Time to give up on Fargesia?

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dependable
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Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by dependable »

Well, title may be a bit dramatic, but I doubt I will be buying any more Fargesias. A beautiful and importantly located nitida Anceps started flowering last fall. 2 unclassified nitidas went last year. These were raised from rather expensive 1 gallon pots I bought 10 or 12 years ago. I guess I will try to raise seeds from this one, but it will be a long time before any of the seedlings will block the outdoor shower. Any way to know life expectancy of a given plant? There seems to be so much confusion about classification of these as it is. And how well do vendors and growers document their divisions? I still have some robustas, a Jiuzhaigou & a denudata. Lots of thriving runners. Would put some of my Semi-Arundinaria yashadake Kimmea in the soon to be bare spot, but it's a pretty aggressive plant for so close to house. Oh well, still love these plants
Alan_L
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by Alan_L »

Get a new-generation nitida and you'll be safe from flowering for your lifetime.

Are you zone 7 (or higher)? Asking because robusta doesn't make in in z6 and I'm wondering the size of yours.
dependable
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by dependable »

I'm zone 7a. I Have a robusta that is 8 ft high and a robusta "green screen" that is 9ftx9ft. The first one was killed to ground in a sub zero snap about 8 years ago, but haven't had any of those lately.
BlackThumbNJ
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by BlackThumbNJ »

You could grow your own next generation from the seeds. But not predicting exactly what it will look like.
Any bamboo that survives my care is "Lucky Bamboo"

The green color of my "black" bamboo contrasts beautifully with the green color of my "red" japanese maple
moriphen
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by moriphen »

Don't forget F. murielae, F. sp. 'Scabrida', F. apicirubens and F. Taibashan II. All of them are hardy in Zone 7 and would be happy to replace your F. nitida.

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dependable
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by dependable »

Here is picture of the F nitida anceps going to seed.
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Tarzanus
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by Tarzanus »

Have you tried seed viability? It would be nice to see new generation seedlings. :)
dependable
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by dependable »

This is one aspect of the profession I am not as familiar with. Several years ago, I got some seeds to sprout from an early flowering nitida. As mentioned elsewhere, they are prone to damping off. I got no viability from 2 that flowered last year. The thing about this anceps, I did not notice it flowering until this fall. It was not last summer for sure. When would I expect the seeds to be ripe?
Tarzanus
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by Tarzanus »

I guess when they would get dry and start falling off in large quantities. I've grown quite some seedlings from seeds, and it's quite rewarding to actually see the development of little plants. They grow really slow, but when you compare pictures you can see they actually grow quite fast for their small size. :)

I just love growing bamboos from seed ;)
ghmerrill
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by ghmerrill »

I have tried a couple times, but no successes....
dependable
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by dependable »

Revisiting this, because I found a living shoot, still going to seed, in the F nitida 'Anceps', pictured earlier in the post. I took the picture below last week when cleaning up the yard.

That means this plant has been going to seed for at least 5 years. It had 3 or 4 live culms last year, this last one is probably it. I did get some seedlings to sprout off this a few years ago, and a couple are still alive.
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Van-isle-bamboo
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Re: Time to give up on Fargesia?

Post by Van-isle-bamboo »

Very cool you have some seedlings. Keep us posted on the success of them.

Loving scabrida. Super Hardy here. Nice small green leaves. Super fast grower. Might fit in just perfect in that spot.
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