How to propagate B. textilis var. "Gracilis"

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Kentuck
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Re: How to propagate B. textilis var. "Gracilis"

Post by Kentuck »

Have you ever tried laying a culm down from an established grove, still attached, and burying it leaving as much limb at each node, sticking out above the ground and also the top few feet of the culm sticking out of the ground? This can produce roots at each node eventually also, that is, if you have the right kind of bamboo, but I think even some runners will propagate this way.
Tarzanus
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Re: How to propagate B. textilis var. "Gracilis"

Post by Tarzanus »

I would not be using branches, because I guess you loose a couple of years because of tiny shoots you receive. I guess they appear as first year seedlings (first shoots size) from branches like the one on your photo. You do keep your whole bamboo, on the other hand. It doesn't seem as well established plant just yet, so the mother plant also needs it's culms and taking those to make divisions would only slow it down.

I often use the same method for plants that root well, but not as easily or fast as they should. There's no risk of loosing your cutting as long as it's still attached to the plant, when you cut the plant tissue off when making cuttings, some can fail, because they dry out too quickly. This is kind of fail safe method. :)
Tarzanus
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Re: How to propagate B. textilis var. "Gracilis"

Post by Tarzanus »

Kentuck wrote:Have you ever tried laying a culm down from an established grove, still attached, and burying it leaving as much limb at each node, sticking out above the ground and also the top few feet of the culm sticking out of the ground? This can produce roots at each node eventually also, that is, if you have the right kind of bamboo, but I think even some runners will propagate this way.
Runners won't do it, not if they have already lost their culm sheaths and started growing branches. Once their tissues have been defined, they are done. If you cover the bottom part of the shoot shoot with soil or if you put a pot filled with dirt over it, bottom nodes can and usually grow roots and can even put out rhizomes. I don't know how much time you have to cover it, but I'd guess not much. I think Steve did some experimenting with running bamboo (Phyllostachys). I'm not sure if the experiment was successful though. I would also say that covering whip shoot would end up with much better success rate than ordinary spring shoots.
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Kentuck
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Re: How to propagate B. textilis var. "Gracilis"

Post by Kentuck »

I have put small pots over newly emerging shoots and after they reach full size, I fill them up with good rich soil and have had very good luck with this method but I find it about as easy as digging a division from the plant since I have to keep the pot watered constantly. I only did this on clumpers. All of my runners are easy to propagate by division since the outermost culms are smaller and easily dug.
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