Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

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canadianplant
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by canadianplant »

I thought so Paul lol.

John, go see Cams yard, hes got a great collection of plants in and out.

ALso, do you know where that "booklet" can be found? Thats the sort of info I like. Makes it easier to try to pick the right site to plant! (in regards to this comment "Also came across a booklet showing many of the Fargesia spp. and pin-pointing on the map where each one grows in China along with altitudes.")

Pics comming soon. THe lows are above 5C for the forseeable future. Time to move some stuff outside!
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by johnw »

canadianplant wrote:ALso, do you know where that "booklet" can be found?
canadianplant - I plan to copy & send it to Paul and he can relay a copy to you. I don't have it in front of me but I presume it came from Ohlenberger in Germany or Michael Hirsch in Lincolnshire in the late 80's or early 90's.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
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Paul Ont
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by Paul Ont »

Sounds like an excellent booklet and should be very informative.

Seeing how well F. nitida has done for me, I am considering trying some of the different Fargesia spp. and selections. I still need to try murieale again, maybe I'll pick one up this weekend...

In the spirit of Fargesia discussion, I present my 'seedling' bed which now has ~10 F. nitida seedlings remaining (Thanks John for the seed!) after 2 winters. Time to move them to make room for others!

Image
http://inlinethumb56.webshots.com/50231 ... 600Q85.jpg
johnw
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by johnw »

Paul Ont wrote:In the spirit of Fargesia discussion, I present my 'seedling' bed which now has ~10 F. nitida seedlings remaining (Thanks John for the seed!) after 2 winters. Time to move them to make room for others!
Image
http://inlinethumb56.webshots.com/50231 ... 600Q85.jpg
Paul - The nitida centre has nice red culms. We too have had some red ones and very black ones from that seed, not the variation in heights that we got from the Arnold murielae seed though.

By the way the booklet is called 'Hardy Clumping Bamboos from the Mountains of China and the Himalayas' by Whitney R. Adams Jr. It may have come through the ABS or someone else sent it to me. He also did a good article on his hardiness findings for the NE Chapter quite a few years ago.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
canadianplant
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by canadianplant »

THat booklet sounds interesting indeed...

John - Didnt realize you were new to the forum. Welcome! Nice to see more Canadians growing Bamboo, besides the west coast.

Paul - They look great. HOws the rest of you bamboo doing this year?

Here are some pics taken today:

The F "spathacea" seedling:

http://postimage.org/image/cvh33qi5v/full/

http://s13.postimage.org/56k8s0ho6/DSCF6919.jpg

And the F Rufa. The top kill was from last winter, not the one that just passed.

http://postimage.org/image/p54p84rqr/full/
http://postimage.org/image/p7t68pks3/full/
http://postimage.org/image/jyy5au2cz/full/
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by johnw »

Canadianplant - Strange there wasn't a lot of hoopla in the ABS Journals re: the flowering of true spatheca. I'm very wary of ebay sellers as I've heard too many stories of plantspeople being victims of fraudulent activity in the sale of rare bulbs and orchids especially in Europe. And those sellers keep changing their online names.

Think I've heard of some seeds having been sold in Germany of this species but he sounded reptuable.

It might be a real winner if it's indeed from high enough up in Hupei.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
canadianplant
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by canadianplant »

They apparently came from china. I dont know why I didnt keep the envelope they came in. I was fairly aware I was taking a gamble ordering them, but it took me a few weeks to get a decent idea what I bought. The odds are its nitida, but there is a slight chance its the actual "spathacea", which would be very cool indeed. Then again, I wont know 100% sure untill it flowers... It will be interesting either way!
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by johnw »

Canadianplant - Do you not think F. nitida wold have flowered in China quite some time ago? We still have 2+ year old nitida seed and I really should test it out. I did sprout last year.

If you get true spatheca or even another Fargesia species it would be a real treasure.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
canadianplant
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by canadianplant »

You never know JOhn. I can only go from what ive read, and the odds are "spathacea", is a misnamed "Nitida". Here is a thread with some resources that have lead me to this conclusion: http://bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5523

I did manage to sprout some Fargesia Yunannensis. Just one pot, and the growth isnt anywhere near as fast as the "spathacea". Other then that, I just have Fargesia Rufa, yunannensis, and "spathacea".
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Paul Ont
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by Paul Ont »

Re: nitida flowering (yes, I know the correct name is currently 'spatheca'). My thought was that our cultivated plants probably come from one or perhaps a few different clones. We would expect that they should flower at more or less the same time. However, with wide variability in habitat and genetics, the wild forms probably would not flower at the same time, and, as is the case with many mountain species, perhaps each separate mountain form would flower at their own interval? Just a thought...

We'll know in a few years whether these new seedlings are anything worthwhile or just another 'zone 8' species of little horticultural value (to us anyway).
canadianplant
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by canadianplant »

Good point paul. I do belive in the same links I posted above, it mentions that most nitida plants come from one or 2 plants ( which is why most fowered within the same general time). Ill know if its worth wild simply. Ill see if its dead or alive next spring :D

Paul did you order the same seeds? I cant remember if you mentioned it.
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by johnw »

Canadian plant / Paul Ont

The spatheca saga is enough to make one's head spin. Let's hope soemthing interesting comes of this seed even if it's a nitida from a different locale.

Wonder if the Chinese track the species, years and locations of flowering. Would be interesting to see how the species behave at home.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
canadianplant
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by canadianplant »

johnw wrote:Canadian plant / Paul Ont

The spatheca saga is enough to make one's head spin. Let's hope soemthing interesting comes of this seed even if it's a nitida from a different locale.

Wonder if the Chinese track the species, years and locations of flowering. Would be interesting to see how the species behave at home.

Youre telling me! I spent weeks tracking down information pertaining to "spathacea", only to go back n fourth for a few weeks. I managed to find some info not even looking for spathacea, I was looking for Nitida info! I guess its hard to tell because of the widish area that the species can live, which gives the species soem variation.

After looking, I decided it wasnt a bust after all. IF it is indeed the true spathacea, not a misnamed nitida that would be wicked. IF its a natural collection of nitdia, I think that would be just as interesting. Ill have untill it starts to shoot this year, since all the fargesia ive planted went on a shooting frenzy a few weeks after they were planted.

I will say, the seedlings seem to be similar to my Rufa in appearence so far, which means I have a Fargesia species at least, not grass, or some random bamboo!!! Ill create a new thread in a few weeks when this baby starts to shoot.

If I recall, the chinese DO infact keep tabs on some bamboo species. I think it has to do with panda research and protection they do, seeing as fargesia is supposedly the main type of boo pandas use to eat. I didnt find anything specifically pertaining to spathacea, but a few other bamboo.
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by Tarzanus »

Your F "spathacea" seedling looks practically the same as my Borinda fungosa seedling did at that size. Light green, fuzzy leaves, more delicate than those of all fargesias I know. Strong sun will make it curl, but with age that should get less and less obvious (this year it forgot to curl even at 31C). Leaves are soft and thin, with lighter colored vein in the middle, leaf sheaths are half persistent and will fall of if you want them to, but not nearly as easy of those from fargesia bamboos. Sheaths can get purple in the sun, culms and branches as well, from purle to dark brown. If you don't pull off the sheath when culm starts branching out, it won't fall by itself, but stay a bit longer. Branches will eventually kick it off, because soon, you will find many branches emerging from seedlings nodes. When it gets thicker than 0.5mm, it will get quite bushy. I'll post a picture later.

I've had disastrous spring this year with that seedling, loosing 90% of shoots due to caterpillar attack. First shoots emerged through the canopy just recently, but these were the smaller shoots that appeared later on. I'm sad I can't see upsized shoots development. With greater sun tolerance it has shown this year I'm sure it would perform outstanding. It still can. :)
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Re: Fargesia Rufa Shooting!

Post by johnw »

Tarzanus - If it is Borinda fungosa do you expect it to be winter hardy for your area?
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
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