Is my newly transplanted Pseudosasa Japonica gonna make it?

[joe lajeunesse]

I was able to get some Pseudosasa Japonica for free about 3 weeks ago because it was spreading to one of my customers properties from the neighbor and he wanted it dug out. Now I have transplanted hundreds of plants in the past (i own a landscape business) and I know the problems associated with transplanting, and the degree of difficulty of digging bamboo. These plants were spreading under a wire mesh fence so to dig it out I had to cut straight down the fence line on the one side and tried to dig as large of a root ball as possible on the other. I got three big clumps out as well as alot of rhizomes. The leaves on one of the clumps is wilting. One of the clumps half are wilting and one of the clumps is fine. I tried to take as much care digging them out as possible and had them replanted and staked within 2 hours. Do you think these plants are going to die or should I keep watering them and hopefully they are just shocked and they will recover next spring? Ill try to upload a picture tomorrow when I go to my shop.

[Markj]

With a good sized root ball it'll be pretty hard to kill outright. Might be worth cutting back some top growth to get the plant more in balance( Roots~leaves ) though, I'd cut some of the leaves out until it's stops curling and then just keep the watering up.

Great plant btw.

[joe lajeunesse]

It is such a nice plant that's why I took it I really hope you are right. I will trim off some of the leaves.

[kudzu9]

I'd just leave it alone and water it properly. This time of year, it may take a number of months to recover, but it should do so if you got even moderately sized rootballs and didn't break the connection of the culms to the rootball. This bamboo is one tough bugger, and I predict all of them will be fine. I wouldn't remove any foliage. My philosophy is that the plant knows what to do. If it has too much foliage for the rootball, it will drop some leaves. No need to try to outguess it.

Years ago I bought about a half dozen bamboo of various species and planted them around the yard...but forgot about the Ps. Japonica I set aside on a garden path. When I remembered it 3 weeks later, it had been sitting in a small pot in the summer heat with no water and all the foliage had croaked. I soaked it, planted it, and kept it watered, and in 2 months it looked fine.

I've also got one that I decided to relocate two years ago. I thought I got every bit of rhizome out of the ground, but I have had small shoots come up in a couple of places the last two springs. They were coming up from rhizome fragments a couple of inches long.

[joe lajeunesse]

that is very reassuring Thank you!