Rhizomes pushed through the bottom of the container.

[Bradboo]

Hello Friends,

Long time reader first time poster.

I just received a 3 gal. container of Henon. It looks great and I have a healthy rootball in the container which I am anxcious to get into the ground. There are two rhizomes and shoots which sprung out the bottom of the container. Should I carefully remove the container keeping these intact with the rest of the plant or can these be cut and planted seperately? Would it do better to cut and try to establish a new plant in a seperate container? Only 10 years away from my grove.

[bambooweb]

Welcome to the group.

I doubt the rhizomes or shoots that are growing out the drain hole would survive being cut off of the mother plant. I would cut the pot so when the plant is removed the rhizomes out the bottom are not damaged.

Bill

[Roy]

Welcome to the group.

I doubt the rhizomes or shoots that are growing out the drain hole would survive being cut off of the mother plant. I would cut the pot so when the plant is removed the rhizomes out the bottom are not damaged.

Bill

Long time read, long time poster.

What he (Bill) said. The cost of the pot is miniscule in relationship to the value of the plant. And what would you do with the pot anyway? Maybe use it to re-pot other items, but a lot of people just through them in the garbage.

[GungHoJoe]

I've seen some sources on the web that say some kinds of bamboo start sending roots and shoots aggressively after they've been disturbed.

Is this true?

[Alan_L]

Or you can take needmore's approach and just snip those protruding rhizomes off (as he did with a bulging pot of 'Aureocaulis' I bought from him, somewhat shocking me. I mean, every inch of rhizome is precious, right? But now that I've seen how much rhizome grows in a season, those dried-up sticking out of the pot rhizomes are no big loss. Chop them off!)


Slightly off-topic: Please don't throw those pots away!

This may be extreme, but whenever I need to cut a medium to large nursery pot (from a tree or large bamboo for example), I will cut it in a way that I can "sew" it back up again and reuse it. First, cut straight down from the top edge to the bottom, then cut along the bottom leaving a little lip. Cut about 1/4 way around both directions. You'll end up with 1/2 the bottom still attached and what looks like 2 "doors" that you can open to get the rootball out.

To reuse I'll take my drill and create a "seam" by drilling all along both sides of each cut. Then I use plastic string trimmer "string" to sew the cuts closed.

It's not pretty, but it lets me reuse those big pots again and again.

If I can't do that, then I'll definitely recycle the pots. Most garden centers near me have pot recycling program dumpsters. (Maybe because Missouri Botanical Garden sponsers the program? http://www.mobot.org/plasticpotrecycling/)

[dependable]

I regularly get root bound running bamboos from my commercial supplyers . Most nuserys don't transplant boos often enough. If the plant does not slip out, I cut off the pot. Then I unwind any rihzomes I can without breaking too many, then break up root "pads" at bottom and pot edges with a knife or shovel.. Then I plant in lots of nice compost. Failure to address the root congestion or binding will delay the plants taking hold and make them more suseptable to drought and freezing.

[millerlightman02]

I received a japonica from needmore last fall that had a rhizome growing out the drain hole and sniped it off. Planted it in a small pot and is now shooting a new shoot.

[Mike McG]

I thought I would mention that on occasion I have tried to thread a rhizome from one pot into another, for the most part without success. I probably damage it in moving it around too much. What I have found to be successful is to plant the pot with the rhizome in a much larger pot. Once you have you have bamboo growing in both pots you can cut the original pot out with a machete and fill in the hole that is left. I have found this to be especially effect for very small bamboo with very thin rhizomes.

Mike McG near Brenham TX

[Bamboo4me]

Many times I have had people with little bamboo experience place the rhizome into a new pot and fill it with dirt. Soon they have it growing well enough in the new pot to cut the umbilical cord and let it grow on its own.

Works well if you can wait it out int he pot. I put it in the ground and have 3 X in the same time frame. But pots is Pots.

[Bradboo]

Thanks for the info.

I was able to transplant this last weekend following Bill and Roy's advice. So far so good. I took photos but I do not plan to post them until next spring with comparison photo's of new growth.

I appreciate everyone's interests and advise.

Brad