The kindest cut of all: bamboo rhizome neck locator

[Roy]

About a year ago, Brad Salmon was talking about telling the direction of which a temperate rhizome would grow off of the mother plant. He said that one could look at the branches and tell the direction, but once the temperate rhizome left the mother plant, it could go any direction.

I thought I would test his theory on tropical bamboos and see if there was any correlation with tropical bamboos. If his theory was correct, and it could be applied to tropical bamboos, then trying to figure out which as the mother plant would be much easier when taking a division. The best place to cut, when taking a division from a mother tropical bamboo plant, is right at the neck of the rhizome where it grows off of the mother plant. This can be very difficult to figure out at times when you have several potential mother plants and dirt is covering up your view.

I have been testing his theory out on tropical bamboos for the last year and his theory is indeed correct. If you know where to cut at the onset of taking a division of tropical bamboo out of the ground, then there is less unnecessary work and less damage to the rhizome.

I've done a little drawing below and added a formula, but basically what it involves is finding the branch buds or branches on each side of the culm and half the distance between the branches/buds is where you will find the rhizome growing off of the mother plant. If it wasn't so late at night, I think I could explain it a little better, but the sleep fairy is definitely sprinkling some dust in my eyes.

[needmore]

I can't recall where I learned that, either someone told me or I read it somewhere so it's not my theory but it sure can be helpful - glad to know it rings true for the tropicals, although it sounds like you figured out to go 90 degrees off the branch direction on the clump side, for the temperates it is as though the branches are pointing at the rhizome.

[Roy]

I can't recall where I learned that, either someone told me or I read it somewhere so it's not my theory but it sure can be helpful - glad to know it rings true for the tropicals, although it sounds like you figured out to go 90 degrees off the branch direction on the clump side, for the temperates it is as though the branches are pointing at the rhizome.

Brad,

What I basically do is select the culm I want to take as a division and then standing behind the culm (looking into the clump) I move myself around until I can see the branches or branch buds on both sides of the culm at the same time (left and right), then I look straight forward through the culm (the 90 degrees you mentioned) and imagine I can see the rhizome and imaginary rhizome points directly at the mother plant. This also works well with potted divisions I'm trying to take new divisions off of. Usually the potted plants have a lot more tangled roots and it's hard sometimes to see where to cut. So knowing the direction the rhizome is coming off the mother plants helps a lot in deciding where to cut.

Since I've been having problems with my shoulders and a few vertebraes in my neck, I've been trying to limiting my hard digging I used to do digging out bamboo. I have a customer who has been after me for a while to dig out a large B. oldhamii for him, but until recently I had been declining his requests. I decided to try a new approach. One that does not involve digging, but without digging I would not know where to cut the rhizome away from the mother plant. Using a 13 inch pruning saw and the above method, I took the little over 4 inch diameter B. oldhamii below out of the ground without any digging. It took a lot less effort and the cutting point came out exactly as I wanted it to.

[Bamboo Conne'isseur]

Roy, that is quite a big piece there. Are you expecting large size shoots once it gets established? i have seen a division like that before, and was just wondering what are the benefits from this. Maybe a plant that gets established much faster, and reaches maturity quicker?

[foxd]

Fascinating! I may be tempted to finally try a division off my F. nitida this year using the this information about clumpers.

[Roy]

Roy, that is quite a big piece there. Are you expecting large size shoots once it gets established? i have seen a division like that before, and was just wondering what are the benefits from this. Maybe a plant that gets established much faster, and reaches maturity quicker?

For me, the problem with digging out large culms is that they then put up large and tall new shoots. (For my propagation strategy, bigger is not better. Smaller is better.) Also, some people like to she the potential size of what they might expect and they can see it by looking at one that is dug out. For me, bigger is not better. On that particular piece, at my age I can still carry it, but it puts a lot of strain on my shoulders and spine. If I were to put that one in a large pot, then I would not be able to handle the pot and its potting mixture plus the culm. This was a ground to ground transaction.

[mantis]

It still amazes me how little root mass you need with propagating clumpers. I got my B. chungii 'Barbi' by cutting a single culm off a plant, so I know it works, but that picture still makes me laugh... the size of that culm to the amount of root is just not right.

[Roy]

It still amazes me how little root mass you need with propagating clumpers. I got my B. chungii 'Barbi' by cutting a single culm off a plant, so I know it works, but that picture still makes me laugh... the size of that culm to the amount of root is just not right.

But considering that you can take a cutting without any roots at all and get a plant started, then that's a lot of roots.

[rfgpitt]

Since I've been having problems with my shoulders and a few vertebraes in my neck, I've been trying to limiting my hard digging I used to do digging out bamboo. I have a customer who has been after me for a while to dig out a large B. oldhamii for him, but until recently I had been declining his requests. I decided to try a new approach. One that does not involve digging, but without digging I would not know where to cut the rhizome away from the mother plant. Using a 13 inch pruning saw and the above method, I took the little over 4 inch diameter B. oldhamii below out of the ground without any digging. It took a lot less effort and the cutting point came out exactly as I wanted it to.

Roy,
When I took a few divisions of runners before I moved, I drove a flat edging shovel through the rhizome mass with a sledge hammer (hitting it where your foot would push). It was a little difficult holding the shovel in the proper place and getting enough power behind the swing with one hand, but if you had a helper it would be fairly easy. Have you tried something like this?

[ghmerrill]

Roy, that is a HUGE boo start! Reminds me of some of the ones I dug when I first started with bamboo..... with runners! I would at least leave a tuft of greenery on top though!

[Roy]

Roy, that is a HUGE boo start! Reminds me of some of the ones I dug when I first started with bamboo..... with runners! I would at least leave a tuft of greenery on top though!

I would have had to cut another 20 feet up before I could get to any branches. The way my B. oldhamii does when it gets that size, it will have branch buds on the lower 3 or 4 nodes, then it will not have any branch buds for another 20 feet or so. I couldn't handle that size and it would be hell to haul through downtown Tampa. That particular piece has branch buds on the 4 lower basal nodes, but then there are no branch buds the rest of the way up.

[mantis]

Now that it is topped will it put out branches on those lower nodes?

[Roy]

Now that it is topped will it put out branches on those lower nodes?

Yes it will.

I dig out some B. tex. Kanapatabilis in St. Augustine Beach and topped it with no branch buds and about 75 percent of it put up branches from what I call survival branch buds located where the rhizome turns into the culm.

[Roy]

Well, I decided to dig/saw a B. chungii culm out of the ground late yesterday afternoon. I lined up my branch buds and applied the X = 1/2D formula, but I didn't have confidence in the information I was getting. The only thing that might have happened is the culm was growing off an aborted rhizome that was not visible above ground. Although B. chungii is a fairly open clumping bamboo, I did not feel that the rhizome could be that long. I did a little digging on the side and washing away dirt with a hose, but no rhizome could I see at the 90 degree angle. When I did finally locate the rhizome it was growing off of a culm that was between 35 and 45 degrees to the branch buds. This is the first rhizome I dug/sawed/clipped from a mother plant, in about a year of applying the X = 1/2D formula, that did no agree with the formula. Don't know if this is just B. chungii or just one culm that was somewhat different.

Today I was back at it with other bamboos in my backyard and they all agreed with the formula X = 1/2D formula. Every thing was normal. Not sure if I'm going to take another B. chungii out of the ground to see how the rhizome growth pattern matches up with the formula. B. chungii grows great in the ground, but in a pot they are difficult.

My Bambusa chungii clump