Still bellies thus far on B ventricosa

Ask questions about growing bamboo

Moderator: needmore

Post Reply
User avatar
needmore
Posts: 5008
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:14 pm
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Kea'au, HI

Still bellies thus far on B ventricosa

Post by needmore »

I planted 2 Bambusa ventricoa 'Kimmei' in-ground and am watering them daily. The usual story line on them is that they generally only 'belly' if stressed in a pot and under watered, thus far these are babied and still bellying, time will tell. Seem to be very prolific, multiple shoots, sizing up quickly.
vent.JPG
vent1.JPG
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
Tarzanus
Posts: 1457
Joined: Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:05 am
Location info: 0
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia

Re: Still bellies thus far on B ventricosa

Post by Tarzanus »

I have a chinese bought B. ventricosa. Plain green, I don't even know for sure it's ventricosa - it does seem like it is.

I neglected it and it bellied, when I neglected it too much and it got completely root bound, I just tossed it outside onto a low lying place with a lot of moisture (sometimes even standing water) without its pot. It's a shady location with only a couple of hours of direct sun at most.
The colour of leaves changed from sickly yellowish to thick, glossy dark green, superhealthy leaves. The new shoots are showing a little bit of swelling, but not much, they look more like they are growing in a zig-zag pattern. It's a small bamboo, like I said it was in the same small pot for a few years and it survived. If I would plant it instead of just throwing it on the ground (its roots connected to the soil below) I'm sure it would upsize considerably and start shooting. I intend to pick it up when the weather gets colder and I'll plant it into larger container. Next year, I'll divide it and keep one as ornamental container plant and sacrifice one outside. Our winters are too hard, but as it seems it more than likes our summers.

I think bellies were more pronounced when it grew slowly. Strong sun and lack of water was the thing as long as it was in its pot. I would have to water it twice daily in the end, so I 'got rid of it' for the summer.
User avatar
Glen
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:28 am
Location info: 0
Location: Southeast Texas, Zone 9a

Re: Still bellies thus far on B ventricosa

Post by Glen »

I have had one of these for years. As long as it was in a pot, it produced distorted culms, even if it received relatively generous care. I believe it also periodically had the chance to root through the drainage holes into poor sandy loam soil. It continued to produce only distorted culms.

Last year, it was allowed to root through the bottom of the pot into rich clay soil, and it almost immediately produced its first tall, non-distorted culm. I planted it in the ground late last year, and it has only produced non-distorted culms from that point forward.
Post Reply