A short, thick bamboo in Central PA

jpluddite · Post by **jpluddite** » Sat Jul 20, 2013 10:04 pm

Hi guys.

I stumbled across some small groves that are within a mile of me! I can't believe I never saw them before.

I recognized bissetii, nigra, palmata, and two others. One of those two is in his back yard, so I'll have to wait until I catch him at home. But the other one is interesting. It's at most 20 feet tall but already at least 1.5--1.75 inches wide. It seems to only have one branch per node but also has a sulcus, but maybe not so pronounced as most phyllostachys. The other interesting thing is that the south facing culms in full sun are golden, but maybe those culms are bleached because the new culms are green with white rings at the nodes. [The sulcus is the same color as the rest of the culm.]

Ideas about what this bamboo is? I'm in zone 6b/7a.

jpluddite · Post by **jpluddite** » Sun Jul 21, 2013 1:57 am

The guy who owns the bamboo won't be back in town until late August, so I'll have to wait for a while for the details.

But, I did measure one of the culms and it was over 2 inches wide. According to the neighbor, the grove is only two or three years old.
That bamboo is going to be beastly.

Alan_L · Post by **Alan_L** » Mon Jul 22, 2013 4:26 am

jpluddite wrote:... According to the neighbor, the grove is only two or three years old.
That bamboo is going to be beastly.

I bet it's older than that.

zxylene · Post by **zxylene** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 4:33 am

I think I need to do some driving.

So far in PA I have only saw a bunch of yellow groove it is all over the place and one very large grove of Alata and Bissetii

stevelau1911 · Post by **stevelau1911** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 4:37 am

Do you have any pictures of it?

I would be interested if it happens to be something super rare, or unknown to the bamboo community, and could take a small road trip if it is worth my time as I am not that far from you.

Post by **needmore** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 9:19 am

Alan_L wrote:
jpluddite wrote:... According to the neighbor, the grove is only two or three years old.
That bamboo is going to be beastly.
I bet it's older than that.

It may well be older but I do have some that reach those sizes in y3.

dependable · Post by **dependable** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 10:58 am

How bout some pictures, Mr Luddite?

jpluddite · Post by **jpluddite** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:42 pm

Hi guys. I'm working on some pictures--but I'm trying not to freak out his neighbors.

My guess is that it's henon. Some of the strange branch configurations I mentioned earlier might be caused by the fact that his mom is spraying Roundup along the edges of the grove because she hates it! [His mom has been watching his house for several months while he's away.]

Does henon get bleached in full southern exposure?

jpluddite · Post by **jpluddite** » Tue Jul 23, 2013 12:45 pm

Zylene,

There's a nice grove of black and two others varieties in the front yard of a big house in York on Market street. Next time you're there, you can check it.

jpluddite · Post by **jpluddite** » Thu Jul 25, 2013 6:24 pm

I posted a couple pictures. One of them is a close up and the other shows a Nissan Versa next to the grove so you can see it's height.

The close up shows what color the new culms are. The one with the Versa shows that the culms with full southern exposure turn yellow.

zxylene · Post by **zxylene** » Sun Jul 28, 2013 4:14 pm

Nice pics

jpluddite wrote:Zylene,

There's a nice grove of black and two others varieties in the front yard of a big house in York on Market street. Next time you're there, you can check it.

I am not in York very often but i will check it out for sure next time. I have been wanting for sometime to post on a map all the areas I have noticed bamboo from the street. Most are on private property but can be easily appreciated from the road there are many.

stevelau1911 · Post by **stevelau1911** » Sun Jul 28, 2013 5:07 pm

Were you able to dig a nice division from them?

I think it could be something like phyllostachys acuta, but I know there are lots of similar looking green phyllostachys out there that Needmore may be familiar with.

I may be much easier to identify it with some pictures of shoots.

Post by **needmore** » Sun Jul 28, 2013 6:29 pm

I'd guess vivax and I stress guess, it is not so much that I see vivax but the size, long leaves, overall form and I know that someone has been spreading vivax around PA for many years so that would be a prime suspect at least. I think Bamboo Garden has a photo of vivax from about that distance and you could check it for similarities. But as usual w/o shoot photos merely guesses can be offered now - unless the owner knows

richr · Post by **richr** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 12:16 pm

Just wondering if there is an update to this post?? Was it Vivax?
rich

jpluddite · Post by **jpluddite** » Tue Jun 17, 2014 2:26 pm

Yep, Brad was right. Of course.

A short, thick bamboo in Central PA

A short, thick bamboo in Central PA

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