Any Canadians on here with bamboo to trade/send?

I have a few things that I could divide for trade if anyone is interested...

Just one other that I am aware of.

M

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M

Hey I'm Canadian, I'm from Oakville, ON.

Hey, I am growing bamboo in New Brunswick and PEI. May be looking to trade this spring. We'll see how the winter treated things.
TC

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TC
http://gardenitis.blogspot.com/

One more Canadian. I am just north of Toronto.
Just starting to grow:
Nigra
Nuda
Rubro
Bissetii
In a couple years, I may have some or all the above for trade/sale (hopefully).

Would love to have:
Parvifolia (best performer according to Steve Lau., but no one has this in Canada it seems)
Yellow Groove (for the height)
A. Spectabilis (for the color and hardiness)
Beijing (heard good things about it)
Glauca (tallest according to denver zoo)
Atrovaginata (largest diameter culm in zone 5/6 according to some source)
Decora (for the smell?)

Thanks Steve (if you read this). As a newbie here, I am not able to reply or compose private messages.

Good to know that Parvifolia is coming to Canada. I've checked pretty much all bamboo nurseries in the USA and none would ship to Canada. I guess Canada made it difficult to introduce new species. I figure though that one can just put it in a box and ship it without labeling it "bamboo plant".

I want to try Parvifolia next year. If you or anyone have it available (I am interested).

As a zone 5er, I have two primary objective:
A) To grow the largest/tallest bamboo (doesn't matter if they die back, as along a new culms grow tall)
B) Have a bamboo that would stay as green as long as possible in winter (something nice to look at in the dead of winter)

I didn't do enough research before I purchased Nuda, which though have the greatest cold hardiness rating, but actual experiences from many people have proven otherwise. I'll still give it a chance to mature (since I'd already paid for it), and see if it is worth keeping.

Hey Pokenei, If you do manage to get some of the rarer bamboo, I'd be interested in trying to get these into microculture. The idea being that I could take small (very small) rhizome cuttings, sterilize them, then grow them in sterile medium. This would allow for a large number of plants to be grown using a very small amount of living tissue.

Anyway, let me know...

Paul,

Have you done this before with bamboo (I know you do it with other plants)? From what Boo-Shoot says, it's not easy with bamboo for some reason.

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

Alan,

No I have not done it with bamboo yet! I've been reading up on it and it looks like people have used similar TC media to the one that I use in my work. I have a feeling that my idea for micro-propagation will be similar than what others have done since I will be using Rhizomes with live nodes, rather than trying to first have the explant (plant tissue used for culture) form callus. In a sense my idea (I'm sure others have done it before) is to take small Rhizome cuttings, sterilize them, then place the sterile rhizome tissue on growing medium. Since there will be little chance for any other organism to hinder growth of the rhizome (i.e. no fungal or bacterial pathogens to stop growth), I think this will give a high % of success. This is akin to starting plants from Rhizome cuttings, but on a smaller scale, and in a much more controlled environment. I could even add growth regulators to the medium to force shooting to occur...

I'll do some more reading on this subject and see if I can't make a more concrete plan!

Cheers,
Paul

Paul -

You know the list of bamboo I have (and seeds I will be starting). Ill get ahold of you in the spring about what I have for trade dude (have to wait to see what germinates, grows etc).

I may, or may not be dividing my F "rufa" in the spring. If it grows enough I could send you a chunk.... Again, we can talk in the spring..

If doing tissue culture doesn't work out, it is always possible to simply take divisions in the fall, allow them to make a rush of downsized shoots in the spring by feeding it with a high nitrogen fertilizer, maybe even cytokinen or other growth regulators. Allowing the bamboo to spread rhizomes and then dividing it should allow a bamboo to remain in it's juvenile stage, making it much easier to keep dividing since they are not putting that much energy into each of their shoot buds, and a smaller bamboo is easier to work with. These divisions can keep getting divided until they reach a minimum shoot size for the species.

It seems to work very well with fargesias, and divisions that I have taken in the fall tend to make smaller shoots the following year so it might work, but not as fast as TC.

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

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Hm...my previous post didn't go thorough for some reason.

Anyway, whatever new (rare) bamboos I get will take at least 2 years before I can divide and trade them (I think), and that is being optimistic.

I have a small yard so I can't just dump loads of manure or other stuff to spoil the bamboo plantings so that they grow fast. They have to look decent.

I know it sucks to wait...but at the same time, I am not getting any younger so...not sure if I want time to speed up or slow down.