If you stake 'em you might break 'em

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Bamboomoon
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If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by Bamboomoon »

I transplanted some v. Aureocaulis "Yellow Vivax" in August, and staked the transplant with metal posts that allowed me to tie off the culms to the stakes. Very effective for windy conditions, but not so hot for snow. We had 4 inches last night, and this morning the culms were broken just above the tie off points. I didn't think to go out and untie them when I heard the snow was coming. I've heard that Aureocaulis isn't too hardy in snow, but the mother plant looks fine ....
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Re: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by Roy »

Bamboomoon wrote:I transplanted some v. Aureocaulis "Yellow Vivax" in August, and staked the transplant with metal posts that allowed me to tie off the culms to the stakes. Very effective for windy conditions, but not so hot for snow. We had 4 inches last night, and this morning the culms were broken just above the tie off points. I didn't think to go out and untie them when I heard the snow was coming. I've heard that Aureocaulis isn't too hardy in snow, but the mother plant looks fine ....
That's the reason I lay my potted bamboos down on the ground during hurricanes.
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Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a
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RE: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a »

Bamboo culms get their strength by spreading the stress out over the entire length of the culm. They can break whenever all of the stress gets concentrated at one point on the culm, such as when they are tied up or they are leaning across and touching the top of a fence or wall.
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RE: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by Bamboomoon »

I have learned this the hard way, but thanks for the retrospective advice ...
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RE: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by Iowaboo »

I thought about not growing vivax because I heard about its weak culms. But I darest to growest it. Why? Because it'll probably die to the ground every year. No worries. :wink:
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Re: RE: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by danjcla »

Mike,Marietta,SC,z8a wrote:Bamboo culms get their strength by spreading the stress out over the entire length of the culm. They can break whenever all of the stress gets concentrated at one point on the culm, such as when they are tied up or they are leaning across and touching the top of a fence or wall.
That is a troublesome thought... I have a bunch of culms I'm going to need to stake permanently due to proximity to road and sidewalk.

Does anyone have known-to-work-well method to avoid this breaking-point problem? My first thought is to make a microphone shock mount type support, that would allow some movement and spread the stress over a larger area.

Either something like this but with say 1" wide rubber bands arrayed one atop the other neatly:
Image

Or like this but maybe with some kind of padding added in the interior, like a bit of water pipe insulation:
Image

And in either case with much prettier materials :-)
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Re: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by mshaffer »

You could try a girth hitch with a large 1/2" diameter rope. That's basically what I do and none of them have died that I did that way.
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dependable
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Re: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by dependable »

While not eliminating the single stress point, a method I use is to tie some arborist's webbing between two trees or posts, and hold a group of culms in more upright position between them. This also has the benefit of being quick and easy, as opposed to tying individual culms.

Regular line works too, but the webbing is flat and easier on the culms. It is the same as heavy duty (3/4 to 1 inch wide) electricians pull tape, if you have that around, but the arborist stuff is green. AM leonard stocks it, last I looked.
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Re: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by Alan_L »

The height at which you tie is a big factor too -- maybe that's obvious. The higher you go the less stress is put on the connection point. I'm not sure what a good rule of thumb is for that though...
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Re: If you stake 'em you might break 'em

Post by danjcla »

dependable wrote:Regular line works too, but the webbing is flat and easier on the culms. It is the same as heavy duty (3/4 to 1 inch wide) electricians pull tape, if you have that around, but the arborist stuff is green.
I'm using Green Plastic Garden Tape for now, as Nylon Webbing would be so heavy for the thin non-hardened shoots it'd just drag them down. I tried placing it so that in heavy wind each culm would end up being supported around 1/3 and 2/3 of the way up.
Incense Bamboo - Green Garden Tape_1000_1000.jpg
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