Growing bamboo in fabric pots? Lako help.

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Ophiuchus
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Re: Growing bamboo in fabric pots? Lako help.

Post by Ophiuchus »

Glen wrote:
da7id wrote:I cut back on fertilizer going into winter - I'll hit it with some this afternoon - maybe that's the issue - tons of water would have diluted whatever fertilizer it had (mostly composted manure) right?
I did not plan to fertilize my in ground plants again until shooting season (June-Oct). I gave them all 33-0-0 monthly through this years season. I added mulch, but no organic material such as manure. What is the best fertilization schedule in your opinion?

This is off topic, but I pruned the top killed culms from my Graceful sometime in April. I did get aggressive with what I took out, probably 50%. The root ball shot out a tremendous amount of worthless small diameter culms which were a pain to trim out to a reasonable level. I would say I definitely experienced "Downsizing", but I'm not sure if it came from over pruning or the brutal winter. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks :D .
Ophiuchus
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Re: Growing bamboo in fabric pots? Lako help.

Post by Ophiuchus »

One more thing on this Lako species, as far as I know the cold tolerance is 27 degrees and suitable for climate zone 9B or warmer. It seems I've read it struggles to survive anything north of Orlando Fl.

HOWEVER, I do appreciate testing the climate zones to determine if this beautiful plant would be worth dealing with accounting for the winters. I elected not to grow Black Bamboo because of this and I'd really like to know the end result of your conclusions. I would really like to change my opinions, but it seems like I remember someone posting their own difficulties around Tampa Fl.
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Glen
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Re: Growing bamboo in fabric pots? Lako help.

Post by Glen »

Ophiuchus wrote:I did not plan to fertilize my in ground plants again until shooting season (June-Oct). I gave them all 33-0-0 monthly through this years season. I added mulch, but no organic material such as manure. What is the best fertilization schedule in your opinion?
I think you are on track with what you are doing. I would recommend that you start a little earlier, maybe one application in early to mid April. By then, they should be producing leaves, and preparing to initiate new rhizomes. The new rhizomes start growth some time before they emerge as new shoots. I like to make sure that fertility is high when the plants initiate this new underground growth, since I suspect that influences culm diameter for the year.
Ophiuchus wrote:This is off topic, but I pruned the top killed culms from my Graceful sometime in April. I did get aggressive with what I took out, probably 50%. The root ball shot out a tremendous amount of worthless small diameter culms which were a pain to trim out to a reasonable level. I would say I definitely experienced "Downsizing", but I'm not sure if it came from over pruning or the brutal winter. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks :D .
Anything that limits photosynthetic area can lead to downsizing. It is certainly fine to cut out all dead culms. I would probably leave culms that are still green, even if their buds have been killed. I personally would not cut out any new shoots, even if they are a mess. The plant needs every leaf that it can produce, since these fuel new rounds of shoots. Of course, sometimes the mess may be bad enough that you need to make a compromise for aesthetic reasons.
Ophiuchus
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Re: Growing bamboo in fabric pots? Lako help.

Post by Ophiuchus »

Thanks Glen,

Good thoughts. I will take your advise and fertilize in the Spring.

The Graceful that shot out enormous amounts of small shoots is looking great. I probably cut out about 25% of the new shoots as it was just too concentrated with puny culm size. The ones that I left are reaching about 10-12' in height and maybe 1/2" in diameter. This Boo was planted as a 3 gallon pot November 2015 and has a 4' footprint.

Overall the plant is extremely healthy, just not gaining the size and height of the other Graceful planted 6 months later that I did not prune back as hard.

Glen, you are a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate you sharing your Bamboo experience on this forum. 8)

Thanks again,

Ophiuchus; E. Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One)
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