ID help required

[IslandBoo]

Morning,

I have recently aquired a few plants from a private seller who had no idea what they were. Hoping some of you here are able to help me out with the id of the plants.

The gate in the last picture is just over 8ft tall.

Thanks in advance.

[moriphen]

Chusquea culeou

[IslandBoo]

Thanks for the quick reply Moriphen. If it is a Chesquea and especially coleou that would be fantastic

I've had some other suggestions of potentially a Semiarundinaria or Arundinaria of sorts.

I know it can be tough to tell from the pictures. Is there anything else I can provide to make it easier or more certain?

[johnw]

Are you growing C. culeou successfully in NJ? Wow, and looking good!

[ShmuBamboo]

My bet would be that those are more likely Semiarundinaria fastuosa (Temple) bamboo. They just look too full and upright to be Ch. culeou. Look for a partial sulcus at the top and bottom of the culms. Temple is far more common here in the PNW, and grows faster and fuller. They also sprout a ton of branches from nodes like that.

[moriphen]

Are you growing C. culeou successfully in NJ? Wow, and looking good!

From 2009-2010, I was able to grow a few Chusquea.

ShmuBamboo could well be correct, I have never seen Semiarundinaria fastuosa in person and if they have a 'partial sulcus' they are not in the Chusquea genus.

[JWH]

It looks like semiarundinaria fastuosa to me.

[IslandBoo]

Thanks guys - really appreciate the input.

I went out today to have a closer look and check if there was a sulcus... There is a very faint, partial sulcus on some of the culms, but not all. On the younger culms the sulcus seems to be a bit more pronounced, where as the older culms show only a partial, and sometimes nothing at all.

All of my other boo is now shooting again, hoping maybe these ones might too and then I'll be able to provide some more info.

[ShmuBamboo]

Thanks guys - really appreciate the input.

I went out today to have a closer look and check if there was a sulcus... There is a very faint, partial sulcus on some of the culms, but not all. On the younger culms the sulcus seems to be a bit more pronounced, where as the older culms show only a partial, and sometimes nothing at all.

That is typical of Semiarundinarias. Culms with a slight and usually narrow sulcus, usually on upper and lower internodes of the larger culm, and not in the middle of the culms. The culm color and look is right for Temple bamboo (Semi. fastuosa). They start out green and turn yellow and then bronze in full sun. They do well and stand out when planted in rows. I have a row of them growing along a fence here and they are sizing up quite well and impervious to this climate (zone 7b). They are runners, but not nearly as prolific as its cousin, Semi. okuboi, which is a rampant runner.

[ShmuBamboo]

In the top photo it looks like some of your Temple boos may also have mites from the streaky leaves? If so, I would spray them with Avid ASAP. Avid can be had for cheap now as one of several generic brands on Ebay (Lucid, Ardent, Abamectin EC, & Abba). One guy sells 1/2 oz. for $4.25 plus shipping, another sells 8 oz. for $20 plus shipping. It is an effective boo miticide, and I spray all my new boos that I get here with it in a quarantine area before letting them into the general bamboo population.

[johnw]

Shumb

Just read today Talstar F got a better rating than Avid. Have you tried it?

johnw

[ShmuBamboo]

I have not tried Talstar. Not needed, as I do not have mites and I only use the generic for Avid as a defensive mite quarantine spray here (and I only buy boos from places that are mite-free, at least on my inspection). We managed to get rid of my brother's boo mites with soap/oil sprays and Avid in the past year. He had a mite breakout last fall that I noticed as they started to spread in his front yard. He sprayed through the winter and this spring/summer. No mites in his boos this year. No whitefly either, as Avid is also effective for that. He is spraying Avid alternating with ag oil/soap and another miticide through the summer to keep the mites gone, or dead if they are coming in on birds from neighbor boo plants.

Reading about Talstar, its says that it is a contact spray, so I would not expect it to be more effective than Avid. However, WSU rates Talstar (bifenthrin), Metasystox-R (oxydemeton-methyl), Tame (fenpropathrin), Sanmite (pyridaben) and Mesa (milbemectin) all as being very effective against boo mites, and Avid and Floramite as less effective. Which is odd, as Floramite is a systemic, and Avid is translaminar (leaf systemic), so with either you do not have to contact all the mites with those sprays. Talstar is cheap and available though, so it would be good as a rotational miticide with generic Avid.

Here is the WSU web site boo miticide breakdown of boo mite sprays that they tested:

http://www.mountvernon.wsu.edu/ENTOMOLO ... Mite05.htm

Here is the OSU web site on boo mites sprays and their action:

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nurspest/Ba ... ptions.htm

[IslandBoo]

Alrighty... tackled the new boo this afternoon in an attempt to transplant. Boy did it ever need it!!! I think that may have been a large part of it's troubles. Completely root and rhizome bound, not an inch to spare. Those pots by the way are a LOT bigger than they look. Thought I could tackle them on my own... managed to get one out of it's pot - confirmed it's not a Chusquea as it's a leptomorph. With a heck of a lot of effort, I extracted it from the pot, inspected the root ball and defined the best looking spot to slice it in half.

I grabbed the 'ol hand saw and sweated for almost an hour with little progress until I noticed the neighbour pull in. (very handy neighbour with power tools). After a brief chat, he came by with a reciprocating saw and extra navy muscle. We soon had them sawed in half and on their way into new containers.

I think they'll be much happier... in the morning I will have a look for mites. If so, we'll take your advice and do some spraying. On another note, I wonder if another reason for the redish colouring not showing is that the previous owner had them tight against an east wall and only receiving early morning light. Or maybe they're the viridis cultivar...

[johnw]

Shmu - In the report, of note it says that a controlsusing only the two sticker-spreader & no miticide gave 90% control so I'd be using a s/s no matter what. They must break the water seal of the web and coat the mites. BTW even though Talstar is not a systemic when used against black vine weevil as a soil spray/drench it gave close to (0% control 3 years later, pretty impressive for a pyrethroid. Somewhere I have the documentation from Rhode Island.

[ShmuBamboo]

On another note, I wonder if another reason for the redish colouring not showing is that the previous owner had them tight against an east wall and only receiving early morning light. Or maybe they're the viridis cultivar...

Yes, pulling root bound lepto boos from pots can be a real challenge. Though pachy boos also expand in pots and can be just as tough to un-pot.

As for color, many of my yellow and red culm boo colors only occur when they are in full sun. Phy. aurea in shade here stays green, and Phy. nigra henon turns grey-green in shade, whereas both turn bright yellow in full sun here.