Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Document your results with different mulches, seeds, mutations, TC or other experiments.

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erm1981
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Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

Greetings,

We have very few frost here so i plan on trying some more tropical types of bamboo. Im in zone 8b. Trying the parker giant and textilis to start with. At the least im sure the parker will come back from roots every year.I will post pics if anyone else is interested. I have oldhamii planted in my backyard and its doing well.

- Evan
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

Here are pics of the Bambusa Textilis Kanapaha, and Dendrocalamus Parker Giant I am going to plant. I just got them today and am pretty excited to try them. Hoping the 8b/9a weather does not kill them this coming winter.
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Dendrocalamus 'Parker Giant'
Dendrocalamus 'Parker Giant'
Bambusa Textilis '  Kanapaha
Bambusa Textilis ' Kanapaha
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

in the ground now.....June 2013
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parkergiantshoot2013spring.jpeg
dendrocalamusparkergiant.JPG
bambusaoldhamii.jpeg
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

bambusa textilis kanapha
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bambusatextiliskanapha.jpeg
I_am_Ian
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by I_am_Ian »

I will be following your thread as I am doing a similar experiment but in Northern California zone 9B. This year I planted several oldhamii, 4 types of dendrocalamus, 2 types of guaduas and the Kanapaha among others.

How long have you had your oldhamii planted and how large is it? Good luck!
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terrabamboo
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by terrabamboo »

erm, can you post some pics? did shoots survive this year?
Terra Bamboo
300 acre Bamboo Plantation Project
Focusing on Henon, Moso, Robert Young, Rubro, Vivax and Fargesia
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by I_am_Ian »

Any updates, bro? I see you're having some pretty cold nights over there. I've got a very cold week coming up here in Northern California. Looks like a possible 27F night soon. I'm a bit worried about my young guaduas so I'm covering them inside an inverted planted with a halogen bulb inside.

Let us know how things are going for you.
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

Im a little colder here (8b/9a) It got down to 18 degrees farenheit (rare)the other night but parker giant canes still appear green but leaves totally burned.....textilis was ok with leaf burn, and oldhamii had some leaf burn. That might have been coldest night we have this winter. Moso plant i grew from seed showed no leaf burn or damage. Moso grows great here in SC. Particularlly well in 7b southeast zones with hot humid summers.

Its fun to play........got to have a hobby......right?
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

terrabamboo wrote:erm, can you post some pics? did shoots survive this year?
Yes from what i can tell most culms lived. Will know more in spring if they leaf out again. Green blue color is a good thing. The largest shoot of parker giant shoot shot late and got top killed in November because it could not harden off. Parker is a beast.........must be considerable root mass under there. My thai black banana got huge this year also and put out around 6-7 pups........I will attach some pics.
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

Pictures
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parker giant
parker giant
parker222538389.jpg (230.7 KiB) Viewed 12791 times
bambusa oldhamii after a few months.....fast grower.
bambusa oldhamii after a few months.....fast grower.
bambusaoldhamii-1977727936.jpg (231.97 KiB) Viewed 12791 times
Parker Giant after a few months in the ground
Parker Giant after a few months in the ground
IMG_0239-256714336.jpg (53.58 KiB) Viewed 12791 times
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

more pics
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palmetto palms i got for free from my jobsite....front yard
palmetto palms i got for free from my jobsite....front yard
IMG_0243114059366.jpg (77.36 KiB) Viewed 12792 times
thai black base size
thai black base size
IMG_0245396188102.jpg (48.66 KiB) Viewed 12792 times
thai black
thai black
IMG_0246-1-744819484.jpg (37.58 KiB) Viewed 12792 times
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

bambusa textilis kanahpa
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bambusatextiliskanahpa-1796536918.jpg
erm1981
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by erm1981 »

Frost ended up killing the above ground growth on parker giant and bambusa oldhamii this year. It was very cold and we even got snow down here which hardly ever happens. Pretty sure the roots are still alive so something will come back...... ;-)
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by I_am_Ian »

Thanks for the update!

Unusually cold weather back in early December (several nights in the mid 20's) did a lot of damage to my tropicals as well. The oldhamiis lost a lot of leaves and a couple of new culms didn't make it either. Most of my other less hardy bamboos are looking pretty sorry. All the leaves and almost all the culms are heavily damaged. The dendrocalamus Giganteus largest culm looks damaged but alive, but any of the other culms under an inch in diameter look dead. Oddly enough a new culm from the Parker Giant was able to withstand the temps and looks green still. It is branchless and leafless now though.

These were all pretty young plants and this was their first winter outside of south Florida where I bought them. I'm keeping my fingers crossed their roots are still alive. Things tend to warm up here by late march. I'll let you know what happens.
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Re: Charleston, SC experiment with tropical bamboo

Post by bambambooboo »

Here's Parker Giant first planted as a twig in 2009 in Florida zone 9a/9b (new map says 9b but I'm not convinced).

Image

One new culm from original twig grew before winter.

Then late 2009/early 2010 this area got a 100-year cold event, hitting the mid 20s for a few hours at a time. We had below freezing for at least 8 hours for a few concurrent days. The bird bath froze on a few nights.

The original twig experienced top kill but the new culm survived though burned. It put up a few new culms the following spring/summer and then some sized up ones in 2012, enough to divide.

Here's the first division I did in 2012 with a new culm in 2013 (with the parent plant in the background to the left)

Image

We've had a few hours on a few winter nights since 2010 with temps dipping to about 30 or 32 including two nights this year of a few hours about that low. No damage, not even leaf burn. No temps into the 20s since 2010.

My Oldhamii & Kanapaha survived the 2009/2010 cold event unscathed. I try to plant for 9a but do have some 9b stuff thinking at worst top kill to recover the following season. But I purposely avoided Guadua particularly because of it's size, susceptibility to top kill in cold temps and the clean up that would entail. I planted Parker Giant and also Teddy Bear & Betung Hitam away from any structures so culms can be safely fell should they experience top kill.
"Without bamboo, the land dies." ~~saying
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