Over-wintering bamboo/ other plants

[johnw]

The summers there are too cool?

Southern tip NS - tomatoes don't ripen outside, corn has never produced at a friend's and he's tried since 1972 and gave up 3 years ago. Twenty miles away no problem.

[stevelau1911]

As seen in the previous posts, last year, I didn't really mulch them because I expected the tarps to be enough so all I did was rake some of the tree leaves already there closer to the clumps.

This year, I'm going much heavier on the mulching, adding at least 1ft around each of the groves a few days ago. I might add a bit more if it seems necessary, but the point of this is to prevent the rhizomes and shoot buds from freezing by providing several inches of insulation, and also attracting snow to stick much better. This also prevents the roots from freezing so the plants can still intake water through the winter which may be even more important than covering up the leaves.

In terms of tarping, that's no longer necessary for the larger groves because they seem to hold their green anyways, while the ones that can still bend down to the ground won't take much time to tarp as all the culms can be tied down with a tent stake, and covered over.

Here are the mulched groves.




















I'll still need to mulch the garlic, but haven't gotten to that yet.

[stevelau1911]

Seeing how temperatures seem to be erratic so far getting close to winter, I think we may get way below 0F on a few nights as well as some days above 70F in the middle of this winter, but it's tough to say. In any case, I intend to tarp as many bamboos except for the parvifolia & atrovaginata since those are too big, and not that prone to winter damage anyways.

It looks like If I wanted to tarp an enormous grove of bamboo, I would need something like this after bending over all the culms with a very heavy duty tent stake.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Mil-Clear-Gre ... 5d2571a07d

I'll get them covered tomorrow.

[terrabamboo]

can someone help me identify this problem I am having on about 20% of my plants? I am worried I thru water and feed too long and the plants went into grow mode and now winter is upon them! 8b.







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[stevelau1911]

It could be a problem with the lack of drainage especially if you have also been getting hammered with heavy precipitation most of the year.

Here's some of the tarping I did. I got all the phyllostachys except for parvifolia, atrovaginata, and propinqua beijing since those are less prone to winter damage, and much harder to tarp at their size.

Here's some of the photos with a variety of tarping materials.

Dulcis




P Nigra



Shanghai III



Decora



Propinqua beijing



Makinoi

[terrabamboo]

interesting. so I could be OVER-watering them. I have stopped their additional watering cycle as of today. I assume they will slowly recover?? We have a good 2" of rain in the forecast tomorrow @40deg, unfortunately.

[stevelau1911]

I think watering when the soil is already moist can probably do more harm than good especially when they should be getting into dormancy, and the leaves cannot transpire much water anyways. Bamboos cannot handle wet feet, and some species really hate it. Here's a thread showing similar damage to what you have in your pictures.
http://www.bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5498

If you tarp it over and keep the rain off, it may help it slowly recover. Based on what I've seen, there seems to be no need to water at all if the soil temperature remains under 60F, and not even through the summer either if it rains at least once every 5-10 days. A good layer of mulch is usually enough to regulate the moisture levels with the exception of extreme heat and drought. The bamboos will curl their leaves when they are thirsty.

I don't water any of my potted or greenhouse plants from November through April, and they come out fine in the spring.

[terrabamboo]

steve what about the baby seedlings you sent me? would those be Needing water/led lighting nov-apr?


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[terrabamboo]

also, any cost conscious recommendations on about 50 plants I would tarp? May get expensive if I get 50 blue tarps at Home Depot!!


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[stevelau1911]

steve what about the baby seedlings you sent me? would those be Needing water/led lighting nov-apr?

For those, watering should still be done, but still on a minimal extent because they won't have the intense sun or temperatures on a typical summer day. It's easier to over-water them than to let them dry out, especially on the newly started seedlings. Moso tends to like being on the dry side with good aeration.

also, any cost conscious recommendations on about 50 plants I would tarp? May get expensive if I get 50 blue tarps at Home Depot!!

That would cost over 1000.00 which just doesn't make sense. Even a greenhouse store like Griffin's greenhouse would quote lower than Home Depot. There are definitely better alternatives. Many large retailers will change out their greenhouse film once in a while so they might have some for free. If not, they may have the plastic sheeting typically used for putting on car seats to prevent it from getting dirty for free. For any of the smaller bamboos, large leaf bags would be sufficient. People also typically throw out pool liners, carpets, or other stuff that can be used as tarps. Painter's plastic will work too as long as it is double layered and placed on carefully.

If you can't get anything for free, something that is cheaper than typical greenhouse film, and more durable than painters plastic is clear plastic poly sheeting which can be found in a lot of gardening stores or ebay. Here's an example.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clear-Plastic-P ... 1c38f61861

[needmore]

I wouldn't tarp those...

[pokenei]

Once those leaves are damaged, it will not likely to green up again. You can only hope to stop it from worsening, at least till next year.

[dependable]

Terrabamboo, if it is over watering causing the wilt, you will see some rot on root system. This will be brownish roots instead of whitish. If it is not too bad, they will sprout in spring. Would hold off on fertilizer and mulching for now also on affected plants.

[terrabamboo]

Terrabamboo, if it is over watering causing the wilt, you will see some rot on root system. This will be brownish roots instead of whitish. If it is not too bad, they will sprout in spring. Would hold off on fertilizer and mulching for now also on affected plants.

along those lines, I removed 5 plants that had black rhizomes (no leaves, looking completely dead on the top). I put them in container in the greenhouse in hopes that maybe the spring I will get something? Or is it not worth the greenhouse space?

[dependable]

Once the rhizomes go dark & soft w rot, they probably won't come back.