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Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2017 1:49 am
by needmore
Couple bamboo photos taken 12/25/17

Bambusa eutuldoides Viridivittata with dark wine branch sheathes
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Nigra culms all turned mostly black first shot the sunny side, second shot darker culms on the back side
nigrafron.JPG
nigra.JPG
Bambusa ventricosa Kimmei with new shoot, young culms
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Bambusa chungii Barbelatta with nice blue on new shoot
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I have 5 H shiroshima and all are showing some wine colored branching except the one in heavy shade
shiro.JPG

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:54 pm
by Ophiuchus
Hi Brad,

I planted my 3gal Bambusa eutuldoides Viridivittata - Asian Lemon Feb '17 and it only produced 3 new culms it's first season. In fairness, it only got partial/full sun throughout the day, but I did anticipate more. I'm going to leave it where it is and see what happens next year. I've been told plants in the shade will compete for sunlight, so I'm expecting a lot more out of it.

I have the Blue Chungii as a focal specimen...love it, and have toyed with the idea of adding the Barbalatta as a hedge. Have you had this species before?

Thanks for the pics.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:17 pm
by needmore
The chungii is new to me, I bought one mail order that arrived beat to hell so I'm not sure about it and then saw the Barbelatta form at a nursery and had to spring for one. My original plan was to have D minor Amoenus next to the yellow B pervariabilis, and the chungii next to the B eutuldoides, all in high visibility spots. There was only room for 3 though in that area so the original scrawny chungii remains in a pot. The two yellow forms are taking off, your B eutuldoides sounds like similar development to mine, the second season it had 6-7 larger shoots.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 4:59 pm
by Ophiuchus
The Chungii I've planted has performed very well. Much more aggressive than the Asian Lemon. After pruning about 1/3 I now have around 20-30 culms 25' tall. This is after 2 seasons, 16 months.

I added two species this year. Seabreeze and Cool Buddha. I'm not overly excited about the Seabreeze, but it came highly recommended for coastal regions as a must have. I am however very excited about the Cool Buddha. Just out of quarantine and suitable for zone 8b 15F 18' 2.5" culms.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:08 pm
by Cooper12
Cool Buddha can take 15 degrees? hmm maybe worth trying down the road. Though absolute cold hardiness does not always mean it will take my cool winters

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:27 pm
by Ophiuchus
Cooper12 wrote:Cool Buddha can take 15 degrees? hmm maybe worth trying down the road. Though absolute cold hardiness does not always mean it will take my cool winters
If you like a bellied culm, it might be worth a try. I only saw a plant that was 2 yrs old and the culms were curvy. The bellies swell like the top of a coke bottle. I'm pulling up a Drake Elm I don't like (wind tolerance) and replacing it with the Cool Buddha. I'll be able to watch it daily from the front porch.

http://www.tropicalbamboo.com/bamboo_sh ... 0Internode

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 11:22 pm
by Alan_L
How long until "Cold Buddha" is available? ;)

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 4:03 am
by Ophiuchus
Alan_L wrote:How long until "Cold Buddha" is available? ;)
Alan, I picked up four in November. I'm not sure what availability is left. If Tropical Bamboo is sold out, then I would say they will have plants available in May '18. I was told they don't start to propagate until Mar, so whatever they have left is the last until May.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 6:40 am
by needmore
He is waiting on the one hardy to around zero I think.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 2:02 pm
by Glen
Ophiuchus wrote:The Chungii I've planted has performed very well. Much more aggressive than the Asian Lemon. After pruning about 1/3 I now have around 20-30 culms 25' tall. This is after 2 seasons, 16 months.

I added two species this year. Seabreeze and Cool Buddha. I'm not overly excited about the Seabreeze, but it came highly recommended for coastal regions as a must have. I am however very excited about the Cool Buddha. Just out of quarantine and suitable for zone 8b 15F 18' 2.5" culms.
Chungii is also more cold hardy than Asian Lemon. In Houston, temperatures that generally topkilled the latter only slightly defoliated the former.

I do like Seabreeze. It is really very similar in form, vigor, and cold hardiness to Bambusa ventricosa.
Cooper12 wrote:Cool Buddha can take 15 degrees? hmm maybe worth trying down the road. Though absolute cold hardiness does not always mean it will take my cool winters
In my area, the regular form of Bambusa tuldoides is generally badly damaged around 20 degrees, and pretty much topkilled by the time temperatures fall to 17 degrees or so. I just acquired this new variety, but I have seen no Bambusa, besides B. multiplex, that can take temperatures in Texas down to 15 degrees without severe damage. Of course, I am just talking about a night or two at these low temperatures. Repeated exposure to this kind of cold would cause cumulative damage.
Alan_L wrote:How long until "Cold Buddha" is available? ;)
It appears to be available now.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 4:10 pm
by Cooper12
Cooper12 wrote:Cool Buddha can take 15 degrees? hmm maybe worth trying down the road. Though absolute cold hardiness does not always mean it will take my cool winters
In my area, the regular form of Bambusa tuldoides is generally badly damaged around 20 degrees, and pretty much topkilled by the time temperatures fall to 17 degrees or so. I just acquired this new variety, but I have seen no Bambusa, besides B. multiplex, that can take temperatures in Texas down to 15 degrees without severe damage. Of course, I am just talking about a night or two at these low temperatures. Repeated exposure to this kind of cold would cause cumulative damage.


we generally do not get into the teens more than a day or two a year and its been a few years. our issue I think is the daily winter cool nights with 80-90 nights below freezing and many more nights in the mid 30's . You can not reliably plant Tomato's till end of May.
So far this year 21 was our lowest but since End of October we have had maybe 25 nights that dipped into the 20's and a handful of days that the highs were 32 or maybe a shade above. This fall /winter has been quite dry. We have only had 13" of rain of which 7" and 3" came at once.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 5:43 pm
by needmore
I believe that Alan was joking, he is waiting for cold not cool Buddha!

Glen makes the key point I think, it is the repeated exposure that will whack a bamboo at temps above the ratings. I'm certain that my Indiana observations of bamboo not holding up to rated extremes was a product of long sub-freezing spells but with temps above zero, then one night of subzero in that spell and whack. Some years my low temp was between 0 and +5F but vivax, henon, aurea, viridis etc never ever wintered over once. Every Fargesia sp I tried top killed except F rufa which some years had to be trimmed back heavily. Soil structure, hydration etc obviously factor in. I had B ventricosa come back after two winters there but not three.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2017 11:40 pm
by Alan_L
i was joking. I think I need to wait for Super-Cold Buddha now though. Brrrr.

I remember Brad talking about Ph. viridis at one time being the only species he grew that topkilled but still sized up (or at least maintained size) -- maybe I'm remembering that wrong. Planted over your septic field. (That was a lot of years ago now!) I have Ph. viridis (from Brad) planted in one of my small raised boxes and it has kept some leaves every year for me. Maybe that string will be broken this year...

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 2:43 am
by needmore
Good memory, it reached 2 inches even after annual top kill. I brought a division from that same plant out here with me and now I can grow it big w/o winter concern.

Re: Xmas day bamboo photos

Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 7:40 am
by Glen
Alan_L wrote:i was joking. I think I need to wait for Super-Cold Buddha now though. Brrrr.
Sorry, I did not read your question closely enough, or look to see where you live :) . If you do find a "Super-Cold Buddha", you might want to wait until the ground thaws to plant it :D .