I know there's dedicated shoot thread(s), but this one is mine.

I just took a walk around my yard and see leaf action on almost all of my bamboo plants with the exception of my greys and blacks, which kept their old leaves much better than most of my greener varieties. And I believe I lost my tumidissinoda, which I only half expected to survive the winter.

So anyway, the reason for this thread, I unexpectedly found a tiny little shoot on one of my Harbin Inversa's. I have totally expected the Rubro to shoot first but I am still learning. I planted 10 2gallon sized Harbin Inversa boos in 3 separate areas in the summer of 2011. This one is in a small depression, all by itself.




It might freeze tonight, but I'm subscribing to the paradigm that if you baby the boo, it will come to expect to be babied to survive.
I'm expecting alot of leaves to pop out all around my yard over the next couple weeks. I wish it were easier to time lapse the entire process.

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Hi oZboo.

I'm near Hershey, PA in zone 6b/7a, and it looks like your inversas are about a week or two ahead of mine.

I planted 3, 3-gallon sized plants last April. Two of them have put up about 10 shoots a piece, but they are about half as tall as your shoot.

What other boo do you have? I'm curious about shooting order.

jp

JP, you're not that far north of me. I was pretty stoked to see anything happen in March, but expectant because of the warmer weather.

I'll have to put something for scale into my future pictures, it's hard for me to imagine that my tiny shoot dwarfs anyone elses.
[Edit: Orange Crush for scale ]

I plan to post pics of the shoots as they happen, if they happen.
I need a good way to organize my data by species, source, plant date, and growth data. I started an excel spreadsheet last year but am not sure where I squirreled it away.

I have:
Chimonobambusa tumidissinoda - 1 specimen (2g) - probably dead, planted late summer of 2011



Hibanobambusa tranquillans 'Shiroshima' - 2 specimen - some browning of the leaves but no new leaf growth or shoots yet - planted late summer of 2011






Phyllostachys atrovaginata - 4 specimen (3g) - lost 80% leaves in the one bad spell this winter, strong leaf buds now - planted fall 2011




Phyllostachys aurea 'Koi' - 2 specimen (3g) - doing great, stong leaf buds now - planted summer 2010 (no shoots in 2011)




Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Harbin Inversa' - 10 specimen (2g) - strong leaf buds, first shooter of 2012 - planted summer 2011
First 5 - Maybe there's some shoots under the dead grass??



Second 4


Third 1 - With a 2nd shoot this evening!!!!





Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' - 14 specimen (3g) - strong leaf buds - alot of freeze damage from this winter - planted summer 2010 (shot well in 2011)








Phyllostachys dulcis - 1 specimen (10g) - doing ok - planted late summer 2011






Phyllostachys kwangsiensis - 3 tiny specimen (1g) - doing ok - planted late summer 2011




Phyllostachys nigra - 2 specimen (3g) - doing ok but no leaf buds - planted summer 2010 (no shoots in 2011)





Phyllostachys nigra 'Henon' - 2 specimen (3g) - doing great but no leaf buds - planted summer 2010 (no shoots in 2011)





Phyllostachys nigra 'Megurochiku' - 2 specimen (3g) (from different sources) - planted summer 2010/2011 (no shoots in 2012)






Phyllostachys nuda - 1 specimen (2g) - vigorous leaf buds - planted fall 2011




Phyllostachys parvifolia - 4 specimen (2g) (2 sources) - good leaf bud growth - planted late summer 2011






Phyllostachys rubromarginata - 25+ specimen (2g) - good leaf bud growth - planted summer 2009/2010 - (moderate shoots in 2011)






Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young' - 2 specimen (3g) - some leaf growth - planted summer 2010 - (shoots aborted twice in 2011)





Phyllostachys vivax 'Huangwenzhu Inversa' - 1 specimen (10g) - damaged due to tree limb landing on specimen - growing leaves - planted late summer 2011






Semiarundinaria fastuosa "Red Fall" - 1 specimen - (15g) nothing noticeable happening - planted late summer 2011




Unknown (yellow runner) - 2 specimen - planted summer 2009 (original transplants died but shoots replaced them in 2011)


and still collecting.

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New shoot April 1, 2012.

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I found exposed rhizome with tiny shoots coming off.



Second 4


found a nice little shoot this morning.

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Found a shoot on Rubro this morning too. Was hoping for more girth this spring, but I'll try to be patient.

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oZmonkey, how close did you plant your bamboo and what kind of containment are you using? Nice collection by the way.

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M

Quite an extensive collection...albeit tiny specimens. Even though bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants, but when we start out with tiny ones, it just doesn't seem to be growing fast enough.

I bet your place will look amazing in a few years... a few years too long eh?

I spaced about 5 or 6 feet (or as little as 4) where I was trying to create a screen (Rubro, Spectabilis).
I'm not trying to contain it, I want it to thicket up.
I'll kick-over / mow any unwanted shootings, but am willing to let it come into the grass several feet if that's what it wants to do.

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I hope it likes it here as much as I want it here. I started here in the summer of 2009, I expect vast transformation by the summer of 2015, but it might be more realistic to look towards 2019. (seems quite the longview). I get excited every time I find a new shoot, I wonder when that amazement and pride will wear off.

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When you realize that every square inch of your land is covered bamboo

I think you should get decent size bamboos in 5/6 years. You can also pamper some of them with manure/compose to get faster results. I also started out growing bamboo in 2010/2011, but had some setbacks. But, I am optimistic this growing season. Just planted 3 new bamboos/rhizomes I acquired from Steve. I expect some new shoots in a month or two from those plantings. FYI, I only have a tiny yard, so I have to be very selective in what I grow.

Thought it was dead, then I saw:



IT'S ALIVE!

Maybe I'll bring it inside before next winter. Any recommendations/suggestions?

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I would leave it out there, but give it some protection in the winter.

Found 3 shoots after work today, pinky ring in photos to help with scale.

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Today the Spectabilis have 9 shoots.

The tumidissinoda has a 2nd tiny shoot (the first one is over a foot tall now)

The Harbin Inversa almost all have at least one shoot, and one has 5 shoots, with excellent upsize from such a small start. I didn't notice any of the 5 yesterday, not sure if it's my eyes not picking them out, or they actually popped up that fast.






The one Robert Young shoot looks almost the same as it did 2 weeks ago. (Or I thought so until I compared pictures)


Still no movement in the nigra part of the yard though.

It's 71°F right now, beautiful outside.

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