Root Grafting

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dgoddard
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Root Grafting

Post by dgoddard »

A question about the root system of bamboo groves.

Some plants will root graft with other plants of the same species (e.g. elm trees)

Do some, or all bamboo varieties root graft?

The concern is:
-- Are bamboo groves used near the road or power line rights of way, as a dust shield at risk from over-spray of herbicides?
-- If a small part of the grove gets sprayed can it sicken or kill the entire grove ?
-- If an infection develops or a herbicide gets on part of a grove is it necessary or even useful to cut the root network between the affected area and the healthy area?

Accordingly is it possible to select varieties that do not root graft? If so how could one identify non root grafting varieties?.
ShmuBamboo
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Re: Root Grafting

Post by ShmuBamboo »

In my experience of growing bamboo, the answer to that question is no. They will not root graft. I have not seen any types of bamboos graft, at the rhizome or root level. I have grown many bamboos, and many in the same pot. They always are separate when I dig them up, repot, or transplant them later. However, leptomorph bamboos, otherwise known as runner bamboos, will grow large and extensive rhizome lattice systems underground. In that regard, they are connected and essentially one plant. So in a sense that is like being root grafted, as they are connected by the underground stems. Once a rhizome is severed, the two (or more) bamboo plants become permanently separated and the ends will not graft back together.

So to answer your question about spraying, a bamboo grove that is one plant will shift water and nitrogen to support other segments by way of the rhizome lattice, in a similar way that root grafted tree stands will. Transport of pesticides and herbicides through rhizomes is highly dependent on the type of pesticide/herbicide being used though. I would think that topical herbicides will not be transfolier or systemic, and they would only kill the leaves and culms that are sprayed. Even if they were systemic and mobile in the bamboo plant, you could sever the rhizomes of the bamboo shoots closest to the road being sprayed, and there would be not transfer of herbicides through the bamboo rhizome network. Also bamboo is extremely difficult to kill by spraying alone. We get a lot of people posting here wanting to eradicate an established bamboo grove, and they have tried every herbicide in the book. They kill the tops, but then the rhizomes send up new shoots. Usually it requires mechanical removal of all the rhizomes to completely eradicate bamboo.
Happy trails...
dgoddard
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Re: Root Grafting

Post by dgoddard »

That is good news for me. I got pretty much the same answer from Anna at Bamboo Garden Nursery.

That being the case, It would seem that I can increase the resistance of my grove to some extent by running the length of my grove with a "rhizome ripper " to separate the vulnerable side of the grove from the rest of the grove. I have a subsoi plow and it has a thin leading edge I suspect that would do a good job of rhizome ripping especially if I sharpened the leading edge. Additionally if I plant any extensions to the grove it would behove me to plant a double row to achieve a more survivable grove. The cause of my concern is that the Rural Electric Co-op hires migrant workers to do the right of way spraying and the reputation does not inspire a sense of confidence in how much instruction they get or care they take for landscaping plants.

My interest in this is that I live on a gravel road and the bamboo has proven to be a highly effective dust shield as well as a privacy screen. That has been a real plus as I primarily planted it for the privacy. The fully developed portions of the roadside grove are about 20 feet thick, and 15 to 20 feet tall. The grove extends for 210 feet along the road. The variety has been identified as phylostachys aureosulcata (Yellow Groove) and being that I live on the boundary of zones 5&6 this is a little cool for that variety. The climate combined with the very poor and dry clay soil along the roadside probably explains the limited height for that variety.

My grove behind the house (same variety from the same grove) which screens off the sewage lagoon is growing about 25 to 35 feet tall as the soil is better there. The taller growth near the center of the grove corresponds to where the sewage lagoon is and although the soil percolates very poorly I think that the roots may have found moisture near the lagoon. After about 7 years now I have not seen any indication that the bamboo roots are invading the lagoon and this variety is killed if its roots are flooded. The pipe to the lagoon is above the water pool in all but the heaviest rains so the roots would have to grow into the water and come above the surface to reach the pipe. Presumably the even the poor percolation allows the water to leach into the soil enough for the roots to get some. The backyard grove measures about 70 feet long by 10 feet thick. I have also planted another 60 feet of wind screen for the tractor shed as of last spring.

All of these groves are maintained to size simply by mowing the grass and any shoots along their boundaries (except when I need to dig up shoots and rhizomes for transplanting, but then I have to fill in the holes).

My backyard Grove is shown in this image along with my 5' 2" wife who agreed to be a height reference.
My Backyard Grove and my 5' 2" wife
My Backyard Grove and my 5' 2" wife
The roadside grove seems to have reached its height limit as I mentioned, however that is a bit of an advantage because the grove is underneath the power line. The rural electric co-op is a bit lax about tree trimming on the right of way, letting the trees grow up around the wires as much as 20 feet above the top (hot) wire. Usually they want growth under the wire to be no closer to the wire than 15 feet below it. They have realized the logic in my case that the bamboo grove is so dense as to prevent tree growth, The lower line is the ground wire and not the hot wire which is another 5 feet higher, and should an ice storm occur my grove ends up looking like this:
Bamboo_+_Ice-s.JPG
The bamboo gathers ice so quickly that before the wires can sag under the weight of ice, the bamboo is already way down. Happily the ice causes no damage to the bamboo, and it certainly cannot fall on the wires and break them. The rapid descent of the bamboo occurs because it retains its leaves throughout the winter and the leaves hold much ice With in a day or two after the ice has melted almost all of the bamboo is back where it was previously.
dependable
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Re: Root Grafting

Post by dependable »

Nice use of bamboo for screening. The rhizome ripper idea should work. While barriers should be 30-36 inches deep, un blocked yellow groove roots usually run in the top 12-18 inches, even shallower in poor soil. For rhizome control I sometimes use a single pallet fork on my bobcat to go along edge of grove and lift and break errant rhizomes.
ShmuBamboo
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Re: Root Grafting

Post by ShmuBamboo »

Yah, that looks ideal. I use bamboo here for screening off areas from the neighbors, for keeping the dust down along the gravel easement at the side of my property, and for privacy along the highway. I have a long row of 50 foot tall pines (lodgepole pines) growing along the highway, but they have lost their lower limbs to the county road crews that come along and hack anything back 10 feet from the road and 15 feet up, regardless. Then another road crew comes along and sprays the roadsides with herbicides. Then the jerks in the snow plows come along in the winter and they smack and break anything that is left, and they usually take out the mailbox with it. Seemingly on purpose. The pines here are also succumbing to beetles (probably infected by the road crew tools cutting them), and one is dead now. I expect the rest to die out as well. This year the summer was hot and long, and the stress is killing the pines after the beetles have done their thing. It is happening to pines all over the west, and even as far north as the boreal forests. So I have been planting bamboos along the roadway between the pines; both golden and nuda. Both make effective screens/hedges and grow about 20 feet tall here at this elevation and climate. The wind and winter cold here seems to keep the boos shorter. I tried planting yellow groove as a hedge here some years ago, but the voles consider them a delicacy and they devastated them. I have since pulled out all but one stand of yellow groove that was originally in a 25 gallon tub that is doing OK, but the voles keep dining on it and keep it from running anywhere.
Happy trails...
dgoddard
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Re: Root Grafting

Post by dgoddard »

ShmuBamboo wrote:...... Then the jerks in the snow plows come along in the winter and they smack and break anything that is left, and they usually take out the mailbox with it. Seemingly on purpose.....
I probably cannot be too much help on the other ones, but maybe with the mail box since I had the same problem in Virginia.

My solution was to:
-- set a new post about 5 feet farther back and about 3 feet taller.
-- At the appropriate height I attached a 2x4 about 5 feet long, projecting horizontally toward the road.
-- The 2x4 attached to the post using a hinge that allowed the 2x4 to swing horizontally.
-- Then I attached a chain from the top of the post to the 2x4 to hold it up from drooping down.

When the plow goes by at high speed slinging slush or actually striking the mail box, it just swings aside.

If you configure it right the 2x4 will even swing back by itself, and if you put a turn buckle in the support chain you can easily tweak the mail box height to suit the postman's vehicle.

The only problem I had then was that the postman though it was sub standard support of the mail box until I explained why my mail box was not rigidly mounted to a post like he was used to.

Such a configuration is also safer for motorists who hit the mail box and more resistant to those yahoos who like to drive by at 60 mph and throw a beer bottle at the mail box.
Leo S
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Re: Root Grafting

Post by Leo S »

Orizalyn and other systemic herbicides targeted for grasses will travel back several nodes or more on the rhizome. I have not seen any "back travel" beyond a couple feet. I have seen weird congested foliage on new culms that got a low dose this way. If the "dwarfing' effect would persist, it might be cool, but these freaky culms seem to give rise to normal culms after a year or two. Looks funky. Trim out any effected if you don't like the look.

Glyphosphates, like Round-up are topical, and don't seem to travel much. Also Round-Up is not effective as a one time treatment. It doesn't seem to kill the rhizome, so new shoots will come up shortly after spraying. It needs to be re-applied several times before it actually kills the planting. (If killing the planting is what you wanted to do).

I think your plan of severing rhizomes with the plow, then spraying the out of bounds bamboo will work fine. Or will protect your plantings when the state sprays the margins of the road.

I love Phyllostahys aureosulcata for its hardiness. Yes, the above ground parts don't always survive a zone 5 winter, but the rhizomes are tough, and mine grove's rhizomes have survived brutal -25 F winters and still bounce back. For variety, collect some of the colorful forms, like P. a. 'Spectabilis' or 'Harbin Inversa' or my favorite 'aureocaulis'. The golden canes are a treat.
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