My in-ground atrovaginata didn't shoot last year, except for a couple of what I thought were whips. Now I think that those whips were survival shoots from Yellow Groove rhizomes that I missed when I dug out the previous plant, because there are a few small shoots around these low, bushy culms.

So can somebody please confirm:

1) atro doesn't shoot at the same time as YG, even with the super-mild winter
2) atro shoots don't look anything like YG shoots, even when juvenile.

Once I get confirmation of these I'll dig out what I'm pretty sure already is YG.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Shooting time usually far apart; shoots not similar.

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

Thanks Brad. Time to dig some YG.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Immature atrov shoots should be either very dark greenish brown or burgundy with no striping and I think AYG shoots generally will be light and striped.

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

I see no resemblance whatsoever with atrovaginata and yellow groove shoots. First yellow groove has a white base with purplish stripes. Usually Atrovaginata shoots are dark brown, and there might be a touch of green on them while their sheath leaflets point straight up. Yellow groove is one of the first ones to shoot while atrovaginata may be dead last sometimes. For example, this year, yellow groove is already poking out, but it might not be for another 8 weeks before atrovaginata shoots around here. I also woudn't expect atrovaginata to produce a huge number of smaller shoots since it seems to focus more energy on putting out a few bigger shoots, especially when your existing culms are already 1 inch in diameter.

Here's a visual comparison.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/