qick ? about shoots

[kstanwick]

I am getting alot of new YG shoots but i noticed alot seem to be coming up at angles. Has anyone tried helping them more upright?? I will probably leave them alone but was just curious. This is the first year i can actually say i'm seeing alot of activity...

[tstoehr]

Yes, people do various things to straighten shoots. My preference is to remove any angled shoots that could fall into the category of reasonable thinning. Those angled shoots that I want to keep I will either let them grow angled or tie them off to a stake when they're near full height but haven't leafed out yet. The latter methed usually takes out some, but not all, of the angle when the string is removed after the culm has leafed out and hardened.
There are other people who take more early and extreme measures to right their culms.

[kstanwick]

Well today i accidentally kicked over a shoot....I'm putting in a wall by the YG and i was careful all day until one of the last blocks over there in that area....Oh well....

[Eastlandia]

Tomato stakes work pretty well for basic shoots. Its the hardening off that needs to be virtical. Look at Lewis' Bamboos Moso shoots. These are quite large and he bends them slowly with some type of rope. (see pics)
I usually use this rope/ bend method. It dosent do as well on smaller diameter shoots...but we'll see.
needmore uses tomato wires...but who knows, maybe thats just to keep the mower out of the lower branches
-Eastlandia