Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

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aireque_slc
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Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by aireque_slc »

Sorry to be the newbie. I searched the forum so as not to be that guy who restarts the same threads.

I live in Salt Lake City on the valley floor at 7b hardiness at best. I want a bamboo that will create a thick, tall screen, but also be useful as timber and possibly for eating new shoots. I don't want to deal with running varieties, I've got too much going on with my garden to be worrying about a takeover. Any help is very appreciated.

Thank you,

Eric
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by needmore »

Not really, you'd have to go with a running form. The hardiest clumpers I'm aware of with any size will tolerate a brief, rare spell in the upper teens but prolonged/frequent below freezing temps will surely knock them down.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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aireque_slc
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by aireque_slc »

Thanks for the information. I may have to swallow my fear of running bamboo and just do the best I can to make sure that it doesn't spread. I was really hoping for a low maintenance, visual barrier, but I guess that growing something that I can use to build and to eat, as well as providing a privacy screen is worth the extra effort of containing the invasive beast.
Cooper12
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by Cooper12 »

I live at 3000 ft in Northern California and can not get any to grow here. just the shorter Borinda and Fargesia for the most part .
I've seen Fargesia robusta too maybe 15 ft. it is rated to zone 7 but at that zone i don't think it would be near that size.
The other thing where you are is its very dry and still gets quite hot in the summer with cold dry winter winds. In Reno and Boise the hardy clumpers like Fargesia nitida and rufa need protection from drying winter wind and afternoon summer shade is a must. Here where I am in the lower Sierra my Fargesia rufra and Scabrida do fine in the sun with mulch on the roots but we do not get the extreme low summer humidity and dry winter winds.
Jason Floyd
Hangtown Farms

Emmett Idaho
Zone 7A
Potato country
SteveFromBambooWorld
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by SteveFromBambooWorld »

Hey aireque_slc, I see the main part of your question has already been answered. However there are hardy timbers that do run less than others. I would suggest based on your zone that you go with some kind of Phyllostachys aureosulcata. They don't run as much, and in a zone 7 you will see some nice sized canes, plus P. aureosulcata have an incredibly tropical look! Also it is worth noting that you can contain your Timber Bamboo's with yearly or twice yearly root pruning.
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by dependable »

In zone 7 P aureosulcata gets around as quickly as anything else, except P bissetti. I do agree it looks great and gets to full size. Regular yellow groove and alata seem to be faster then spectabilis, aureocaulis is even a bit slower, at least here.

I would nominate P nuda as one of the slower runners. Then there are the ones that may not be slow, but tend to get knocked back by winter kill, but that is something else, and perhaps even more location specific.
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by johnw »

Here in Z6 P. aureosulcata is a notorious runner. I would presume in your Z7 it would go rather wild.

Though root hardy in Z6 it can, like all the aureosulcatas, get badly damaged by brief temps of -4F and lower. We've seen some dead leaves at brief lows of 0 to 4F. None of the Phyllo spp. are thoroughly reliable in a cold winter, one which still rates within the limits of a true Z6 - (0 to -10F). Oft quoted ratings of aureosulcata of -29F are simply preposterous.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by Tarzanus »

P. aureosulcata is also not the best when it comes to the quality of wood. Culm walls are rather thin and not the strongest.
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by Nicholas »

You may want to consider phyllostachys parvifolia.

It is quite cold hardy, has pretty solid culms, can get rather tall, usually does not run as much as most phyllostachys (but also tends to grow a bit slower because of this) , and has side branches that go quite low down the culm even on more mature plants if you want it for privacy.

all the best,

Nicholas
aireque_slc
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by aireque_slc »

Wow, what a great community! Thanks for all your help folks!

Eric
SteveFromBambooWorld
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by SteveFromBambooWorld »

You guys are right, I'm not sure what I was thinking while answering before... P. aureosulcata isn't exactly whats being asked for, especially for decent timber.

Upon review of the question, I think a better pick if you wanted wood quality and a somewhat less aggressive runner, i'd lean towards something like P. nigra 'Othello'. We've been growing it for awhile and the wood quality is like other P. nigra's, but it's shown itself to be overall smaller with canes closer together.
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by pokenei »

The issue with parvifolia is that it looks bushy with culms leaning all over the place for the first few years. You may not get the straight thick culms until maybe the 5th or 6th year after planting.
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by johnw »

How did P. parvifolia fare in the bad winters you had in Toronto back in 2014 - 2016? We have big ones circa 12-15ft here but still not in the ground, going to be trouble when they shoot this year.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
cordyman
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by cordyman »

My Fargesia Robusta Campbell clumper is very rampant, much more than my other Fargesias, super tall, thick screen, and we've had some bad winters here in the UK with temps dropping below zero, lowest recorded temp -8*c in recent years, and these are followed by ice days. Robusta always stays green and lush.
cordyman
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Re: Cold hardy clumping timber varieties; do they exist?

Post by cordyman »

One thing missing from the Robusta Campbell I guess is the timber aspect you asking for :lol:
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