Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Other things that involve bamboo

Moderator: needmore

User avatar
Roy
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:15 pm
Location info: 6
Location: Tampa, Florida, USA,............Florida's SunCoast <Zone 9B-10A>

Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

My Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' is flowering profusely. No seeds yet. I've had a few bamboos to flower in my 39 years of working with bamboo. Bambusa tuldoides flowered, produced seeds, and thus seedings. Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr" flowered and produced hundreds of green B. multiplex plants. None like the yellow/green striped A. Karr. P. Nigra flowered profusely for about 9 years, never produced seed, then just stopped flowering. I get a fee flowers on B. oldhamii and Dendrocalamus minor 'Amoenus', but never any seeds and never profusely.

Roy Rogers
Florida's Suncoast
Tampa, Florida

http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... lowers.jpg
--------------------------
Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
**********
:wave: ROY'S BAMBOO LIST
User avatar
needmore
Posts: 5008
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:14 pm
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Kea'au, HI

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by needmore »

Roy, is the one I picked up from Robert likely the same clone as yours?
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
User avatar
Roy
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:15 pm
Location info: 6
Location: Tampa, Florida, USA,............Florida's SunCoast <Zone 9B-10A>

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

needmore wrote:Roy, is the one I picked up from Robert likely the same clone as yours?
Brad: My guesstimation, with about 95 percent accuracy, is that the one you got from Robert (Saporito?) would be from the same original plant. The original plant came from Hawaii, as I remember it. My plant came from Chuck Theroux, New Smyrna Beach, Florida. I have 2 in the ground and about 5 in pots and they all are flowering profusely. Not sure if I should be excited about getting some seeds, thus seedlings, or hoping that it stops flowering and continues to grow. I really like the looks of Parker's Giant, as the culm look different than the other bamboos I have. Almost seem like it's a "prehistoric bamboo" in comparison to the more "modern" bamboos I have. That's just a personal observation, not really in relationship to the actual "ages" of the bamboo.

I had some 5 inch diameter culms last Summer, but this Summer they were only about 3 inches in diameter. Even with 5 inch culms, the culms don't seem to be more than in the 40 foot range. When I get B. oldhamii that's 5 inches in diameter, then the culms are about 75 feet tall.

Image
--------------------------
Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
**********
:wave: ROY'S BAMBOO LIST
User avatar
Glen
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 5:28 am
Location info: 0
Location: Southeast Texas, Zone 9a

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Glen »

Roy wrote:Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr" flowered and produced hundreds of green B. multiplex plants. None like the yellow/green striped A. Karr.
I remember you mentioning this. Did the original flowering plant survive?
User avatar
Roy
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:15 pm
Location info: 6
Location: Tampa, Florida, USA,............Florida's SunCoast <Zone 9B-10A>

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

Glen wrote:
Roy wrote:Bambusa multiplex 'Alphonse Karr" flowered and produced hundreds of green B. multiplex plants. None like the yellow/green striped A. Karr.
I remember you mentioning this. Did the original flowering plant survive?
Brad: I can't remember if it died or it just got so scraggly and I took it out. Seems likes, when they are flowering profusely, the clump tends to put most of its energy into producing seeds and not leaves. My B. tuldoides produced seeds for several years, then stopped flowering and looked OK. The only one I kept, of the B. tuldoides, is the one I labeled Bambusa tuldoides (M). "M" being for Millennial Edition, as it flowered around 2000 and I keep one of the seedlings. My "Parker" doesn't have a lot of leaves on it now. The new culms from this Summer produced mostly branches with flowers and the older culm's branches dropped a lot of its leaves and started producing flowers.
--------------------------
Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
**********
:wave: ROY'S BAMBOO LIST
User avatar
needmore
Posts: 5008
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:14 pm
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Kea'au, HI

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by needmore »

Mine currently has no signs of flowering but many of the leaves had recently turned orange which I thought was either cold or under watered.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
User avatar
Roy
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:15 pm
Location info: 6
Location: Tampa, Florida, USA,............Florida's SunCoast <Zone 9B-10A>

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

needmore wrote:Mine currently has no signs of flowering but many of the leaves had recently turned orange which I thought was either cold or under watered.
We were having normal rainfall patterns until around the first of September. Then the skies shut off the spickets. Since early September, I've had only 2/3 of an inch of rainfall at my house, and that was about 3 weeks ago. We've been unusually warm for this time of the year. Low to mid 80s F. My B. tuldoides flowered in around 2000, when we were going through a drought. I thought maybe that was the reason for my "Parker" flowering, but they are flowering in every pot I have and I keep my pots well watered. I just now remembered that the cause of my A. Karr flowering, at least in my opinion, was during the previous Winter before the flowering, I had burned for several weeks in a pit near the A. Karr. Then, in the Spring, my A. Karr started flowering profusely.

I feel of the flowering spikelets every day, but so far no hard seeds. But, then again, it was almost impossible to find a hard B. tuldoides seed, as the B. tuldoides seeds started growing rooting before they fell to the ground. Plus they have an unusual "spike" on the bottom end.

Image
--------------------------
Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
**********
:wave: ROY'S BAMBOO LIST
User avatar
boonut
Posts: 1794
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:19 pm
Location info: 20
Location: Harlingen, TX Zone 10, Sunset Zone 27. 33' above sea level. 27 inches of rain/year. 22 Miles to the Laguna Madre. 27 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. 17 miles from Mexico. Lower Rio Grande Valley - Deep South Texas
Contact:

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by boonut »

Hi Roy,

I have two... one I got from Hawaii and one from Florida. One flowered heavily about a month ago. It had a few leaves left, but now they don't look well. The other one just recently flowered. I have seen discussion about topping the bamboo. What are your plans? Both were pretty large.

Is this the end for "Parker's Giant"?

It did very well in South Texas!
Allen D. Aleshire
Bamboo Nut Farm

http://www.boonut.com
User avatar
boonut
Posts: 1794
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:19 pm
Location info: 20
Location: Harlingen, TX Zone 10, Sunset Zone 27. 33' above sea level. 27 inches of rain/year. 22 Miles to the Laguna Madre. 27 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. 17 miles from Mexico. Lower Rio Grande Valley - Deep South Texas
Contact:

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by boonut »

I have had a number of bamboo flower and recover. No shoots for this year. Very sad :?
Allen D. Aleshire
Bamboo Nut Farm

http://www.boonut.com
User avatar
boonut
Posts: 1794
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:19 pm
Location info: 20
Location: Harlingen, TX Zone 10, Sunset Zone 27. 33' above sea level. 27 inches of rain/year. 22 Miles to the Laguna Madre. 27 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. 17 miles from Mexico. Lower Rio Grande Valley - Deep South Texas
Contact:

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by boonut »

Anyone heard from Chuck Theroux? He had a very nice one.
Allen D. Aleshire
Bamboo Nut Farm

http://www.boonut.com
User avatar
boonut
Posts: 1794
Joined: Mon Oct 10, 2005 1:19 pm
Location info: 20
Location: Harlingen, TX Zone 10, Sunset Zone 27. 33' above sea level. 27 inches of rain/year. 22 Miles to the Laguna Madre. 27 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. 17 miles from Mexico. Lower Rio Grande Valley - Deep South Texas
Contact:

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by boonut »

Very interesting... I just read about the Dendrocalamus Giganteus at the San Diego Botanical Garden. I guess they changed the name from Quail Botanical Gardens around 2009.
Here is a pic of that bamboo when we visited years ago..
Image

Here is a recent image...

Image

I got a clone from that bamboo years ago. Mine is still doing fine with no flowering at all.
Allen D. Aleshire
Bamboo Nut Farm

http://www.boonut.com
User avatar
Roy
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:15 pm
Location info: 6
Location: Tampa, Florida, USA,............Florida's SunCoast <Zone 9B-10A>

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

Allen,

I don't know that this is the end of the 'Parker's', as I, like you, have seen them flower and still come back after flowering. My B. tuldoides came back after flowering. My P. nigra flowered profusely for about 9 years, then quit flowering, and was alright.

What am I going to do? Probably nothing. My experience with P. nigra lead me to believe that the best thing is to just leave it alone. If it needs water, then give it water, but all my work on P. nigra had no effect. I fertilized my P. nigra. No effect. I cut to the ground and let it come back. No effect.

My new culms (from this Summer) have no leaves, but 1000s of flowering spiklets. With the pendulous tips, the new culms look kind of pretty. Kind of like Christmas decorations. The older clums have lost about 2/3 of their leaves, but the leaves that are remaining look nice and green.

John Rogers of Melbourne, FL has a picture of a clump on 'Parker's" that blew over in the last hurricane. If you noticed, I posted some info on the last part of the decision pertaining to the plant.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater
--------------------------
Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
**********
:wave: ROY'S BAMBOO LIST
bambambooboo
Posts: 173
Joined: Sat May 15, 2010 2:17 am
Location info: 0

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by bambambooboo »

Hi Roy. Hi forum.

My Parker's also in flower. Two in ground. Was gonna post, then got busy with stuff. Just about to post tonight when I saw this thread.

Here's some pics. I first noticed the seed pods Dec 22 which had dropped in a wheelbarrow left under clump.

Guess we won't know what this thing will do until spring. Mine's with nearly zero leaves currently. When in south Florida I did have a sacred Bali which went to seed nearly every year but didn't seem to disrupt the growth of new beautiful culms the following year. So I'm hoping this puts up new culms this spring/summer (I forget when it does that). I did notice this past year not a lot of new culm growth. I think it was only one new sprout per clump which I'd thought odd. Maybe it was preparing for this event? No idea.

Fastest growing plant yet we still have to wait for time to tell.

here's one of the clumps with a flip flop for scale.
Image

here's what I'd first noticed.
Image

close up of that.
Image

one of the seed sprays or whatever it's called.
Image
"Without bamboo, the land dies." ~~saying
User avatar
Roy
Posts: 3285
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 3:15 pm
Location info: 6
Location: Tampa, Florida, USA,............Florida's SunCoast <Zone 9B-10A>

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Roy »

bambambooboo wrote:Hi Roy. Hi forum.

My Parker's also in flower. Two in ground. Was gonna post, then got busy with stuff. Just about to post tonight when I saw this thread.

Here's some pics. I first noticed the seed pods Dec 22 which had dropped in a wheelbarrow left under clump.

Guess we won't know what this thing will do until spring. Mine's with nearly zero leaves currently. When in south Florida I did have a sacred Bali which went to seed nearly every year but didn't seem to disrupt the growth of new beautiful culms the following year. So I'm hoping this puts up new culms this spring/summer (I forget when it does that). I did notice this past year not a lot of new culm growth. I think it was only one new sprout per clump which I'd thought odd. Maybe it was preparing for this event? No idea.
Your experience is basically the same as mine. I'm really hoping to get some hard and viable seeds, so I can have some "Baby Parker" seedlings. New life, via bamboo seeds, is fairly exciting. :-)

A difference I did notice this year was that my new culms in the Summer of 2016 were about 3 inches in diameter. Summer of 2015 the new culms were 5 inches in diameter.
--------------------------
Roy Rogers
Southern Tampania de la Floridana Universidad (STFU)
STFU Motto: All Bamboos are not Created Equal; @ STFU, the Search Continues
**********
:wave: ROY'S BAMBOO LIST
Chris S
Posts: 93
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:51 am
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: SE UK 400ft Zone 8/7 Low usually 28F, -4C (-10, -12, -14, -1, -6C last 5); High 99F, 37C in 2019
Contact:

Re: Dendrocalamus sp. 'Parker's Giant' flowering

Post by Chris S »

With these flowers it is not Dendrocalamus! :roll:

It will be Gigantochloa if the filaments are joined together in a tube, or Bambusa if they are separate.

Anyone want to check, or send me some flowers?

Chris
Chris
SE England
bamboo-identification.co.uk

Think globally, act locally
Post Reply