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Looks like its gonna be a bad winter for some of us.

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 2:06 pm
by wolfedg
It's not even January yet and I'm already seeing several temps below 10 in the forecast. Too bad I've moved away from home for work so I can't keep an eye on my bamboo. I guess since its the third winter for the Vivax, this will be the test. I'm expecting it will probably completely top kill this year but it will be interesting to see how well it bounces back.

Re: Looks like its gonna be a bad winter for some of us.

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 2:29 pm
by dependable
I've had vixax for a while. Seems to do fine if above 5F, Topkill temp seems closer to 0F than 5, wind can be a factor too.

Re: Looks like its gonna be a bad winter for some of us.

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 4:44 pm
by stevelau1911
With multiple nights in the single digits and below consecutively, this year looks like no joke so in addition to double tarping my bicolor, i added r-19 roofing insulation over the whole thing, then on top of that loaded a foot of extra snow especially for this coming week. Christmas lights would probably work, but i didnt have them, and would rather protect it without external power. Bicolor is less hardy tarped than my current parvifolia is unprotected.

When it gets cold to a certain extent, it can still freeze over under a tarp, but i believe plenty of layers will at least soften up and hopefully minimize the damage for the next 3 months.

Re: Looks like its gonna be a bad winter for some of us.

Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 8:09 pm
by Tarzanus
If you receive a nice amount of snow, I doubt there will be much damage. We have a bad luck with snow and it usually rains a lot with strong but warm south-western winds, then wind changes to north-eastern direction and we only get a few snowflakes if any, before the weather clears. Then we get hit by clear sky and low temperatures without any snow cover. This pattern is now repeating for years if not decades. Last year, soil was frozen down to 1m below ground. A few years ago, if I remember correctly in 2012, it got frozen even deeper. That combination can kill off quite hardy plants, bamboos included. They can get 100% defoliated and there's quite some rhizome damage as well.
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' and Rufa fared OK during such cold blasts for me with minimal damage (20-ish%), aurea, Pseudosasa japonica, Shiroshima, Moso, ... everything else I have got defoliated completely.

-20°C with snow cover (20cm, then I piled some more on top to fully cover it) on the other hand couldn't damage even my Borinda fungosa.


Good luck! It's unnaturally warm here at the moment with temps around 15°C. We did have arctic blasts earlier this winter and the tender bamboos I have already show signs of damage. The biggest nuisance here is water - it's raining as if it was monsoon season.