Oldhamii culms - black

[sobrikay]

Has anyone got or seen an example of oldhamii culms going black?

It's definitely not a case of sooty mould etc as it doesn't rub off and the plant is very healthy with two 8 cm culms shooting presently (sth hemisphere - fall).

The culms in question are new shoots, about 30 days old and just beginning to show some opening up at the tip; the culm sheaths are showing the blacked culms above them.

I've not seen this in any oldhamii before and my other one certainly doesn't show this colouration.

I know pictures would be more telling and I'll try and take some after work tomorrow. I suspect it might be an environmental effect rather than genetic but I'd be elated if this was a black sport...

[mike best]

Can't wait to see the photos.

[sobrikay]

It's taken a little while but here we are:

The overall plant...



The culms...







Like I say I think these are probably environment related changes, but you never know. My other oldhamii has none of these features.

Opinions?

[bepah]

Many of the exceptionally healthy oldhamiis in this area are similar in color around here. I would suggest yours is as well!

[sobrikay]

Many of the exceptionally healthy oldhamiis in this area are similar in color around here. I would suggest yours is as well!

Thanks.

The plant is only 4 months in the ground. Everything above the fence line which is about 1.5 m tall is new. The plant had one small old culm and a new shoot when I bought it.

That new shoot is the mass of leaf to the left.

Another culm followed a month later and grew into the large mass of leafs that dominate the picture.

The other two culms then appeared about a month and a bit ago and are a tad over 2" thick. They are more than twice as thick as the culm that has the mass of leaves. That culm is about 3 to 3.5m tall so these new ones should get to 6-8 m I think.

I've been feeding them fish emulsion weekly and they get humic acid and seaweed every month. I've also given them some lawn food twice - once at planting and once a few weeks ago.

The colder weather is arriving so I expect that these two shoots will be the last for this season - but I'm expecting good things next year. I love watching them grow and spend minutes of every day at the window looking at all of them.

Behind this one is a Guadua angustifolia that has put up a 4" thick culm in the last month and looks like it is also benefitting from the same intensive feeding program. They are gross feeders.

This is a better picture of the Guadua and the new culm was unfortunately too far from me to photograph well.