Collection Decimated

Sadly, early this Spring I learned a costly and important lesson about bamboo. Over-watering coupled with poor drainage will indeed kill a bamboo pretty easily.  It seems I have lost at least 5 plants, all to root rot.  These include my S. Fastuosa, P. Nigra Othello, P. Aurea Holochrysa, P. Rubromarginata, and P. Kwangsiensis. My F. Robusta is barely hanging on.  Oh well, lesson learned. Better luck next time.  I did pick up two F. Rufa's and they are doing well thus far.

  

My Trip to Beautiful Bamboo in Groveland, FL

I was in Central Florida for a week in mid-March and I made a point of visiting Beautiful Bamboo, a Bamboo nursery in Groveland, a small community somewhat half-way between Orlando and Ocala.

The varieties they grow are generally tropical ones as you might guess, though they also carry an assortment of temperate running bamboos, including Phyllostachys bambusoides Madake, which I sadly didn't have time to view.


Below are some of the highlights.

This is a cool shot of the towering Bambusa Oldhamii - these must have been 40-50 feet tall.

Here's the same variety with my hand in the shot for scale - largest culms I saw were easily 4-5", though these are from a somewhat smaller stand.

Bambusa Chungii - a supposedly "blue" bamboo, though I found it more of a greenish-white.  I realize that most so-called blue bamboos are "blue" because of the white waxy film on the culms but this particular variety did not really come off as blue.  Still pretty unusual and interesting.

Bambusa Eutuldoides Viridi-Vittata - a relatively rare variety that seems to bear some similarity to Bambusa Multiplex 'Alphonse Karr', though with a more open clumping habitat, smaller leaves, and perhaps less of an open-vase shape.

Here is the Alphonse Karr for comparison:

One of the most unusual bamboos I have ever seen, here is the Bambusa vulgaris Wamin (Dwarf Buddha Belly).  The swollen nodes are very unusual, as is the branching.

A cool shot of a local hanging out on a Bambusa Lako culm:

Lastly, the new additions to my collection - I got a tiny Bambusa Oldhamii and a 3-gallon Alphonse Karr. Neither look very good right now, and may never look very good! I'm planning to grow both indoors under controlled conditions.

Update on my P. Kwangsiensis

In a previous post, I described how my P. Kwangsiensis looked like a goner.  It was completely defoliated and only about three or four thin culms looked even remotely green. 

Here it was when I first brought it indoors:

But then, about a week after bringing it inside, I started to see some small signs of hope:

 

Now, about a month later, there are definite signs of life.  There are  roughly 8 new shoots sprouting and there is also growth on two or three of the existing culms.  Apologies ahead of time, these pics were taken with my Blackberry.

Note the numerous new shoots:

Near the center of the image below is a new (out of focus) leaf growing on an existing culm.  My little moso seedling is in the background.

The re-birth of my P. Kwangsiensis is quite astonishing.  I was almost certain that it had perished.  I did fertilize with liquid kelp and I mist it daily - even though it had no leaves for the water to land on!

Update on my P. Rubromarginata - soaked leaves are not always healthy leaves

In my last post, I detailed how I had to dig up my Rubro in the middle of the coldest winter in 30 years and I discussed how well it seemed to have done.

I have now had a few days to observe it in my garage and it seems it is not as unscathed as I thought.  Here it is:

 

It seems I was fooled by leaves that had been drenched in water from thawing snow for a day or two.  Such leaves take on the appearance of healthy leaves but are in fact burned.  Still, the leaf burn appears to have affected only about 25% of the plant, which I would still call a success.  Surprisingly, my P. Aureosulcata 'spectabilis', which I failed to dig up, showed essentially 100% leaf burn, and I had protected it, though half-heartedly.

This soaked leaf phenomenon is something I think I first read on Alan Lorence's blog (can't seem to find the actual post).  Basically, leaves soaked in water seem to come back to life, but of course the effect is fleeting. 

Digging out a P. Rubromarginata in the middle of winter

Yesterday, after a 2 or 3 day thaw, I attempted to dig out a P. Rubromarginata, which was flattened and completely buried by snow cover.  I am moving homes and suffice it to say that I had no choice but to do this.  Below are some pics.


  Here it is after I dug out most of the 1-2 foot snow cover:

After clearing off the remaining snow, the garment bag that I used to protect the Rubro is visible.  It has a small opening in it, which made me think that something might have been nesting in it, and munching on it.

But then, the first good sign:

Then, a little more green...

And her it is - after a brutal winter that seems far from over...

Amazingly, the Rubro looks very, very good.  Bushy, healthy-looking, and NO leaf burn whatsoever! Here is a foliage close-up:

This is how I dug it out.  I connected my garden hose to my laundry faucet, which allowed me to soak the root mass with warm water. I then slowly, pain-stakingly dug it out.

Finally, success...

Well, sort of.  I did manage to dig it out but now, nearly two full days later, I see that it has experienced quite a bit of shock (no pic yet).  I have stored it in my garage because I don't want to bring it out of dormancy.

I left this Rubro for dead two years ago and to my surprise it came back very strong, so I hope it will hang in there for the next month or two so that I can get it into the ground.

I had planned to dig up another four plants but alas I failed.  The root masses were too large and the ice too thick.  I did manage to get two good chunks rhizome from my P. Aurosulcata 'Spectabilis' which I have potted indoors with the hope of propagate a seedling or two.

  

Winter Protection to the Extreme - Part II

The winter seems unrelenting this year.  Our snow banks are now 5-6 feet high!  As such, I have become inspired to write about some additional winter protection tools, some related to soil amendments/fertilizers and other more mechanical in nature.

1.  An Even Heavier Frost Blanket

I wrote in my last post about winter protection about the importance of tarping or otherwise covering marginally hardy bamboos.  I wrote about Dewitt, a company that produces a 3.0 oz frost blanket, they call their "Ultimate" line, that claims to provide as much as a 10F benefit vs. the ambient temperature.  Well, if 3.0 oz is "Ultimate", then 4.0 oz must be "Super-Ultimate" and 6.0 oz must be "Ultra-Ultimate". GinTec Shade Technologies offers just those.  They seem to be a wholesale/commercial distributor, but they may still sell to an individual.  Obviously, the benefit of a heavier blanket is not linear (6 oz is not twice as good as 3 oz), but even a gain of two or three degrees could make a difference to sensitive plants.


2. Seaweed/Kelp Applications to Roots and Foliage (experimental)

The verdict is still out on the use of seaweed/kelp on bamboo.  Seaweed/kelp has been show in a number of well-controlled studies as well as anecdotal accounts to improve frost tolerance, among other things.  It is commonly applied as a foliar spray but it is also likely beneficial as a soil amendment given its micronutrient profile.  Often, people will point out that seaweed/kelp is high in sodium given that is comes from the ocean.  Maybe, but let's run through the math.

The liquid kelp that I have begun using is from The Organic Gardner's Pantry, a retailer on the West Coast that will readily ship across Canada.  Included on the website is a chemical analysis of their product, which lists a sodium concentration of 2070mg/L.  Now, let's assume one gets a "salty" batch such that we will use 3000mg/L for our math.

Let's also assume that a sodium concentration of 40mg/L, an upper limit commonly used in many municipalities for tap water, is the upper tolerable limit for bamboo.  This is totally unscientific, but we are basically assuming that tap water in these municipalities does no harm to bamboo even when it is at its upper limit for sodium. Note that in Oakville and many other municipalities, mean sodium concentrations in tap water are actually closer to 15-25mg/L. 

At a recommended concentration of 1:250, the "salty batch" of liquid kelp would add about 12mg/L to one's kelp/water dilution, which in most cases would still keep the mixture below 40mg/L.   

Still concerned?  Switch or supplement with distilled water or rainwater (assuming you are not seaside).  You could also decrease the kelp concentration by 25%-50%.  Any of these measures would help keep your kelp/water mixture at a sodium concentration at or well-below the typical concentrations found in regular tap water. 

I can't yet speak to the efficacy of liquid kelp, but, though this is totally unscientific, it does seem to have given a boost to my very sickly P. Kwangsiensis.  It also seems to have benefited my P. Viviax, my P. Edulis Moso seedling, and my Semiarundinaria Fastuosa.


3. Low Nitrogen / High Potassium Fertilizer

Ample research [eg. here, here, and here] suggests that low nitrogen / high potassium fertilizer, applied late in the growing season improves cold tolerance among various grasses.  I have not found any research specific to bamboo, but since bamboo is in the grass family, we "might" be able to apply these finding to bamboo.


4. Planting location
 
This is a simple but important and effective winter protection method that I failed to mention in my last post.  There are often different micro-climates around a typical property.  For us in suburbia, we typically have several areas around the property that are fairly sheltered from cold, desiccating winds, and some areas that may actually stay slightly warmer than the ambient outside temperature, such as near a foundation or a furnace exhaust (but remember to keep a reasonable perimeter clear around your exhaust!).

Planting with a view to a particular exposure is debatable.  Southern exposure gets more sun/heat during the day but also results in greater temperature swings, which is not great for any plant.  If you have thoroughly insulated the ground and the plant, thereby moderating the temperature swings, southern exposure might be a good option for enhancing the winter protection of a marginally-hardy bamboo.

So there you have it.  I have no more tricks in my winter protection bag (yet).   
   
         

Glimmer of Hope for my P. Kwangsiensis

It is difficult for us in Ontario to get bamboo.  Few nurseries carry any, and few other local sources exist.  As such, I often have to get creative in sourcing new plants.  This past summer, I ordered three plants from Victoria Bamboo, a nursery some 4000+km's away.

Steve at Victoria Bamboo was very informative, helpful, and accommodating.  He was not too keen, however, on organizing cross-country shipping.  So instead I had Steve deliver the three plants to my friend who lives near his nursery.  She was more amenable to arranging the shipping (so I thought).

One of the plants I got from Steve was a P. Kwangsiensis.  Steve is likely the only retail source of this variety in Canada. When the plant arrived at my friend's house, it was in good shape, which she confirmed with iPhone pictures.  She promised to ship me the plants "by the end of the week".  Not quite.  Six weeks later, I got the plants.  She warned me, however, that one of them "looked like a goner".  When it arrived, the P. Kwangsiensis looked like it had been left to bake in the sun with no water for about...six weeks. It was about 75% defoliated, with a few culms already greyish yellow.

I thought to myself, this is too rare a variety to simply throw away. I decided to re-pot it using a compost and triple-mix blend. I then lightly fertilized it with a lawn fertilizer on two occasions before November.  It didn't perk up.  In fact, it looked like it was getting worse.  After moving it into the house recently (to protect it from the severe cold, even in the garage), it looked so bad that I had pretty much lost all hope for it:

I decided to make one last attempt at saving this bundle of sticks that used to be a beautiful, rare variety of bamboo. I started spraying it daily with a weak liquid kelp/distilled water mixture.

Today, after doing this for only about a week, I saw a few glimmers of hope.  The first, an emerging shoot, I had actually noticed soon after bringing the pot into the house:

Today, however, I also noticed two emerging leaves.  Here's one of them, emerging from a healthy-looking green culm:

The plant has a long way to go before it becomes "stable", but it looks like with a lot of care and a little luck it might get there.