Boo-Shoots for 2015

[JWH]

Pleioblastus Chino 'Murakamiansus' and Fargesia Robusta 'Campbell' are getting an early start here!





Happy New Years all! Here's hoping to plenty of boo-shoots in 2015!!!

[Van-isle-bamboo]

That's impressive how early that is compared to last years post in later feb that you made. Your only about 400km south from me so I'm wondering if I should be expecting some off my robusta. What's your lowest temps so far this winter? We have had a couple cold blasts but nothing too bad, -6.7c or 20f. Your soil temps must be a lot warmer then mine.

[Tarzanus]

Right before cold hit us, we've had temperatures around 10C and I've seen Fargesia murielae shoots starting to poke out. Some of them were the same size as robusta on your photo, but most of them hardly started to emerge. Most likely they will start again in late February or early March.

[JWH]

The coldest it's been here so far is -5.5c/22f. Had 2 short blasts of cold back in November, and just finished another short one over New Years.

[wind-borne]

'Jiuzhaigou' I emerging

[grabhorn]

Here's Fargesia apicirubens 'White Dragon.' It's 55F here today.

Fargesia apicirubens 'White Dragon'

[stevelau1911]

Are you guys sure that those shoots are actually rising, or could they just be laying dormant in that form? I believe real day to day progress should likely occur only after March for any temperate zones in the US.

It is still a solid 4 months away from shooting season here, and the brunt of winter is ahead in the next 8 weeks. The soil is not frozen yet, but will be in a few days here. If the winter is not too bad, my shooting season should be better than ever.

[grabhorn]

I can say that they weren't there two weeks ago.

[JWH]

Sorry Steve, but that's just not true here (western US) about observing visible growth from march onward.

I've definitely had the Robusta/Rufa/Scabrida trio pop up and start growing vigorously in mid-feb.

[grabhorn]

If I remember, I'll post an update photo in a couple of weeks.

[Tarzanus]

Fargesia will not wait until February or March to start shooting. Mine started pushing out shoots in early December. Temperatures were around 10C day/night so they progressed slowly, but the shoots did emerge. We've had one cold blast till then and after that abnormally high morning temperatures. It was enough to trigger shooting. Winter is back with vengeance now and hopefully shoots will go to sleep for a couple of months.

[T9D]

yeah

[JWH]

One thing to take into consideration though is that sometimes it appears shoots are coming out but what really happened is the mulch and soil just settled an inch or two from all the rain or snow, exposing shoots from previous growth before winter. I noticed that a lot in mine this last week.

That makes alot of sense! That definitely could be what's happening here.

I went out yesterday to check on the shoots, to see if they've grown any. Unfortunately birds (Robins I think?) have tore up and scattered about most of mulch and soil here under the bamboo looking for worms and bugs.

[Tarzanus]

Blackbirds here are the most active when it comes to digging up bamboos. They demolish everything that is mulched and dig down into soil, exposing young buds or shoots. I need to cover the soil with something they can't move or scratch through. Well I did notice that they stop when they hit the rhizomes, without damaging the roots. They do kill worms, but they also kill pest, so I tolerate their excavations.

[Tarzanus]

Here they are, with all snow gone. Some seem to be quite large.