Rhizomes and upsizing

[Steve in France]

Have another look at the Bamboos in beds I continue to be amazed at the amount of rhizome growth. From Bamboos in 25 gallon pots planted out in early July I've got a network of cable like rhizomes spreading all over the beds and bursting out the sides. In France I figured I had pretty good growth rates because of warm Summers and a lot of hard work , but here in Maryland there seems to be a new order of growth. I still put the work in and it's about the same formula but for adding Ironite. Here with the long growing season and the extra heat the Bamboos seem to be going a bit mad . I was wondering about time scales for growers that put in a lot of work in similar climates to here in Southern Maryland/ D.C. I saw the pic of Davids sadly damaged vivax the other day . As I understand it that is a three growth season division and the culms are up to about 1.5 inch plus thick. There is no way I could get a Bamboo that big that fast in my old garden just North of Paris France. What kind of size up are people getting over three years. I ask because the plants in the beds are heading for season three come Spring.
Thanks
Steve

[Alan_L]

I don't want to hijack your topic, but I've always wondered: When do you start counting, from the time the division was taken, or from when it was put in the ground?

Many of the plants I got from Brad were labeled as Aug 2006 (when he dug them), then grown in pots by him until I got them in 2008 and put them in the ground. So are they now 3-year-old plants, 1-year-old, or something in between?

[Steve in France]

I count from the time the division was made. The Parvifolia here is about 16 months old so two Summers, next season is the third growing season.