or large stones to weigh my tarps down to the ground. Once you can protect all your green leaves, the upsize should be huge next year.
Tyke-A
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by Tyke-A »

Rufa does fine here but is slow growing. It does withstand the heat just fine. I have several and they are all in locations with sun until around noon. Its about our only choice for a clumper I'm afraid. I have several Nitidas, a Scabrida and a Jiuzhaigou 1 that I've been babying but I'm about to give up on them. If we could get ahold of some very large divisions we might have a better chance of getting them established I think.
Alan_L
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by Alan_L »

All Fargesias I've ever planted except 'Rufa' have died for me. I had one labeled 'Rufa' that got a little smaller each year until I think it finally died last year -- I doubt that was actually 'Rufa'.

I really wish I could grow a taller Fargesia!
wolfedg
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Re: Fargesia in southern Missouri?

Post by wolfedg »

The Fargesia 'Rufa' has arrived today :) and is now planted. Hopefully I'll be able to post a pic or two later on.

I'd like to make a catalogue of the progress of growth of each of my plants from year to year. The internet seems to be lacking in photos showing the progress of a 1-3ish gallon bamboo to maturity. Although there are a few, there are many more that seem to start posting pictures at year two or three of growth on wards, or large 10g+divisions, or pictures of several plants next to each other. All of these detract from being able to gauge the growth of the plants.
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