2007 Boo Shooting Season! : Not just for tropicals anymore!

[foxd]

The Sasa veitchii has joined the ranks of the shooting. This brings the total to four species shooting here that are planted outside.

Of the species inside:
While still not putting up shoots, the Arundinaria gigantea "Paperweight" has decided to sprout some leaves. It lives! It lives despite aphids, millipedes and being wired up to electrodes a la Frankenstein's monster!
A Phyllostachys heteroclada shoot is now well over three foot tall and the Fargesia rufa has dozens of shoots emerging.

[Jeff: Igor's Apprentice]

Indocalamus tessalatus now.

[va_highlander]

Pulled the last of the mulch back from the Ph nigra, yesterday, and uncovered the first shoot of this one's first season in-ground. I've been doing the happy dance ever since.

As others have noted, we didn't have a harsh winter at all until well into January, when we had long stretches of highs in the twenties, lows in the low teens and lower, with winds sometimes gusting to 30 and 40 mph. For most of this time, I kept the nigra covered with an old bed sheet weighted down with bricks. On one occasion, when the weather threatened another windy night and sub-zero temps, I put a blanket over the sheet and added a tarp on top of that - just to be sure, though it only got down to 6?F that night.

When I finally felt confident removing the sheet, I saw only minimal damage to the plant, despite its tender age, with only a leaf here and there lost or partially toasted. I lost one tiny, late-season whip shoot, though given its location, I may have squashed it with a brick by accident. Another whip shoot, towards the center of the plant, survived the winter unscathed and, when the temps turned warmer, came out of its dormancy and proceeded to put out leaves as if nothing had happened.

Not much of a story to the old hands around here, I'm sure, but I'm impressed.

[needmore]

Spectabilis shoots up this morning...and Harbin Inversa...and Moso, and Propinqua....

[BruceLofland]

I just saw some Ph. atrovaginata shoots today, one of which is about 3 or 4 inches long already. We have had some warm, wet weather recently. This is about two weeks earlier than last year.

I also saw one small Ph. vivax 'aureocaulis' shoot under the mulch that I scraped back today. Considering that almost all the leaves on the mother plant died over the winter, I am thankful that it has that.

[foxd]

At what point do people consider their bamboo to be shooting? The reason I ask is that I normally consider mine to be shooting when I see a shoot without having to move any mulch.

That said, the bamboo does seem to be shooting a couple of weeks earlier than it did last year. I should start seeing P. aureosulcata shoots any day.

Also, considering the cold period we had, I'm looking forward to many of the bamboos just having green leaves again. Yesterday the Semiarundinaria yashadake 'Kimmei' had started putting out new leaves. And I keep eyeing the Phyllostachys aurea 'Holochrysa', looking to see if new leaves will sprout from the dead looking culms.

[va_highlander]

At what point do people consider their bamboo to be shooting? The reason I ask is that I normally consider mine to be shooting when I see a shoot without having to move any mulch.

I pondered that off and on after claiming my Ph nigra was shooting. I went out late yesterday afternoon and the shoot in question didn't appear to have budged. Even the hostas sprouting around the yard show more progress than that in a twenty-four-hour period.

Perhaps the 'boo tried to shoot during an unseasonably warm period back in January - lots of other plants were coming up then, too - and went dormant when the temperatures plunged back to normal. Maybe it's just gathering itself together, preparing to do its thing in the near future. I just don't know at this point.

[foxd]

When I spot one shoot, I will usually see lots of shoots emerging a day or two later. The Sasa veitchii now has several dozen shoots emerging.

Phyllostachys aureosulcata should be shooting any day.

[serenityinbamboo]

Well I can happily add that my vivax, daikokuchiku, nigra, (2 plants)rubro, (1 plant)vivax aureosulcato 'Aureocaulis, henon \ and my bambusa oldhamii are all springing forth from the ground!!! Happy day, happy day!!

[Bamboo Conne'isseur]

Way to go Serenity. My D. asper has just put up a nice shoot as well. In fact its seems to be growing crazy underground, as several of the brown preshoots or whatever they are have popped the surface. I think that the asper has some of the prettiest shoots I have seen.

[Roy]

............... I think that the asper has some of the prettiest shoots I have seen.

Like these:
<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo/D_ASPER4x.jpg" alt="Dendrocalamus asper ">

[Bamboo Conne'isseur]

Ahh, yes. You know all to well Roy.. I must say this one seems to be really taking off. Its really enjoying the warmth, water and the different ferts. I gave it. I have a certain unknown large bush that grows a ton of pink flowers in the spring. My habit has been to take all the fallen petals, and put them over the bamboos for mulch. I checked the "mulch" in the asper, and there are quite a few roots that have grown up into this. Its going mad underground.

[Eastlandia]

Foxd- I didnt know if it was because of the age of my plants or not, but Im glad to hear that your plants are shooting earlier this year as well. Both Sasaellas are up. Im afraid one of my ground covers became a winter-time snack for our little vole friends.
Finally a P. A. 'Alata' shoot is poking through.

Brad- I havent had a time to check out the grove on Greasy Creek, but I tend to believe that the grove will be in much worse shape than yours. And the rhizomes are not worth the effort of dividing culm divisions.

Spring has Sprung! Im feelin' rather spunky...not to be confused with skunky, which is rather stinky.

-eastlandia

[Roy]

Ahh, yes. You know all to well Roy.. I must say this one seems to be really taking off. Its really enjoying the warmth, water and the different ferts. I gave it. I have a certain unknown large bush that grows a ton of pink flowers in the spring. My habit has been to take all the fallen petals, and put them over the bamboos for mulch. I checked the "mulch" in the asper, and there are quite a few roots that have grown up into this. Its going mad underground.

There's a story I like to tell about how I obtained my D. asper. In the late 1980's, I used to got to Miami to sell bamboo at the FCCABS Spring Bamboo Sale at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Coral Gables. Peter Dodge (hurricane hunter flyboy) was manning the FCCABS booth and the society had some D. asper pots they were selling for $200 per pot. Before the sell, I jokingly told Peter when the D. asper got down to $20, then I would want to buy one. At the end of the plant sale, there was one D. asper pot left. It just happened to be the one that Peter had successfully propagated from a culm cutting and he was proud of his accomplishment. Peter said that he had my $20 D. asper ready to head back to Tampa if I wanted it. And this is my $20 plant now:

<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... 2.1379.jpg" alt="Dendrocalamus asper ">

[boonatick]

My sweet shoot that just apeared last monday is now 7 feet tall,the upsizing is amazing on that one from one half a pencil sized 15 inch plant to thumb size in 18 months,,,others that have popped up this week are
Hennon
Black
tumidisanoda
Fastuosa
herbano tranq shiroshima
aurea koi
my other bisseti
river cane
switch cane
rubro
pl. gramanais
vivax
phy.decora
sem yash. kimi
sem.yash.kimi inversa
still waiting ann several and just as exciting to me is a textilis that is sending out branches on culms that were late last year,all in all it was a good week to walk around the property, sorry again for not remembering all the right names ,hope youall know what mean my add prevents me from looking things up ,,, later