What's your most aggressive runner?

[kudzu9]

I'm nominating my Ph. vivax 'Aureocaulis. It's about 6' away from a large Ph. bambusoides 'Allgold.' I was pleased to see the Allgold putting up some nice shoots near its base...until I looked closer and noticed the telltale green pinstripe of the Aureocaulis. It had sent a stealth runner over and through the Allgold before shooting. I figured I'd make a little division of these intruders. As I gently excavated, I noticed the rhizome continued on past the shoots and I had another 6'-7' of bushy rhizome in hand when I finally tracked it all down. All this from a 5-gallon plant that went into the ground a little over a year ago.

What's your nomination?

[Steve in France]

All my Ph Bamboos plus Semiarundinaria Fastuosa, all have run more than six feet in the last year some have run ten feet. I really must stop feeding and watering them .
I guess that will not be a problem as it looks like it's all change again and we will be in D.C. by the end of the year and then once we have a house bought I guess it's Bamboo buying time in the Spring .
Lord knows how I'm going to get this place ready to rent out by December.
Plus I'm going do have to give all my tender stuff away. Such is life
Later
Steve

[Jonathan Poston]

At the moment, Yushania anceps (pictured) is my most aggressive runner. Several times a year I run a sharp spade along the area I wish to confine it to. It is not even yet a large boo being only about 10 feet tall. It is only about 6 feet in girth but would have travelled far more without 'pruning'. After that Semiarundinaria fastuosa is quite a mover here.

[BooKing]

Vivax aureocaulis is my #1 pick for aggressive runner and it is my favorite bamboo tied with vivax huangwenzhu inversa.

[Iowaboo]

Would have thought one of the little pecks would have been the most fierce. What they lack in size, they make up in bite, aight.

Good you listen,

[Jeff: Igor's Apprentice]

Steve, Don't forget to bring a few rhizomes along, especially of the really difficult stuff to find. Maybe you'll get lucky and some of it will live.
If planted right away indoors? I don't know just a thought....

[Iowaboo]

Steve, Don't forget to bring a few rhizomes along, especially of the really difficult stuff to find

Just remember to add ketchup and mustard with a little relish on the side. They seem to like the meal fixed when it enters the country.

[Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a]

It depends on your definition of "aggressive". If, by "aggressive", you mean the greatest distance travelled, then it would be Phyllostachys dulcis.. If you mean the largest number of shoots coming up over a large area, then it would be Hibanbobambusa tranquillans shiroshima. If you mean the most difficult to get rid of once it has spread into an area, it would be Sasas ramosa.

[Booboy]

My Dulcis has run the furthest. My yellow groove had 3 culms in the fall when I planted it and now has over 50 ! My Vivax went from 8 feet to almost 20.

[David]

Kudzu,
Lots of second place place plants come to mind: henon, aureasulcata, vivax, viridis, dulcis, boryanis, but on my place there is one obvious winner.

Rubro in Feb. 2004. Just planted.

<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... small).jpg" alt="PHYLLOSTACHYS rubromarginata ">

Rubro in June 2006. Planted ~29 months

<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... Small).JPG" alt="PHYLLOSTACHYS rubromarginata ">

2004
<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... small).jpg" alt="PHYLLOSTACHYS rubromarginata ">

2006
<img src="http://www.bambooweb.info/images/bamboo ... Small).JPG" alt="PHYLLOSTACHYS rubromarginata ">

[Thuja]

I guess the shoot that surprised me most so far came from a very small P. atrovaginata that I planted last year. A shoot recently appeared 9 feet away. Why it would go that far before surfacing I don't know.

[Thuja]

Steve, Don't forget to bring a few rhizomes along, especially of the really difficult stuff to find

Just remember to add ketchup and mustard with a little relish on the side. They seem to like the meal fixed when it enters the country.

Chinese takeout?

[BruceLofland]

Ph. atrovaginata is my most aggressive in terms of distance traveled. I planted a 1 gallon plant in May of 2004. When I transplanted it in March 2005, it had a rhizome 8 feet away that had not surfaced yet! 4 foot shoots came up from it in April that year, and 6 foot shoots this spring. I did rhizome pruning to keep it in bounds last fall, so I don't know how far it would have run this spring if I had not done that. It also put up around 50 shoots or so this spring.

Ph. rubromarginata does not travel very far for me, but it always puts up more shoots than I can count.

My Ph. vivax 'aureocaulis' has only been in the ground for a year from a 1 gallon plant. It put out a new shoot about 2 feet away.

[Iowaboo]

Oh Folly,David!

Are your pines going to out-height the rubro before the rubro runs through them? Looks like the spruce? in the background will be absorbed soon enough.

[David]

Hi Lance,
Some extremely vigorous rhizome pruning on the pine side has the rubro stopped in that direction. This is the patch that I dug so many wheelbarrows full of rhizomes from this Spring! Woe be to the slow growing spruce(eastern red cedar) because it is no match for rubro.
I have a containment plan in mind. I just hope my back can hold out. It's really not very hard to contain it if you prune when the ground is soft, since most of the rhizomes are within 6" of the surface. I think I'll probably prune it twice a year. Next year it 'leaps'!
David