Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3-5??

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stover954rr
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Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3-5??

Post by stover954rr »

Hello Everyone,
I am very excited to have found this site! I have only one bamboo grove of some "arrow" Pseudosasa japonica bamboo that is about 6 years old now. It is finally starting to send its taller tier of chutes up.

Well needless to say, now that I got one going I AM HOOKED! This first excursion has really taught me a lot, and of all the things I have learned about bamboo, the one thing that I know now is, there is a lot more to learn out there!

I am a really big fan of Japonica, and think it has a lot to offer, but look forward to learning much more about many different kinds!

I also look forward to meet many of you!

Does anyone here live in zones 3-5? I have found a couple of different bamboos that say they are good to -15 f, but was curious if any of you live in environments like mine (that get to negative 30 in the winter).

Thanks!
Russ
I might live in Zone 3/4, but my house is a solid Zone 7!
ghmerrill
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by ghmerrill »

Welcome Russ... Im not sure we have too many members on here that have to put up with that kind of COLD!!!

there is lots of info on here, so dig in and have fun.

BTW, for cold hardy boos, check out the Phyllostachys aureasulcata forms, Phyllostachys bissetii, and there are a couple of others too... a couple of clumping species as well. you should find some stuff that will be helpfull as you peruse around here.

Gene
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jordanM
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Temperatures usually dont get below -20 w/ windchill.
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by jordanM »

Zone 5 here, i have specatbilis, rubro and fargesia nitida bamboo.
stevelau1911
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by stevelau1911 »

Yes I live in the same state as you, but it doesn't get down to -30F. It does get pretty cold, maybe 0to 5F in January. I will be adding F robusta which is similar to arrow except it spreads a little bit slower. Wouldn't zone 3 be pretty extreme for NY?

None of the bamboos in my garden are taking damage and theres already been 3 nights under 15F. You should also be able to grow a lot of Phyllostachys species considering the amount of snowfall we get here.

I took a thermometer one day it was in the 20s, and by sticking it in the soil under the snow and mulch, it read around 44F which means its not even close to freezing under all my protection. I will try this again when it gets in the single digits next month and my hypothesis is that it will still be above 32F under all the protection.
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by jordanM »

Isnt zone 3 in Alaska and higher near the arstic circle. :lol:
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by bambooweb »

The forecast here is for -6*F next week but I have had bamboos survive -24*F. Unfortunately -24 did hurt the bamboos and set back most of them by about 2 years. My yellow groove (P. aureosulcata) also lost its yellow groove and became all green. :?

Tomorrow I will be mulching and wrapping some of my bamboos to try and have green bamboo in the spring.

Bill
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by stevelau1911 »

You must be living in the coldest part of washington because in some parts, people grow tropical clumpers. Doesn't snow cover negate extremely cold temperatures for the most part?

For example if you have a foot of snow on the ground, and it gets down to -6, the culms may get damaged, but underground there shouldn't be any effect.

I'm just hoping my area especially this year doesn't get down in to single digits since 7 of my plants are newly planted, but -24F is pretty extreme. I would probably put a tent over my less hardy groves if there was ever abnormally cold temperatures.
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by bepah »

Russ,

Welcome to the forum.

There are a lot of folks here that deal with colder temps.

I'll be watching to see how you do, but have no input into your problems, as up to now, we don't get the temps you do.

However, there is a threat of an arctic push coming our way this weekend, just like 2 years ago......I sure hope not.
John Case
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bambooweb
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by bambooweb »

There are colder areas in Washington. :D The climate on the west side of the Cascades has mild temperatures and more rain but the eastern side is dry and hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

Hopefully the snow will stick on the ground but the forecast is also for wind which could turn 6 inches of snow into 2 foot drifts and a lot of bare ground. I do have bales of straw next to the bamboos that I need to mulch so it wont take long to spread before it snows.

Bill
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by ghmerrill »

Bill,

do you remove the straw, or does it decompose readily? I got a couple of bales this year and am thinking about doing all the boos, just to help build soil around them, but wasnt sure thes straw would break down like the leaves do.
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by stevelau1911 »

I'm hoping mulch such as woodchips, leaves, and straw break down because I use a lot of it especially during winter. I'm planning on leaving it on and letting the pile of leaves decompose to fertilize the new shoots coming up.

Will having a foot of mulch make the rhizomes start growing up in to the mulch? If so I might have to take some away.
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Re: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zon

Post by va_highlander »

ghmerrill wrote:Bill,

do you remove the straw, or does it decompose readily? I got a couple of bales this year and am thinking about doing all the boos, just to help build soil around them, but wasnt sure thes straw would break down like the leaves do.
I've mulched around bamboo with oat straw. As I recall, most if not all of it had decomposed within a year. Of course I'm sure it depends, among other things, on how much water you have at a particular site.

Not sure what the effect would be on bamboo, but when I used straw as mulch in the garden, and wished it to break down faster, I would just sprinkle with a little granular urea, which was listed at something like 46-0-0. The straw seemed to just disappear. Has something to do with feeding the bugs that feed on the straw.
Michael
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Re: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zon

Post by va_highlander »

stevelau1911 wrote:Will having a foot of mulch make the rhizomes start growing up in to the mulch? If so I might have to take some away.
\
I haven't mulched quite as deeply as that, but I have had the rhizomes of a young plant run along the surface of the ground, just under the mulch.
Michael
stover954rr
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RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zones 3

Post by stover954rr »

Hey folks!!!

Yes, it does indeed get to -30 in parts of NY.... I am a stones throw from the CA boarder. I live in Potsdam NY, and have seen a few winters where it doesn't get above 0 for 2-3 weeks on end!

But what is nice about this, is that once we get snow, it never leaves. So that provides protection for ground plants, However if anything is left out in the wind unprotected it can see extreme temperatures. This is what worries me about bamboo.

So apparently there is no bamboo that goes under -15 deg F?

What bambooweb (Bill) describes is what I am afraid of. That my bamboo will just kind of "be" rather than grow because all spring/summer progress will be erased every winter.


~Russell
I might live in Zone 3/4, but my house is a solid Zone 7!
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bambooweb
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Re: RE: Hello All!!! New member here! Who else lives in zon

Post by bambooweb »

ghmerrill wrote:Bill,

do you remove the straw, or does it decompose readily? I got a couple of bales this year and am thinking about doing all the boos, just to help build soil around them, but wasnt sure thes straw would break down like the leaves do.
In the spring I rake the straw off of any bamboo leaves that I covered up then sprinkle some ammonium sulfate over the straw and cover that with compost. Snow is not reliable here but when the bamboo is covered with snow it does make a big difference in how the bamboo survives the winter.

My bamboos are planted in short mounds made from the native clay and compost so the added straw and compost seems to replace the older compost that is shrinking so the mounds are not getting taller and the rhizomes tend to stay in the amended soil and are easy to prune when they try to grow out into the clay soil.

Most of my bamboos have taken 4 to 5 years to get enough growth under ground to start putting up culms over 8 feet tall. They are now surviving the winters better so hopefully they will keep sizing up.

Bill
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