Fargesia robusta winter damage

[marymmcc]

My fargesia robusta 'green screen' suffered from a lot of winter damage. The plants are about 7 years old, and have never suffered from top burn before this year. All of the leaves are a brittle brown, and there remains a slight green colour to the bottom 12 inches of culm.The photos were taken in mid April, and now, one month later, there has been no change - no leaf drop, no new culms emerging, no new green leaves.
I am unsure of how to prune?
where on the culm should I prune?
when should I prune?

Thanks for any assistance.
Toronto, Ontario zone 6a

[dependable]

The tops are gone, there maybe some energy in the green parts the plant can salvage. But at this point, I would cut all the old growth off above new shoots. I recently did this with mine, I used a gas hedge trimmer. If you are careful, you can probably do this without damaging new shoots.

The alternative is to wait for new shoots to come up and harden off and then hand prune out all the old dead culms.

[marymmcc]

The alternative is to wait for new shoots to come up and harden off and then hand prune out all the old dead culms.

How long should I wait for new shoots? Are you referring to new leaves or to culms emerging from the ground?

Thanks again.

[johnw]

Mary - Don't expect many new leaves from the green stubbs at the base of those canes; you may get none at all. Robusta is one of the first Fargesias to send up new shoots (i.e. canes/culms). I would leave all the old dead material on to give some wind protection and support to the new culms. I reckon given TO's weather if you don't see new shoots by mid June then the roots may be dead but that is highly improbable. Personally I'd not given up hope until next spring, just a matter of how long you can tolerate the view.

[moriphen]

I see green leaves at the base of the bamboo clump. I would expect shoots between June and July of this year, based on how large you're plants already are and how vigorous F. robustsa can be. I'd leave the old culms up to provide support for the new shoots. Prune the dead growth after the old shots have hardened off. If it helps I was in a similar situation with my robusta's this spring. Patience was rewarded with releafing and new shoots.

[marymmcc]

thanks for your advice and reassurance!

[marymmcc]

update:
There was no releafing of any culms. I have had new shoots that are now about 5" tall, though they are quite thin and probably total under 20 for 4 (seven year old) plants. I have significantly thinned out the old dead culms, leaving some for support of the new culms, as per advice given. It looks pretty pathetic! Any advice on how to strengthen and encourage new growth? Thanks again.

[T9D]

I'd cut the dead tops off. The small leaves that are left need sun to reach them to produce more energy to stay alive and start to thrive. The bad weather is over. Next winter you can just put something over the small amount that is left to protect them.

[stevelau1911]

Mary, has your fargesia robustas recovered?

Mine got fried pretty badly last winter too with most of the leaves burned, but they came back with similar sized shoots, then there was another wave of shoots allowing them to get to around double the height they were at the same time last year. They are growing in mostly shade.

Robusta Campbell

Robusta Wolong

[dependable]

Here is what mine looks like now. Note there are a few very recent shoots, these are 3 ft or under. This was a very large plant, stump area 5-6 ft diameter. There was no new shooting in center 2.5 ft.

Will probably pull this out and divide it this fall.

[marymmcc]

very sparse shoots, tallest 3 feet. I am hoping (naively??) for a big comeback next spring.

[stevelau1911]

I guess our plants are pretty much on par now in terms of size.

You just happen to have many different plants now that the center is dead.

[marymmcc]

If the center of my plants are dead, how would I cut and divide to keep the plants in-line?

[stevelau1911]

Once the entire plant is taken out of the ground, it won't be hard to tell the separate plants apart. Now is not that good of a time to divide since winter is coming, but once the ground unfreezes some time in late March, and it gets very close to shooting season, it should be fine to divide the entire clump into a few sections after getting it all out of the ground.

Both of yours took much more damage than mine did, but mine gets a micro-climate by having complete wind block with a forest on the north and west sides, along with being in relatively low elevation, plus partial shade which helps fargesias keep their moisture. Mine looks like it is set to explode in size next year because the rhizome buds look way bigger than they've ever looked.

[dependable]

I yanked the 'green screen' last weekend. Here are some pictures and observations.

Since Mary's plants are less established & not root bound, I would think she does not have to divide at all.

By the feel of the machine, this clump probably weighed between 600 & 800 pounds.

It was very dense. Some of the central dead culms may have been dead longer than last winter's top kill.