Need help with my Fargesia seedling please

[canadianplant]

I started this from seed the winter of 2012. Its supposed to be Fargesia Yunannensis. It grew fairly slowly last year, and i kept it in the basement for the winter. It did was on a slow decline by february. I know fargesia hate being inside for the winter but I thought the plant was too small to go in the ground.

I put it outside a month or so ago, and most of the leaves dried up (finally). The culms look like hell, and the plant looks dead. The thing is, I see healthy buds now on 2 culms, and some are growing leaves again. Even better, I see a small shoot so the plant is alive.

I know it looks like crap, and its a small plant, but I am wondering if the plant would be better off in the ground or if I should just leave it in the pot and hope for the best? I figured it would be best to plant it now because the roots would have time to settle and grow before winter.

Thanks

[dependable]

Had a flat of seedlings, the last one alive had grow mix mounded up on stem a little by my wife, who did not know this was a bad idea. Anyway, it is still alive and the others are not.

[stevelau1911]

That looks like a drainage problem which happens quite often with a lot of peat based potting soils. It basically turns to sludge over a certain period of time which can negatively affect a tender plant since it can cause the young roots to suffocate. You might be able to revive that by giving it new soil such as miracle gro moisture control, and getting rid of the old soil. It is also sometimes tough to get an indoor bamboo to adapt to outdoor conditions as they are meant to remain outdoors. I found a way to minimize that shock with super strong lighting when I used my 400 watt metal halide on my vegetable seeds.

The roots probably aren't that happy. I had the same problem with my fargesia murielae, but once I stuck it under the foliage of some other bamboos, and fixed the drainage problem, I noticed new roots forming and a gradual recovery.

[Tarzanus]

My fargesia, well Borinda fungosa did the same thing. when I took it into basement during coldest weather. It dropped all leaves, whole culms started to die and it seemed that nothing can help it start growing again. Well after everything else outside already started shooting, it managed to releaf old culms with a lot of new branches. I took out 80% of all culms and branches, because it looked like it won't even make it.

Now it started to shoot. None of the shoot is nowhere near the size of last year's growth, but it's going to live. First there were several survival shoots, now there are also larger normal shoots, but it's going to take at least a year for it to get back where it was last autumn.

Overwatering wasn't a problem because it was quite dry most of the time, I think the problem is, that at one time, I left it outside and it received some rain at around 1C and it took it hard, almost immediately it shed 50% of it's leaves. It dried out the soil because drainage is good and there are a lot of roots, but it didn't recover another 4 months or so.

Old culms all have small leaves now - like 1/2 of normal leaves. It looks great despite the fact that it transformed from giant clump into several leafed culms. It's still pretty though.

[canadianplant]

Thanks guys

steve - if anything it was a lack of water IMO. I watered it once in about 4 months. Although, it declined faster when i watered it.

Tarzanus - It did get hit by some cool/wet temps. I think it was outside when we had a late snowfall. The thing is, it was doing better outside then in the basement, even with that weather. We did however get a ton of rain last week, but it looks better now then it has in months.

I was just wondering if it was better to put it in the ground, rather then potting it up. Seeing how bad it declined inside during the winter I dont want to do it again. I know that when Ive planted any other bamboo, they shoot within a few weeks and am hoping that even in this state, this little guy will do the same?

[Steve in France]

When I grew some Fargesia 'Ganzu' 2 seedlings we found that some will only do well in full shade, some in half shade and some in full Sun. To be safe I'd grow them in a lot of to start with, and when you move them to more Sun keep a sharp eye out for problems. Move back into shade if you see a problem. I stored my seedlings in a cold basement for Winter. A cold Garage may work. Markj has the seedlings now and they are about seven years old. We grew 22 seedlings to start so the observations are based on multiple plants .

[canadianplant]

The pot is in on the north side of a fence, so it doesnt get too much sun.

[Tarzanus]

I have one seedling of same variety and it got broken because of wet snow we've had. All culms were broken, autumn shoots froze to death and despite everything, that one looks great. There are two much smaller shoots than those in autumn, because it ended up without it's foliage. In mid spring all remaining culms started to leaf out, frozen shoots made a bunch of branches around the soil level where they remained alive, broken culms as well. If the large seedling that was potted would be planted in the ground outside, It would most likely not get broken and would see major upsize this spring. This winter was mild and snowy. Without snow, everything would die, so I had to be sure to keep at least one of them inside.

I'd plant it outside and protect it during winter. Seedlings can get quite hardy in one year. Plant it into well draining soil with good amount of few years old composted bark or branch cuttings. I keep it in large container, placed in the ground to keep roots at steady temperatures that doesn't change as much as it would if kept unburied. When temperatures get extreme, I can always move it.

[canadianplant]

So tarzanus, you have a seedling of F yunannensis? Its hard enough to find information on this species let alone find someone else growing it....

Up here in N Ontario, we get reliable snow. Even in our driest winters we get well over a foot of snow. Both my bamboo in the ground get bent over, and heavily mulched with leaves and a tarp. That plus snow. They dont get damaged at all, if I do a good enough job.

So I guess the sooner i plant it the better...

[Tarzanus]

No, sadly yunannensis never germinated for me and I didn't want to buy more just to fail again. I'm talking about Fargesia fungosa, bought from the same seller, later I found out that it's actually Borinda and it's not nearly as hardy as it was printed on the label, received with seeds.

With Yunnanensis, there is actually kind of similar issue, it's also one of Borinda family and not fargesia as it was first declared. In Europe they say it can survive -10C to -16C if it's protected. That's way hardyer than it's sister Borinda fungosa that gets toasted at -8C.
Some info can be found here, use google translate in Chrome, it sould make everything readable.
http://www.bambus-lexikon.de/borinda-yunnanensis.html

We did have temperatures below -10C this winter (night), but not once without snow cover. I think that soil never froze deeper than 1cm this winter. We've been lucky.


I planted Borinda fungosa in early spring last year, after it got fried in autumn completely and recovered with merely 10 branches inside during winter. Branches were extra thin and were creeping instead of growing upwards. One month after I planted it, it started shooting. Two shoots it managed to make were greatly upsized! If they wouldn't break during winter, they would surely survive - it had most of it's leaves still green when temperatures got higher in the spring.
All Borindas have a nasty habit of second shooting in the fall. That upsize was unbelievable again, but those 4 shoots didn't have a chance. I think it would be similar with your yunnanensis. You can always dig it out if you expect it to get toasted.

Perhaps I'll try again with yunnanensis seeds. That would be great if not superior clumper for our zone 7 climate.

[canadianplant]

Like many, apparently F yunannensis has been tossed into borinda, semiarundinaria and a few other genus. Its nearly impossible to find the "proper" name for it or at least the most updated. It also seems taxonomists are having problems with the whole borinda/fargesia genus in general. The latest ive seen, is either Borinda or Fargesia.

Thats good to know about hardiness as well. IF its hard to get information, or get the proper genus, its harder to get legit growing information. Here is what rarepalmseeds says (where I got my seeds)

This beautiful and vigorous bamboo is variously placed in the genera Fargesia, Yushania, Borinda and Sinarundinaria. It is native to montane forests between 1700 and 2500 m (5600 and 8200 ft.) in southwestern Sichuan and in Yunnan, China. Its robust, clustering culms can reach a height of 7 or 10 m (23 or 33 ft.) and a diameter of up to 6 cm (2.5 in.) and have persistent, leathery sheaths with stunning purple stripes. The leaves are long, narrow and deep green. A fabulous and easy ornamental for cool and warm temperate regions. It is unharmed by moderate to severe freezes. The young shooths are edible and of excellent quality.

http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/BorYun.shtml

I guess its safe to assume that they would prefer dappled light, at least when young (like most of the fargesia/borinda genus as far as i know). If 33feet is the max, i guess you could assume it can take full sun when older?

[Tarzanus]

You're right. Dapled light will work much better. When exposed to full sun, my fungosa (and all the other seedlings!) rolls all it's leaves and wait for enough clouds to arrive. When it's all spiked-up, it does nothing useful and will soon start to show signs of stress.

They do grow tall! I did notice that in ground fungosa is more resilient to leaf curl. Not sure about the cause, is it lower soil temperature, more roots that go deeper into the soil or just the fact that it doesn't have that many leaves to keep opened. These bamboos (Borinda) are usually growing in forests, which means they like a bit less light. Due to their height, they may reach full sun and can tolerate it if the lower part and roots remain shaded.

[canadianplant]

That is my exact reasoning. A good portion of fargesia grow in oak/pine forests. I belive there have been rhododendron species associated with fargesia/borinda as well. There is also RPS reports, when they went to china to find the elusive Trachycarpus Nanus, they found a "small clumping bamboo associated with nanus habitat".

I assumed this with my rufa, and make sure it gets some shade. It is shaded for most of the day, but around 3 oclock the sun hits it, then the sun moves behind the ash tree, and it gets dappled light the rest of the day. The later in the summer, the less sun it gets. It is also planted between a caregana hedge, a fence, my house foundation (west wall) and my front stairs.

I just planted it... Here hoping for the best



its been looking better the last few days...

[Tarzanus]

Keeping my fingers crossed!