My bamboo

[houseodessey]

OK. I finally got some shots of our bamboo. We cut all of this down in August of 2005 and the drought has hampered it's growth quite a bit. Right now, the thickest pieces are a little over an inch in diameter.

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I hope Canna can ID it for us.

and here's a weird fungus growing on my pecan tree. Anyone have any idea what it could be?

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[cannaisseur]

Photos tell a little, but not much... Answer me a couple of questions if you don't mind. Do any of the culms grow crooked? Are they all erect? What is the color of them? To me they look like they are yellow. Go and run your fingers along the length of one of therm. Do you feel a groove running down the length on one side? You should feel it most at the nodes.
Lastly, can you by any chance get a pic of one of the baby shoots? I kind of have a guess already, but I will wait....

[houseodessey]

Ok, let's go slow here. What's a culm?

[cannaisseur]

A culm is what most people call a bamboo stalk, or a pole. Its just the correct name for it. The nodes are the "joints" that connect, and where branches come out of. They usually are every foot or so, depending on the size of the plant. I forget sometimes that I asked this question before, so I am sorry for any confusion. I will make sure to explain things, like it was done for me. You know, I kind of have to feel things out, because when you try to explain to some people, they get insulted like you think they are stupid, even though you did not have that intention. I can tell though that you won't think this, or at least I think so. I feel like intelligent people are not afraid to ask questions, and are not worried about looking 'stupid' or uninformed, but ask to understand.
When I ask about its growth habit, do these culms grow straight, or are any of them crooked at the base?
The shoots are the new bamboo culms that are coming up. They are usually a different color, or similar, and many of them are pretty looking. They are either erect looking like a sharp spear, or they are extended(I cannot remember the technical name so I will refer to it as this). This is referring to the sheaths. If the sheaths are completely straight up, they are called erect, if a small part of them fold outwards, there are extended. Sheaths are the coverings of new bamboo, which fall off as they are finished growing. They start off with color, and end up white when its time for them to fall off. Here are a few pics of one with sheaths, and one without, and the difference between erect shoots, and extended for clarification. This first pic is of a shoot that is erect.
bambooweb.info/ShowPictures2.php?BooID=33&Desc=&Loc=&Match=AND&Cat=&s=2
This second one is a shoot that is extended.
www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo/G.atro.shoot1306.jpg" alt="Gigantochloa atroviolacea ">
The next one is a pic of a culm with sheaths, and one without. The one on the right is a new green culm with the white protective sheaths, while the one on the left has none.
www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo/G.atro5.jpg" alt="Gigantochloa atroviolacea ">
Things like these, such as the differences between shoots, and appearance of sheaths make it easier to identify bamboo.

[houseodessey]

cannaisseur said:

Photos tell a little, but not much... Answer me a couple of questions if you don't mind. Do any of the culms grow crooked? Are they all erect? What is the color of them? To me they look like they are yellow. Go and run your fingers along the length of one of therm. Do you feel a groove running down the length on one side? You should feel it most at the nodes.
Lastly, can you by any chance get a pic of one of the baby shoots? I kind of have a guess already, but I will wait....

Thank you for the in depth explanation and links. It helped a lot.

The culms are erect. They are more yellow than green and they do have a groove on every other segment. Here's a picture of a baby shoot:

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Here's a picture of another baby and a better shot of a shoot for you to see the color more clearly:

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I hope this helps a bit.

Oh, and thanks for referring to me as "intelligent". I certainly wasn't digging for a compliment, but I'll take as many as you're passing out today.

[cannaisseur]

Try looking at the pics again on my last post. It seems I got the wrong pics mixed up, so it might make even better sense when you check them out now, as I fixed it. Good shots, and I am just checking one more thing, but I think I know which one it is. If it is this, it will handle zone 6.

[cannaisseur]

I have narrowed it down, and I am waiting on confirmation from someone who knows the temperates better than me.
I will say, I am about 95% sure that it is hardy to about 0 degrees f, which is where it starts to experience defoliation. It will have complete culm death at 5 to 10 degrees lower. Even then, its root system is hardy to probably 10 to fifteen degree lower or more, as long as it is well mulched. Temperates store their energy in their root system, so if it dies at soil level and above, it will send up new shoots around spring time.

[houseodessey]

My fingers are crossed.

[cannaisseur]

Well, I will be honest. I am not quite sure as to what species this is. I am still looking, and I do believe I will be able to id it. I do know which genus it is, which is phyllostachys. I have narrowed it down, and can say with pretty good accuracy that it is hardy to about 0 degrees F. I would be willing to bet if its not a small specimen, the root system could probably handle -15 degree f, especially if you had mulched well. So I can safely say that if Lavandula Girl's climate lows are higher than this, she can successfully grow it.

[houseodessey]

WOOHOO!!! Tell me how to properly dig it up, how large a specimen, etc. and I'll send it out. I'm assuming Johno can use it in Arkansas, too? If you'd like, I'll send a sample to you as well so you can ID it more easily. I'm just glad to know that it may be of some use to someone.

[lavandulagirl]

Hooray! We never get that cold... I take that back, I've never seen it get that cold. Our avg lows are high teens on the very very coldest nights. Dang... now I need to till some more to get ready. Is this a running kind then, Canna? I think I even have a spot to contain the clump, at least initally. This house used to have an outhouse, and the foundation was filled in, but is still there. Not sure how structurally sound it is, but I'll bet it's got some interestingly amended soil in there!!!

[cannaisseur]

Try separating about a foot long part(square) of it first by eying it. Make sure there are a couple or more of good culms in the line. Next gently brush away dirt until you start to see roots. Remove only the dirt around the square foot area, and see what you got. I will show a diagram on a link at the bottom, that will show what you should see. When you have taken the dirt out until the root system is exposed, around the part you want to remove, you will have to get some form of shears, or clippers of some sort. Here is what you should see at some point.
www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/RunnersAndClumpers.html
Scroll down to the runner picture. As you can see, each bamboo culm is connected to a root line underground. You will have to cut it on the edges of the square foot you measured out for what you are sending. Just make as few cuts as possible, then from the cuts, work your way under the soil of the square with a shovel trying to be careful. Make sure if you see any new ones where you can see new shoots will come from, don't cut there. Dig deep enough to get the feeder roots which are the really small ones.
Basically, just cut the ryzome(root "line") around the area to be taken out, then go deep enough; about two and a half feet or so, and lift the chunk out. Once you have done that, water it real well, pot it, put some newspaper in the pot in between the culms and such until you fill up the remaining space. This is to prevent the soil from falling out. Then if you have any plastic wrap, wrap the pot up covering the paper in the pot, going in between the culms as well, up a couple of inches past the soil line, till you feel that if it is tipped upside down, the soil will not come out. You will want to look for a box at the post office that they use for golf clubs. Place the pot in the box, and poke a couple of holes at the four corners for you to take something like paper clips, or some wire and wire the planter to the box, so it stays in place. Do a good job at this, so if it is tipped upside down, the planter stays at the top, and does not crush the plant. If you use several wires, and secure it to the box well, it will work. To be safe, write on the box, this end up with a big black marker on all sides. You may have to either bend the culms in the box, or top it with some shears.If it will bend without breaking, try to do that, but if not they will be ok.

I am kind of guessing with the square foot measurement. You may want to make it what size you feel is right. Just make sure that each plant has at least a couple of decent culms, with intact roots, that are well watered before shipping. Even it by some chance they arrive all battered or broken, if L. girl and Johno pot the roots up, it will send up shoots. They just will have to keep it well watered for a while in well draining soil. Good luck, and I hope I made some sense. If you have any questions, just feel free to ask.

[houseodessey]

It made sense. I just hope Johno and Lav are ready for the shipping expenses for a golf bag sized box. My husband does some ebay selling and we've found that it's much cheaper and quicker to UPS ground something than to send it through the post office. Let me know how many canes you guys want and I'll dig them up, get estimated freight and maybe we can figure out some trades rather than postage. Also, is there any way that I can cut the canes down a bit, or do I need to select larger canes so that they'll make it?

[cannaisseur]

You can cut them. Just try your best to leave as much as you can. They will just leaf out more. If you can, get the bigger culms, because those will produce the fastest, and give you the largest new shoots, and have better cold hardiness. Shipping should not be too bad.
Lavendula, it is a runner, but it will take a while for it to spread out. I think one of the easiest ways to contain it, is to plant it in a area marked off as dedicated to establishing a small grove. Everywhere around that designated area, mow it during the spring time, and when you see new shoots popping up out of its intended area. As long as it does not get much higher than a foot or so, it will be tender enough to cut it easily. Once they get mowed, they will not keep growing, at least not at that particular shoot. Bamboo once you chop the top, will never grow any taller. So once the shoot is knocked or mowed over, its done for.

[lavandulagirl]

Well, I run everything else over with the lawnmower... walnut seedlings, mulberry seedlings... why not bamboo too? Oh - will the Black Walnut affect it (juglone poisoning)? I should know that too, before I pick the spot.