moso

[johnfe]

Digiteye-
Just go to your profile and uncheck the spell check box...

There are websites in the US offering moso grown from seeds, so there's people out there doing it. Whether they'll share that info or not is another question. If you could locate Mike Turner online, he's pretty expert in most things moso...

[digiteye]

Thanks Ron and Johnfe...

I was suspicious actually - but the price was not that high so I will give it a try. Worst case I will have another bamboo - which I wont mind although I would prefer to have a Moso.

[foxd]

There are seed distributors selling MOSO seed in the US. From what I've read, the three most readily available bamboo seeds are MOSO, P. heteroclada and D. strictus. MOSO seed is very unmistakable in appearance, if it looks like MOSO seed, it probably is MOSO seed. (Look on page 60 of Bamboo for Gardens by Ted Jordan Meredith to see a photo showing several types of bamboo seeds.)

The real question is "Just how fresh is the MOSO seed?" All the sources I've seen say that bamboo seed does not stay viable very long, less than a year.

[Roy]

There are seed distributors selling MOSO seed in the US. From what I've read, the three most readily available bamboo seeds are MOSO, P. heteroclada and D. strictus. MOSO seed is very unmistakable in appearance, if it looks like MOSO seed, it probably is MOSO seed. (Look on page 60 of Bamboo for Gardens by Ted Jordan Meredith to see a photo showing several types of bamboo seeds.)

The real question is "Just how fresh is the MOSO seed?" All the sources I've seen say that bamboo seed does not stay viable very long, less than a year.

But are there any USA companies, located on USA soil, selling moso seeds to USA citizens?

[foxd]

But are there any USA companies, located on USA soil, selling moso seeds to USA citizens?

Yes, there are a few USA companies selling bamboo seed to USA citizens. I don't know how they got the seeds, but they are in the USA.

[Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a]

I have my doubts about the idea that MOSO stores its energy in the culms rather than its rhizomes. I think it is more a case that MOSO shoots earlier in the Spring and is more like to lose its culms from a cold snap in cooler climates.

I've been watching the shoots from my MOSO seedlings. They got top killed in the winter, yet have energy to put up shoots the same size or larger than last years. If the energy were stored in the culms and the culms were topped killed, they shouldn't have the energy to do this.

Seedling moso (culm diameter less than 1.25") stores its energy in the rhizomes just like most other phyllostachids and is just as easy to transplant. When moso sizes up, it begins to store most of its energy in those massive culms and becomes difficult to transplant.

I planted some seedling moso in the NC mountains in 1984, where it got top killed on most winters though the 80's and 90's. During this time, it maxed out at about 12 feet high. But then we started getting the warmer winters in 00's that didn't top kill it and it has since reached 30 feet hgigh/2.5" culm diameter.

[Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a]

foxd: "MOSO shoots earlier in the Spring and is more like to lose its culms from a cold snap in cooler climates."

This is certainly true. It also has the interesting adaptive mechanisms of alternate shooting and second wave shooting to help it cope with it's early shooting habit. I've only lost moso shoots once in ten years, mainly 'cuz it hardly ever freezes here, but moso does have that second wave that comes up and takes over if the first is killed. They mostly just abort if the first wave survives. The alternate year thing gives those culms that get whacked an extra year to catch up. So that might explain how they survive the top kill.

Mike says that the alternate shooting corresponds with alternate leaf replacement on the culms - the ones that are supporting new shoots keep their leaves, the ones that are not drop all their leaves and re-leaf during the shooting season. He's been observing moso for a long time, including the famous Anderson SC grove, which reportedly produced the largest bamboo in the US.

I'm not an expert on this, but I'll try to find out more from those who are.
I have read other places not to clearcut moso due to it's peculiar storage strategy, but can't remember where that was...

I can really see the effects of this alternate shooting pattern in my moso groves this spring. Because of the effects of last summer's extreme drought, all of my moso groves have produced few to no shoots this spring and 90% to 100% of the culms shed their leaves this spring.

I rarely post on Bambooweb because it is so difficult to get a submitted response to go through. It asks me repeatedly for my password even when I am already logged on and/or it gives me an invalid session message. After a number of attempts at spending time writing a detailed response and not being able to get it submitted successfully, I've gotten so I rarely even try to reply to a thread.

[Roy]

............

I rarely post on Bambooweb because it is so difficult to get a submitted response to go through. It asks me repeatedly for my password even when I am already logged on and/or it gives me an invalid session message. After a number of attempts at spending time writing a detailed response and not being able to get it submitted successfully, I've gotten so I rarely even try to reply to a thread.

Mike,

I'm sorry to hear that you've had difficulties in posting to Bambooweb.info. I hope Bill can figure out a solution for you. I value your opinions and valuable experience in growing bamboos. You have a lot of information that the forum could definitely use.

[johnfe]

I agree! Hope they figure out what's up with that, Mike, 'cuz we need your expertise here. Hope you didn't mind my referencing you, but seemed like no one was stepping up...

[Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a]

I deleted the contents of my cookies file and it seems to be working better, although it still sometimes drops my log in and I sometimes still have to go through a series of "invalid session" screens before a "submit" will go through.