zinc

It went down to 5F here for a protracted period this last winter, the coldest it's been since we settled here. There were heavy losses with roses. The only potted bamboos that survived unscathed are those whose containers had been properly winterised - pots buried in a sheltered position, then covered with 6 inches of leaves. Anything left exposed had succumbed. There was a 7 gallon pot of P aurea which was pushed against the side of the house. This year, new rhizomes shooted from the half of the pot that's up against the wall, while the outside facing half remained barren. Which supports the idea that rizhome buds are susceptible to cold kill.

I just found a good article on how to create a completely solar greenhouse and I'm planning on applying the ideas in this article to my 12X7X7 greenhouse. It claims to be able to keep temperatures inside 42 degrees above outside temperature on average with minimal costs and grow vegetables in any climate zone, so anything hardier shouldn't have any problems.

http://www.survivalplus.com/foods/page0009.htm

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http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

I purchased some p. nigra that was planted in an oversized cement pot this spring. I lined the pot with 2" foam board as well as tar paper. I did this to prevent too fast of a thaw/freezing cycle for this upcoming winter.

Luckily I keep my garage heated (@55 deg.) for my sports car. This upcoming year will be very interesting to see what happens come the spring of 2010.

Question, do I wrap the boo in plastic? and how often do I water?

Thanks

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Dominick
Bergen County, NJ

Can I keep my bamboo (Fargesia rufa 'Green Panda') in a pot indoors in the Winter?I was thinking of putting it in the enclosed verandah or in a cool room?
Our winters can be -30 C.

I think it would work if it's cold enough. If temperature during winter doesn't rise too much and is constantly at or below 10°C, I'm sure bamboo would be happy and would shoot nicely next spring.

If you do get guaranteed snow cover over the winter whenever it gets that cold, I would suggest keeping it outside and perhaps adding a very heavy tarp, bending the whole plant down tight to the ground, or if you have an old mattress, throw that over it. There's someone in Ontario, just a little bit north of me with similar extremes to you who has more experience. I think their user name is canadianplant or something like that and they have a few threads on fargesia overwintering in extreme cold.

In zone 6, something as hardy as fargesia rufa can simply be left alone and it will hold it's green over winter so I'm not exactly sure if that is even enough if you usually get down to -30C.

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A mattress? Seems like that would be too heavy, especially once waterlogged. Is that a common plant protection method up there?

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

I've tried using straight leaf bags before, plastic/ cloth tarps, but anywhere north of my climate may need some extreme measures to keep plants alive. I really doubt that boos mind being water-logged because I've had a moso seedling that was literally frozen in a puddle due to the melting & freezing of snow, and it came out in the spring just fine.

Just wondering. I know it's very hard to top-kill a 10ft + bamboo grove with top rated hardiness in zone 6, but they still usually get leaf burn at least to some extent which probably slows down their upsize. Has anyone ever tried tying every culm of the boo in the entire clump together, wrapping it in heavy tarping material and prevented leaf burn altogether?

I know they wouldn't get the warmth of the soil, but culms are no longer that flexible once they exceed 1 inch in diameter.

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I did this the last couple of years when my plants were younger. It did help, but tarping to the ground is better. It's also kind of difficult. Ugly too.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Thanks for the info. I will give it a try indoors in the enclosed verandah.I didn't want to plant it outside as I'm not sure just where to put it yet. Rhoeda

Looks like it is possible for bambos to over-winter in pots unprotected and grown outside in zone 8 France where I'm guessing the temperature gets as low as the teens, but it looks like in this thread with nursery pictures, they did get severely leaf burned even with species that shouldn't be vulnerable at all in zone 8 temperature extremes.
http://lesbambous.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=6465

In this thread, the person bought several plants and it looks like their shooting results(p2-4) results were OK, but results might have been better if the nursery kept them in an unheated greenhouse or tipped the pots on their sides to tarp over. I have tried letting bamboos grow outside in pots with no protection here and with temperatures dropping down into the single digits in zone 6, they were all 100% top killed with no survival in the spring, but aside from f robusta, I have never lost a bamboo that has been planted in the soil.

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http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Definately possible in milder climates. I overwintered some nigras, a japonica, and a yushania anceps in unprotected pots last winter with no damage at all but my coldest temp was 18f for just a few hours and besides that there were less than a dozen nights in the 20s. I suspect, though, that I was probably very close to where damage would start on those plants in pots.

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God Bless,

Matthew

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Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.

I'm in zone 8, and keep all my Hardy species that are potted, outside. Any plants that are temp sensitive go in the greenhouse.

I don't have any problems with shooting, leaf die off, or any other issue. Our temps get down to 15f a few times in winter, and we have a couple Weeks here and there that stay below freezing even during the day.

That is good info for my own plants, considering it seems like your zone 8 winters are a good bit harsher than most of my zone 7 winters I have been wondering how well some of the less hardy phyllos like aurea 'Holochrysa' might hold up in planters, sounds like they may do just fine!

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God Bless,

Matthew

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Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed.