Howdy folks.

I attached a few pictures of a grove of large, dark-green-culmed bamboo in Central PA. It is a magnificent grove. I'm pretty sure it's wild; certainly no one seems to care for it. Interestingly, it's on a saw mill property--one that doesn't process bamboo.

The culms are solid green and the tallest ones are probably 40 feet tall. Some of the culms bend almost to the ground.

Let me know what you think.

I've seen almost the same exact thing as this bamboo and thought it was vivax except it was in zone 6a, didn't have dead culms and took up much less space than that grove because someone was cutting it back or mowing around it, and it was next to a driveway. Most culms were between 2-3 inches and 30-40ft, way too big for me to dig out and fit into a small car. When they reach mature proportions at 2-3 inch diameter canes, I'm guessing they become much hardier than a juvenile planting of the same species, especially the culms on the inside of the grove.

If you have the tools and truck to grab a division, I would suggest getting a few of them. It's also very hard to tell exactly what species it is until shooting season happens. There are several bamboos that have large leaves and fit this description, but shoots generally have noticeable differences between each species.

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

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Thanks Steve.

I should add that it has zero wind burn or any other apparent winter damage.

It's a great find! If you get permission to dig (or if nobody would care), try to find smaller culms on the edge of the grove. Don't be tempted to go for the tallest, thickest culms as you'll never be able to get a rootball big enough to keep them happy (and transportation is not simple).

May have to wait until spring shoots to get an ID.

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

If I ever go on a road trip, I might need to make a quick stop. We usually go to PA for a day over the summer.

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http://bensbamboo.blogspot.com/

Any idea what Hardiness Zone it is in? It would be nice to know what species was getting that large since central PA includes the same hardiness Zone as I'm in.

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Southern Indiana. Theoretically the same climate as 'needmore' & 'Eastlandia'.
My Bamboo List.

Wooooo!!!! I have 16 foot tall Moso in Southern Indiana!

According to the latest USDA hardiness map, we're in zone 6b; I think we're actually in zone 7a.

But, this grove looks to be more than a decade or two old, so it probably started when the zone here really was a solid 6 of some sort.

By the way, the culm we measured with the tape wasn't the biggest one. It was just the biggest we could easily get to!

I think ID will have to wait until it shoots. I think it might be a mixed grove. Whatever it is, it has adapted well to your location, and is of know hardiness so it should do well for you.

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David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

Does anyone have ideas about when this grove will start to shoot?

Can anyone narrow the possibilities? Are there many 40-foot tall, 3-inch wide bamboo that thrive in zone 6b...

Thanks ya'll.

jp

There's a good probability that it will shoot in April, but shootings times seem to be related to many factors, and can vary greatly from location to location. Needmore is north of my location by a couple hundred miles, but his bamboo consistently shoots before mine. Go figure. 90%(just a guess) of my bamboo shoots between the second week in April and the first week of May. If you are thinking of digging some the end of Feb - early March is a good time. Better not to dig when it's shooting.

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David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

Hi again.

I went back to the grove and didn't see any shoots, but I'm fairly sure it's phyllostachys. When I first inspected the grove, I didn't see a sulcus on any of the culms, but that's because I'm not tall enough to reach them.

The higher internodes definitely have a sulcus. So, the culms are solid green, between 2.5-3 inches wide, 35-40-foot tall, and have a white ring just beneath some of the nodes.

On the large culms, the internode lengths are shorter on the bottom, maybe as short as 4 inches. They get longer further up the culm, but now I'm not so certain they're long enough to suggest rubromarginata

I'll go back in a couple weeks to look for shoots, but in the meantime does anyone have a guess?

jp

Did you already dig up a nice division yet?

Now is about the perfect time to get a nice big field division from the edge of the grove since you can get immediate results and you can find out what species you have while you're at it.

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

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

I also live in central pa and saw bisetti and alta get that large. the bisetti was planted more than 25 years ago and the alta at least 20. Both in valleys. Shoots will help. Feel the culms on the up rub.

I now think it's alata: some of the culms are crooked at the base.

I was just checking some of the southern nurseries websites and was surprised to see that they think YG will grow to only 30 feet. I guess some forms of bamboo grow larger here than in the south.

jp