Newbie Zone 8b

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Ophiuchus
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

Kentuck wrote:Ophiuchus, yes I do only rootball divisions when I propagate my bamboo. I have not had very much luck from culms or limbs. That is what puzzles me also. I have one division out in front of my house and it is just over 30 feet and has been there for over 12 years and it is in the same soil type. I have tried fertilizing it heavily but I see no change. Even a division that gave to a friend and is planted in another town has stayed smaller. I still think it is location and the competition for sunlight. I am planning on a driveway with textilis on both sides, forming a tunnel also. I take single culm divisions at this time of the year from the plant which have no limbs on them, just a culm cut off about 3 feet from the ground. By the end of the summer, they begin to put up new growth from the base and they are ready to plant next year.

The CloneX as I have heard, gets a little more erect as it gets older so I am hoping this is the case. It is the same cold hardy as my Oldhamii since they both freeze equally on colder nights.
I was shocked to see his propagation technique of shoving 3 cut canes into the pot. Again, I think he has mixed results. I would think the results from root ball propagation would be much more successful, but he did not want to disturb the rooting infrastructure or possibly the division technique presents more work than he wanted to exert.

I think you are right, the location, sunlight and wind exposure have got to have something to do with the potential of the mature plant. Only time will tell what my environment will endure to produce.

Unfortunately for me again, I believe the Clone X may be too large of a plant for me to plant on my small one acre farm. It's looking like I'll be growing Graceful, Emerald and Kanapaha.

So you are saying you cut the root ball that encapsulates just 1 single culm and then cut that culm back to a 3ft cane settled within a new pot? No branching leaves necessary? If you cut the cane with the root ball down to 3ft which somewhat guarantees a single new plant, then that would give you 20ft +/- of cane to cut up and attempt the cutting culm technique for additional plants. Is that correct?

How old of a culm are you using to propagate? I'm greedy with my culms and attempted a branch propagation technique through air layering and the experiment has not worked out to well.

Thank you so much for your interaction and expertise from experience.
Ophiuchus
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

Cooper12 wrote:id love clone x and oldhamii here in my 8B out west. i haven't tried clone x but Oldhamii gets torched . i may try growing it as a perennial one day
Thanks for you input Cooper. For the same reasons I've eliminated these species of bamboo, is the same reason I don't want to attempt to grow an avocado tree. You have to wait too long for the desired results only to have a freeze kill your plant or kick you back to the perennial root ball.

My pilot plant is a 3gal Gracillis (planted Oct '15) and the winter took it's toll on it with leaf burn and culm browning. New leaves are branching out, but the strain of winter is pretty evident. One culm of the four is scarred towards the bottom.
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Kentuck
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Kentuck »

Ophiuchus. yes I have a newly potted single culm with no limbs. It will put on new growth by the end of Summer, from the ground level or sometimes from a node. The upper culms can be used for propagation by I don't waste my time since I don't have very good success from cuttings. I used the culms for other things or sell them. I have used culms of all ages, even previous years culms since they are the outer most and easiest to dig around but I think an older culm may do better. I posted a picture of about 8 or 10 that I did several years ago. I did a B. chungii and a CloneX this year but the CloneX has limbs on the lower nodes so it looks great. I have a few more to take divisions from yet this year.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by fredgpops »

Thick wall bamboo only does well re multimode direct planting re clumpers. Some thinner wall may survive but don't count on it. Base line is Buddha Belly. Any thing less requires a prayer to him but will die if directed to the Donald. Rgds
Ophiuchus
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

Kentuck wrote:Ophiuchus. yes I have a newly potted single culm with no limbs. It will put on new growth by the end of Summer, from the ground level or sometimes from a node. The upper culms can be used for propagation by I don't waste my time since I don't have very good success from cuttings. I used the culms for other things or sell them. I have used culms of all ages, even previous years culms since they are the outer most and easiest to dig around but I think an older culm may do better. I posted a picture of about 8 or 10 that I did several years ago. I did a B. chungii and a CloneX this year but the CloneX has limbs on the lower nodes so it looks great. I have a few more to take divisions from yet this year.
It sounds like the cuttings method is very difficult. I'm exploring air layering and will let you know the results.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

fredgpops wrote:Thick wall bamboo only does well re multimode direct planting re clumpers. Some thinner wall may survive but don't count on it. Base line is Buddha Belly. Any thing less requires a prayer to him but will die if directed to the Donald. Rgds
Thank you for your input.
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Kentuck
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Kentuck »

Ophiuchus wrote:
Kentuck wrote:Ophiuchus. yes I have a newly potted single culm with no limbs. It will put on new growth by the end of Summer, from the ground level or sometimes from a node. The upper culms can be used for propagation by I don't waste my time since I don't have very good success from cuttings. I used the culms for other things or sell them. I have used culms of all ages, even previous years culms since they are the outer most and easiest to dig around but I think an older culm may do better. I posted a picture of about 8 or 10 that I did several years ago. I did a B. chungii and a CloneX this year but the CloneX has limbs on the lower nodes so it looks great. I have a few more to take divisions from yet this year.
It sounds like the cuttings method is very difficult. I'm exploring air layering and will let you know the results.
Yes, keep me posted.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

Kentuck wrote:
Ophiuchus wrote:
Kentuck wrote:Ophiuchus. yes I have a newly potted single culm with no limbs. It will put on new growth by the end of Summer, from the ground level or sometimes from a node. The upper culms can be used for propagation by I don't waste my time since I don't have very good success from cuttings. I used the culms for other things or sell them. I have used culms of all ages, even previous years culms since they are the outer most and easiest to dig around but I think an older culm may do better. I posted a picture of about 8 or 10 that I did several years ago. I did a B. chungii and a CloneX this year but the CloneX has limbs on the lower nodes so it looks great. I have a few more to take divisions from yet this year.
It sounds like the cuttings method is very difficult. I'm exploring air layering and will let you know the results.
Yes, keep me posted.
Indeed, I Will. Usually when I'm this excited about something, I am inevitably exhausted from a let down. What often makes sense is not reality. I will post pics on the progress, this is something all boo enthusiasts need to know.
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Kentuck
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Kentuck »

I never have done air layering. I tried propagation by cutting using one year old, or older, upper culms with at least 2 nodes. I leave the upper internode longer and fill it with water, as I was told to do so to help keep the cutting from drying out. If possible, I would leave 2 nodes underground but most were too far apart so I used only one node underground. Most looked great for the first few weeks to months, but then they slowly died off. This Summer Texas heat might have been the problem. I might have done better at different times of the year.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

Kentuck wrote:I never have done air layering. I tried propagation by cutting using one year old, or older, upper culms with at least 2 nodes. I leave the upper internode longer and fill it with water, as I was told to do so to help keep the cutting from drying out. If possible, I would leave 2 nodes underground but most were too far apart so I used only one node underground. Most looked great for the first few weeks to months, but then they slowly died off. This Summer Texas heat might have been the problem. I might have done better at different times of the year.
The cutting and division propagation technique is all I have been able to find on the web. I've seen the air layering with many types of plants, but never applied to bamboo.

Did you put your cuttings in the shade while they attempt to take root?
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Kentuck »

Yes, I keep all my cuttings and even the rootball divisions in the shade, but in bright light. Sometimes the plants will get early morning sun or late evening sun but otherwise nothing but shade. The sun here will dry out the plants if they get too much sun before having a chance to start rooting and growing. That is a problem with this time of the year here, but it is when I have the best results. Other times of the year the propagations are slower to take off and sometimes they expire. One thing though, if you get a good sized rootball, and do not disturb the roots much, no matter what time of the year it is, the plant will survive. My problem has been trying to get smaller divisions to survive. Smaller division are for shipping out to save on shipping fees.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

Kentuck wrote:Yes, I keep all my cuttings and even the rootball divisions in the shade, but in bright light. Sometimes the plants will get early morning sun or late evening sun but otherwise nothing but shade. The sun here will dry out the plants if they get too much sun before having a chance to start rooting and growing. That is a problem with this time of the year here, but it is when I have the best results. Other times of the year the propagations are slower to take off and sometimes they expire. One thing though, if you get a good sized rootball, and do not disturb the roots much, no matter what time of the year it is, the plant will survive. My problem has been trying to get smaller divisions to survive. Smaller division are for shipping out to save on shipping fees.
Are you in the Bamboo business of selling plants? How do you market your boo? My intentions are to establish 3 varieties of boo for sale, but it will be 3 to 4 yrs before they mature. Fortunately I live on a rural hwy that gets modest to good traffic flow. If I can make a presentation in my own yard, I feel quite certain others in our area will want it.

If my propagation experiment works, a 2" root ball with a short leafy culm would be ideal to ship.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Kentuck »

[quote="Ophiuchus"quote]

Are you in the Bamboo business of selling plants? How do you market your boo? My intentions are to establish 3 varieties of boo for sale, but it will be 3 to 4 yrs before they mature. Fortunately I live on a rural hwy that gets modest to good traffic flow. If I can make a presentation in my own yard, I feel quite certain others in our area will want it.

If my propagation experiment works, a 2" root ball with a short leafy culm would be ideal to ship.[/quote]

I am not in the business now of selling plants but I have the opportunity to do so in the future. As of now I am just getting back into propagating and trading with other bamboo growers after a few years of absence from serious bamboo growing. I know someone who owns a business that wants me to sell them if I get enough divisions potted up for him. Our plan is to plant a few clumps at his business for show, then to keep plenty on hand for the buyers. He is in a good location and gets a lot of long distance travelers stopping in. Few varieties is best for me also. At most, I would pick about 10 or 12 varieties(all Bambusas) that do the best here and have eye catching aesthetics and go from there. I do not have the time, stamina, nor physical wellness anymore to do a large scale nursery.

I found a picture of some divisions that I took of from my textilis many years ago, all of which lived. The picture also shows the tools that I used at that time(I use different tools now), and the tops of the culms that were cut off of the divisions leaning against a tree behind the pots. They all appear to be yearling divisions in this picture. I don't know how to post it though.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Ophiuchus »

Kentuck wrote:
I am not in the business now of selling plants but I have the opportunity to do so in the future. As of now I am just getting back into propagating and trading with other bamboo growers after a few years of absence from serious bamboo growing. I know someone who owns a business that wants me to sell them if I get enough divisions potted up for him. Our plan is to plant a few clumps at his business for show, then to keep plenty on hand for the buyers. He is in a good location and gets a lot of long distance travelers stopping in. Few varieties is best for me also. At most, I would pick about 10 or 12 varieties(all Bambusas) that do the best here and have eye catching aesthetics and go from there. I do not have the time, stamina, nor physical wellness anymore to do a large scale nursery.

I found a picture of some divisions that I took of from my textilis many years ago, all of which lived. The picture also shows the tools that I used at that time(I use different tools now), and the tops of the culms that were cut off of the divisions leaning against a tree behind the pots. They all appear to be yearling divisions in this picture. I don't know how to post it though.

I am having the same problem with posting pics. I took some yesterday of my new air propagators (6 shells one came in broken) from opening the package to installing them on branches. I bent two of the branches and now the leaves are starving for water. I'll abort those and try again today. I am really hoping the branch propagation works, but I feel real good about the process applied to an individual culm. The branches require a lot of support to hold the weight of the propagator, but the culms should have no problem in their erect stature. I will have to order the larger propagator to test that theory. I really wanted to avoid using culms for propagation, but I should be able to get multiple large propagators on one culm. So I guess it is not too bad of a trade off, multiple plants for one culm.
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Re: Newbie Zone 8b

Post by Kentuck »

Yes, I'd like to see your propagator also. Sounds interesting. I forgot to mention, sometimes when I top off a culm after taking a division, I will cut it into about 3-foot sections and stick them in the ground next to where my air conditioner condenser water drips from the unit, and it is also next to where I have a water faucet. The ground remains moist there and gets no direct sunlight. I have had a couple start to grow this way but I lost them later when I neglected to keep them watered enough during our droughts or also it could have been the excessive Summer heat that did them it. I have more time now so I may try to propagate by cutting again and see if I can find the best way and time of year to do this technique.
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