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Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2018 11:57 pm
by UPBooMatt
Well I was doing some watering tonight and unintentionally found another nice rhizome on the rubro. This one is headed N.W. directly opposite the other. In the wider pictures, you can just make out the green of the other rhizome where some sheaths at the surface have come off. (Brad, if you're reading this, didn't I read something you said somewhere about rhizomes coming off culms at 90* to the branches or vise versa?) If so, these must be coming from that large new culm because they fit that model perfectly.

I was going to water and had left the hose on jet from when I chased the chipmunk out of the yard earlier...(don't ask, him and I, we don't get along) and I blasted the base of the rubro accidently. I was brushing mulch back over and found the new rhizome just touching the barrier and heading down. I gently redirected it to run to the "back left" corner, when looking from the open side. I'm hoping to help it spread around more (foolish words?) Instead of look for the bottom of the very back of my barrier...lol.

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 3:58 pm
by needmore
What I said was that the rhizomes tend to run in the direction that the branches point.

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 9:15 pm
by UPBooMatt
Ahh, thanks for the correction. I've read so much on here it sometimes gets jumbled. Well I'm not going to dig down and see if their actually connected, but if they are then this example does NOT follow that model. These two rhizomes are coming off at 90* to the largest branches at each node. Unless I'm still missunderstanding and you meant ANY branches, in which case they do go the same direction as lesser branches, not somewhere in between. I know, it's a plant and I'm overthinking it. I'm just happy it's running!

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:27 pm
by UPBooMatt
Well as mentioned in another thread, I have a chipmunk that disagrees with my gardening habits and I with his digging habits, and this is a perfect example of that. He has dug a 2" deep hole right in the middle of my spectabilis, and for the first time ever, made me smile. He uncovered two rhizomes I wouldn't have known about if not for the mess... :roll:

They were running just under the mulch which has settled a bit since I laid it down, and they would have likely made themselves known in the next day or two. I re-covered them with a couple inches of fresh mulch and chose now to apply a helping of Osmocote to my two groves. It would appear they are on the move so I figured it's as good a time as any. If all goes well I could have another 3 months of frost free growing left... :lol:

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2018 11:29 pm
by UPBooMatt
One is heading N. towards the barrier, the other S.E. exactly the same direction as the first rubro rhizome.

Edit: Incidently, those rhizomes are a wonderful color. I know they are the same as culm sheaths, but these are larger than any of the shoots it made this year and the color really pops!

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 5:36 am
by Tarzanus
Regarding branches and rhizome growth direction. I think Brad tried to say the btanches and rhizomes grow in roughly the samee direction because of the way bamboo grow. Bamboo grows buds on one side of the node, then on the opposite side and again in the same direction as the node before previous. The same goes for rhizome buds.
Rhizomes sometimes change direction, avoid obstacles and they twist somewhat, which changes the direction of buds as well. The same can happen on culm as well, but not as likely, because there are not as many obstacles above ground and the fact that rhizomed travel in 3D underground, compared to shoots which only go upwards.

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 10:57 pm
by UPBooMatt
I think I'm understanding now, thank you both. :hello1:

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:38 pm
by needmore
It can come in handy knowing this tendency sometimes when you want to make a new division - sometimes you want to know where most likely to dig/sever the rhizome, or sometimes how to perhaps avoid severing one.

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:37 pm
by UPBooMatt
Heh heh, or when you just want to test said tendency. On a whim today I though, why not, and I dropped straight down from a branch in a different direction on my rubro and gently brushed about a 2" circle of mulch away. Low and behold there is a rhizome there thay it at least 100% bigger than the other two. It almost scared me when I saw it!

This one has traveled about 14" from the planting and was diving under a strawberry and making a break for the yard. It was nice and easy to back out and redirect it west/parallel to the grove.

So much activity!! :P

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:40 pm
by UPBooMatt
On a side note, anyone have any idea what kind of moth this is. It was out in broad daylight and 85*. I thought it was a humming bird at first with how it dove into the yard and darted around. It visited all the flowers on my daylily's, and then rested on this dahlia for a few minutes before zipping off.

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Mon Aug 06, 2018 7:49 pm
by UPBooMatt
Answered my own question, Google really isn't hard to use, people shouldn't be so lazy...lol... :roll:

White lined sphinx:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyles_lineata

Also known as the humming bird moth...go figure

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:11 pm
by UPBooMatt
My spectabilis is very active indeed!! Today on my lunch break I noticed some mulch standing up and a gentle brush revealed two more rhizomes running east, right next to each other. The shorter one gave them away since it was pushing more mulch out of the way. For whatever reason they both ran through that clip that was holding netting over my strawberries, even though the second one had to force itself...I moved the clip, and recovered them where they are. They don't seem to be making as obvious a break for freedom at this point.

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:26 am
by UPBooMatt
Couple more rhizome updates, including something I definitely wasn't expecting.

Yesterday I found this spectabilis rhizome running along the back of my barrier; the end has traveled more than 3ft from the center of that plant. I'm guessing it left the original planting deeper than the others than have been surfacing. It appears to have hit the barrier, came up to within about 2" of the surface, and then dove back down. I'm pointing at the north pointing rhizome from the other day, I uncovered it to make sure they weren't connected.
IMG_12082018_195430_(1200_x_675_pixel).jpg
That's not what's interesting though. Today I was noticing the very first spectabilis rhizome I found is more exposed than before, and then I saw the culprit. A rhizome from the rubro! This is probably the one I redirected in mid July, and it is now over 6 ft from the planting! (It's the direction I pointed it, but I realize it could be a completely different one, especially given how this plant is doing).

This has given me pause on my original plan to skip rhizome pruning this fall. I was going to skip it the first year, cull/relocate/divide any shoots in the yard next spring, and then mid summer next year dig a pruning trench and fill it with sand. Now I'm thinking maybe I'll dig a shallow trench this fall, at least giving me some chance to catch any making a break for it at the same speed as the one in grove. Then if I did miss any that show themselves next spring, there should at least be fewer of them.

You can see in the wider shot, the rhizomes crossing in the lower right-center, and way in the back, the offending rubro. It's 6 feet straight to the tip, and I know there is a wide sweeping bend where I redirected it so it wouldn't suprise me if it's over 8ft total weaving through the grove. Amazing, and once again, a testament to Lewis bamboo's plants!

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 1:11 pm
by Alan_L
I think you'll still be fine skipping pruning this fall. Even if the rhizome makes it a couple of feet past "the line", it's not going to shoot out there, and I suspect it will be easy to pull up even if it does.

If you have the time and the desire -- go for it. I'm just saying that I don't think it's critical IMO.

Re: More zone 5 bamboo madness

Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2018 1:56 pm
by Tarzanus
I agree with Alan. If the runners run out of their bed, you still have up to a year to remove them.

I would dig around it in late spring next year, before they start running further. You can check for escapees this fall if you want to divert them into their designated grow space.