Getting rid of bamboo

[johnw]

I wish I could make them survive my winters ;DGöte

Göte - Have you tried the Fargesias?  F. nitida was here for almost 30 years until it flowered and died, we have several thousand seedlings coming along and the first crop are in many gardens here.  F. murielae is also reliable, it flowered in the late 90's but seedlings are now big.  F. dracocephala 'Rufa', another clumper, is shorter but grows extremely fast - the photo shows a clump planted as a sickly single cane planted 7 years ago, received from Holland bare-root.  Someday I will try Sasamorpha borealis which is said to be very hardy but a spreader.

johnw

[Hoy]

I wish I could make them survive my winters
Göte

How come they don't survive your winters? I know of many people growing bamboo in winter cold places in Norway. As johnw suggests, Fargesias are quite hardy.
My F. nitida flowered too many years ago and I still have to remove seedlings popping up all places!

John, F. dracocephala looks great! Do you remember whom you got it from in Holland? What is growing underneath it?

Another I like very much is Sasa palmata. It is bone hardy here.

[johnw]

Hoy  - I imported several bamboos from Kimmei (wonderful website!) back in the early 2000s. One was received as Fargesia 'Rufa' which later was "taxonomized" as F. dracocephala 'Rufa'.  As mentioned and as shown it is only about 1.6m high after 7 years.  F. dracocephala itself - and not one of the hardiest species - in the process became F. apicirubens.    
Yes, Sasa palmata is hardy here as well but a great runner.  Some say Sasa senanensis is hardier as well as Sasamorpha.  A surprise was Indocalmus latifolius which has the same big leaves but on a much taller plant.

The plant underneath is a real pest - Clintonia borealis.

We frustratingly have no success with the very tall Phyllostachys species long term. Seems we don't get enough heat to get true height.

johnw

[maggiepie]

I have only grown bamboo once, back in Oz many years ago and thankfully I had it in a cement pot ( which the roots cracked), it went onto a bonfire.
Had no idea that bamboo flowers, does it all die after flowering?

[Hoy]

Hoy  - I imported several bamboos from Kimmei (wonderful website!) back in the early 2000s. One was received as Fargesia 'Rufa' which later was "taxonomized" as F. dracocephala 'Rufa'.  F. dracocephala itself - and not one of the hardiest species - in the process became F. apicirubens.    As mentioned and as shown it is only about 1.6m high after 7 years.

Yes, Sasa palmata is hardy here as well but a great runner.  Some say Sasa senanensis is hardier as well as Sasamorpha.  A surprise was Indocalmus latifolius which has the same big leaves but on a much taller plant.

The plant underneath is a real pest - Clintonia borealis.

We frustratingly have no success with the very tall Phyllostachys species long term. Seems we don't get enough heat to get true height.

johnw

Thanks, John.

I do not bother although S palmata is a runner. It has to compete with a huge Hedera hibernica that soon swamp even the largest birches.
I wouldn't mind a weed like Clintonia borealis! I try to establish different Clintonias on my woodland!

I have only grown bamboo once, back in Oz many years ago and thankfully I had it in a cement pot ( which the roots cracked), it went onto a bonfire.
Had no idea that bamboo flowers, does it all die after flowering?

Helen, I don't know whether they all die but several do. However, they flower every 100th year or so.

[maggiepie]

Trond, think I would be ok then if I get a 50 year old baby 

Finding it hard to imagine a plant that only flowers every 100 years.
Makes me wonder why.

[Maren]

I remember visiting Denmark some 10 years ago when it was pointed out to me that the urban landscape had changed completely because all the bamboos had died. There was a craze to plant them about 100 years ago, and people didn't know that once they flower they die. Well, they did and then they died. Not sure whether they have been re-planted.

[johnw]

I have only grown bamboo once, back in Oz many years ago and thankfully I had it in a cement pot ( which the roots cracked), it went onto a bonfire.
Had no idea that bamboo flowers, does it all die after flowering?

Helen - The Fargesia spp. seem to be on a 100-125 cycle of flowering so our nitida seedlings will be good until 2124 (brought back from China in the 1880's as seedlings).   I can give a written guarantee for a replacement if it flowers later. All Fargesias that flower die afterwards, not immediately as a few canes survive over 2-3 years after but they eventually die after flowering. So the whole clump is gone in about 4 years. No one knows why the cycle except for the timing.  It could be they leave their pests and diseases high and dry.  Unfortunately they leaves the pandas in a bad situation as agriculture has reduced the diversity of species in their habit.  Flowering is also accompanied by incredible seed drop which causes an explosion in the rat population in the Orient. Once eaten the rats move on to crops and grain storage sites.

Some bamboos flower every few years, some flower and appear to have died but later send up weak canes and then gradually gain steam as in Pseudosasa japonica which flowered here in the late 80's. The Phyllostachys that flowered here died completely and immediately.  And worse no viable seed was produced.

Maren - I hope the Danes who planted them didn't complain that they lasted only 100 years!  Quite a long-lived perennial what?

Hoy - There is a Fargesia drac. Rufa called 'Green Panda' that is for sale everywhere here but I don't know if it differs from the one I have.  Sometimes these names are just marketing ploys.

johnw

[maggiepie]

John, thanks for the information, am even more fascinated now.
I think I will do some research to find out more.
Good Winter project!! 

[johnw]

Helen  - Two good sites are www.kimmei.com and www.bamboogarden.com   You will get hooked!

Also Wolfgang Eberts' site - Bambus Centrum Deutschland

johnw

[gote]

I wish I could make them survive my winters
Göte

How come they don't survive your winters? I know of many people growing bamboo in winter cold places in Norway. As johnw suggests, Fargesias are quite hardy.
My F. nitida flowered too many years ago and I still have to remove seedlings popping up all places!

John, F. dracocephala looks great! Do you remember whom you got it from in Holland? What is growing underneath it?

Another I like very much is Sasa palmata. It is bone hardy here.

Norway has a more atlantic climate. I have tried Fargesia about three or four times. They always die in the first winter. The hardiest Phyllostachys will survie mild winters like 08/09 but die down to ground in cold winters like 10/11. I have not tried Sasa
Cheers
Göte

 

[Stephenb]

I live in a relatively mild climate in Norway, made milder by the proximity of the fjord which never goes below about +6C in winter, and with a normal minimum of -18 to -20C. I had up to 10 different bamboos for about 10 years and most thrived. Then we had the last two very hard winters with minimums down to -22 to -24C and the roots completely frozen for over 2 months. None survived, even Fargesia mureliae. Sasa kuriliensis hung on the longest - one green leaf survived the first winter, but it was dead this year...

[johnw]

Göte / StephenB

Why the Fargesias are not surviving is truly puzzling.  The only problem I ever had was the very first winter (circa 1975) I planted my new Fargesia nitida outdoors.  The plant had a very shaky root system and the following brutal winter saw no snow whatsoever.  I remember stumbling home late one night; the wind was howling, the temp was in the -20c range or lower and you could not see your hand in front of your face in a dust storm.  The canes froze back almost to the ground but it recovered and never looked back.  A similar winter occurred in 1990/91 but it was not so cold.  The worst winter ever was 1993/94 with a low of -25c but with snow and unfrozen ground, F. nitida and F. murielae were untouched.   

A friend in much colder Prince Edward Island grew our seed of F. murielae and has many plants doing well.  He found murielae hardier than nitida. However his recent problem with nitida may habe benn caused by its flowering stage.   His Fargesias were 2/3 the height of those here.  Inexplicably he had no self-sown seedlings of nitida whereas self-sown seedlings here survive in perfect shape.

Sasa kurilensis from Jim Wadick did not survive here.  I wonder if the Kuril Islands get mountains of snow.  That might explain why some of the Hokkaido bamboos are not terribly hardy.

johnw - first really cold night to -3c, big storm on the way - rain and/or snow.

[Stephenb]

One important difference between our climates is perhaps that when it's -20C here there is no sunlight so there is little difference between day and night temperatures, so no respite. You are much further south and I imagine you will have significantly higher daytime temperatures as the sun will shine on the coldest days with clear skies?

[johnw]

StepehenB - I should also have said that given our Milanese sun a small greenhouse is quite a horror to manage after the third week of January.  Very cold outside and yet the sun causes the greenhouse temperature to soar. Venting is very problematic with our winds, vents open and close so frequently they eventually fail at the worst time possible or blow off.

johnw