Upsizing culms

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needmore
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Upsizing culms

Post by needmore »

Generally I've observed that some species will either put energy into producing much larger but fewer shoots, or several shoots with a less dramatic upsize.

Phy aurita in the first photo did both, although slightly blurry there is the largest older culm on the right and a new shoot, but the pot is full of new shoots all upsized.

aurup.JPG

The other photos below have the largest older culm and the new shoot, most produced 1-3 new culms about the same number as old culms.


Shanghai 3 initiated 9 shoots and I think will abort 6 but pushed 3 large ones.
s3up.JPG

Prominens
proup.JPG


I'm still suspicious that the S3 & Prominens will prove to be the same (not sure which) but they upsized identically as the 4 tall culms in the next 2 photos are both pots.
up1.JPG
up2.JPG


Robert Young
ryup.JPG

Vivax HI
vup.JPG

Phy acuta
acuup.JPG
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Re: Upsizing culms

Post by Cooper12 »

rutila sending some nice culms for me
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Re: Upsizing culms

Post by needmore »

Jason, do those shoots have tiny dots? I'm pretty sure that I've kept that plant ID'd since I brought it back from Europe but it does not seem to stack up to descriptions I can find about Phy rutila.

Nicest green colored new culms I've seen but that does not fit, it is a fine bamboo in any case I think yours is farther along than mine.
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Re: Upsizing culms

Post by Cooper12 »

needmore wrote:Jason, do those shoots have tiny dots? I'm pretty sure that I've kept that plant ID'd since I brought it back from Europe but it does not seem to stack up to descriptions I can find about Phy rutila.

Nicest green colored new culms I've seen but that does not fit, it is a fine bamboo in any case I think yours is farther along than mine.
yes it has quite a few reddish brown small dots some larger than others ,on the two larger shoots. The new newer smaller ones that are harder to see not so many. It has a red margin on it as well. The green held up as well .

I also have kwangsiensis you gave me next to it that has a small red margin on the culm sheath with a few dots but just a few. Though its culms are just starting to come up
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Re: Upsizing culms

Post by Cooper12 »

here are more pics of it from this morning
Rutila again
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Re: Upsizing culms

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My Kwang didn't make it, glad yours did I would love to see it get large, those shoots on it are really dotted as it sizes up.
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Re: Upsizing culms

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needmore wrote:My Kwang didn't make it, glad yours did I would love to see it get large, those shoots on it are really dotted as it sizes up.
the shoots on the Kwangsiensis get dotted? the one I have has very few. also has the red margin. It is just sending a few smaller shoots though. Doe it make a difference that these are in the full sun and have had cool rainy weather until recently?
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Re: Upsizing culms

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I think it probably matters more that your division is sort of in survival mode isn't it, the dots on Kwang show up early and are certainly pronounced on more mature plantings. Google photos of it and you'll see they are really nice shoots.
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Re: Upsizing culms

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needmore wrote:I think it probably matters more that your division is sort of in survival mode isn't it, the dots on Kwang show up early and are certainly pronounced on more mature plantings. Google photos of it and you'll see they are really nice shoots.
Seeing the other pics of the rutila shoots I posted do you think it's rutila or something else still
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Re: Upsizing culms

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I think it is the same as what I imported as rutila but it does not seem to fit the limited descriptions I can find.
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Re: Upsizing culms

Post by Tarzanus »

Moso
Image
Image

You can see some rhizomes on the surface of the soil. They are tiny compared to the shoot. There are A LOT of shoots this year, but the vast majority are small diameter shoots. Last year there were also lots of small shoots and the upsize is nice. When it comes to large shoots, like the one on the photo - there are not many. They are somewhat larger, but I have yet to see how many of them will abort. Looks like there won't be many this year. If we wouldn't have so much freezing cold during the winter, I guess it could save up more energy to shoot, now it needs to re-leaf as well.
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Re: Upsizing culms

Post by stevelau1911 »

I've seen that kind of pattern quite a bit on developing bamboos, even my green moso when I still had it. New rhizomes tend to make smaller shoots, while rhizomes that are a season older can often produce bigger shoots. The amount your foliage gets damaged can often reduce the amount of energy going to these big shoots while the reduction in apical dominance can allow more energy to be allocated to the smaller shoots as a survival mechanism. It's not that bad since you still have bigger shoots that can rise well above the rest and get more photosynthesis while the smaller ones can fill out the bottom giving more overall leaves exposed to the sun.

I think if you can find some way to ensure that the foliage doesn't get burned, perhaps some kind of shade cloth to dampen the sun during cold sunny days with frozen soil, you may be able to get an even greater shooting season next year. I also think it should be better to turn the rhizomes up as they grow in the late summer, and avoid having to remove a lot of rhizome mass in the spring since it may shock the connecting rhizomes into producing shoots from their young buds.

It's only about 2-4 weeks away from all the phyllostachys shooting in my garden.
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Re: Upsizing culms

Post by Tarzanus »

New rhizomes don't seem to develop shoots on this one. It waits another year or even two before shooting. That was the cause of it's slow start when it placed dense mesh of rhizome mass all around, but there were no shoots for quite a while. Rhizomes are another story - it grows those in all directions even from young rhizomes that hardly managed to start growing roots.
Last two winters were not the easiest for bamboos. It is getting more and more hardy during the winter. I will just keep it unprotected for the time being, I don't have any more space for it to travel into. I will also have a better idea about it's cold hardiness.
Until this year it was almost as delicate as my Borinda seedling. This year, I almost lost that one, Moso on the other hand looks in good shape. I will need to get it somewhere where it can spread.
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Re: Upsizing culms

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They grow up so quickly...
bigs.JPG
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