New to Boo, advice appreciated re: my fargesia

Ask questions about growing bamboo

Moderator: needmore

Post Reply
w0bboo
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri May 13, 2016 9:44 am
Location info: 0
Location: Midlands, UK

New to Boo, advice appreciated re: my fargesia

Post by w0bboo »

Hi there,

This spring I *finally* got to do something with the garden! In my minds eye, I'd have a screen of bamboo running across the back of my garden.

Modest (meagre) budget dictated I could only get young plants - and my novice research led me to looking for Fargesia Robusta Campbell, due to eventual height, hardiness, speed of growth, controllability of spread etc.

I had to drive about an hour to find somewhere that sold it, and I purchased two 20L plants for £45 each. They were approx 30-40 culms each, and approx 4ft tall.

I mixed manure and compost with the existing soil, soaked the plants for half an hour before bedding it in, and have watered it daily.

Within the 6 weeks or so I've had them, they've thrown up at least 25 new shoots each, some of which are approaching the height of the rest of the older culms, but generally only about 80% the diameter.

I got the bug. I found myself driving to Derbyshire on my day off to buy more. The supplier there was amazing and i left with 3x 10L Robusta Campbell and 2x 7.5L Superjumbo (at his recommendation).

Image

I planted these alternately, and fed every two weeks with a high nitrogen grass feed. One watering can of watered down concentrate between the 5 of them.

I've been watering them most days with a gallon between the 5, and a gallon shared between the original 2. Doubling this on those recent scorching days.

Here they are in a trench of good soil, to hopefully encourage the direction of their growth.
Image

Over the last few weeks, the new 3x Campbell have put up 4-5 culms each, mostly smaller in diameter than their biggest existing culms, and one upsized.
The Superjumbo have not shooted at all.

The first thing i noticed is that one of the 'Campbells' I bought doesn't not appear to be Campbell. The 2 originals, and 3 other Campbells I bought have very different leaves, and the shoots look different. I called the garden center I got the original two from, and they say they no nothing other than it's "Fargesia Robusta".

So I'm fairly sure it isn't Campbell but I dont know what it is. The new culms aren't hairy like the other 3 Campbells, and the leaves are much fatter and larger.

Here's a photo of the mystery boo

Image

My concerns are despite daily watering and the recent addition of Blood/Fish/Bone food, I'd say a good 90% of the leaves across all the bamboo have crispy brown tips.

It seems to get worse the higher up the plants, and the top 25% of each (presumably the most recent shoots before I owned them) are almost completely dying off.

Image

It's across all 3 types, but less noticeable on the Superjumbo.

Even some of the brand new culms, and their tiny foliage, appears to have started down the same road

Image
Please excuse the oven burn on my hand!


I'm deeply concerned that I'm killing them, but have no experience to draw from.

I've spent many nights trawling around this and other forums, trying to find similar issues, and that led me to the grass food, and the blood/bone food etc

Relevant facts may include:

I'm in Climate zone 8 I think...

The soil they were planted in was very poor quality and included lots of rubble, so is very free draining, I've yet to get water to sit on the surface for more than 60 seconds even when I give them a big drink. Obviously it was replaced directly around the plants and in the connecting troughs with good quality soil, but I believe it's likely to still drain well. (too well?)

There's a blustery wind most of the time as the run of back gardens tends to be a bit of a wind alley, but no culms have ever broken from it.

Any thoughts suggestions and comments eagerly appreciated!

Thanks,

Rob.
T9D
Posts: 196
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 6:09 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Oregon - 8b zone

Re: New to Boo, advice appreciated re: my fargesia

Post by T9D »

Two gallons between 7 plants? Why so greedy with the water? You should be hosing that whole trench down with a shower nozzle and soaking it all in. Help the roots spread out and go deep.

I got rid of my Fargesia rufa because it hates the wind and sun. Fried the crud out of it all the time. Sounds like Robusta likes some shade too. But it is the first year so I wouldn't worry to much about it. Once established it should be much better. Give it a year or two. in the meantime get some more water on it and stop holding back. Keep that entire trench watered down and spray down all the leaves in the morning too. Maybe every other day or so do that. Maybe a few days. When it's super hot out I water my bamboo every day when it's new, drenching the heck out of it, it always loved it and was never to much. The only time I had a problem with to much water was when I had some in pots and I added way way to much compost, that stuff held water like a sponge.
ukesox
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat May 14, 2016 8:43 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Norfolk

Re: New to Boo, advice appreciated re: my fargesia

Post by ukesox »

Hi
Your mystery Fargesia might well be a robusta "Pingwu" which has larger leaves than the "Campbell" & isn't uncommon in UK outlets. If so, it's not quite as hardy & has a more pendulous form than the more upright robusta "Campbell".

It sounds like you've done everything right re the planting & are maybe being a little over anxious. 6 weeks is way too early to come to any firm conclusions. Re the browning of leaf tips, it's not uncommon for Boo's to take a bit of time to "settle in" & overcome the shock of moving from pot to ground. I'd say a gallon of water per plant every other day (daily if hot) is more appropriate till they get established. Keep watering them & have faith!
If the wind from the North is tunnelled, your Boo's wont like it, otherwise it'll be fine.
w0bboo
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri May 13, 2016 9:44 am
Location info: 0
Location: Midlands, UK

Re: New to Boo, advice appreciated re: my fargesia

Post by w0bboo »

OK great! I'll give them a gallon each! I'd read that over and under watering looked the same so I was perhaps too cautious of over watering.

Not sure if i'm overthinking it, but if i pour a gallon on with a watering can, it appears to all disappear so fast i'm worried its just flying past the boo and draining away.
I've been looking at some 'dripper' style irrigation kits as they are super cheap, to try and give them the same amount of water but slower.

Thanks for the reply!
T9D
Posts: 196
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 6:09 pm
Location info: 0
Location: Oregon - 8b zone

Re: New to Boo, advice appreciated re: my fargesia

Post by T9D »

Over watering and under watering look different. Over watering the leaves turn yellow all the way, the entire leaf. The leafs look normal but yellow. To dry and under watering the leaves start to get brown dried edges, some yellow, and slowly wither. You clearly have to little water. If it's hotter and dryer than where it was before being planted then they need a bigger root system and more water to cope with it. Like I said if you spray down the whole trench and all around it it will help the roots spread and keep the moisture more balanced. If it does go straight through when you water like you say then it's not spreading out enough for one and will leave dry areas and dry out again to fast. You really want it to spread out and go very deep. Trust me, those fargesia grow awesome normally in some shade and moist ground. They love it here in Oregon more west from me where it gets lots of cloudy days and totally wet ground most the entire year. Where I'm at though it's super super dry and hot. My Rufa was doing the same as yours when I put it in a lot of sun and heat, the only thing that kept it going was my massive amount of watering. But one day it got so hot and so windy and I got busy and thought it would be fine to miss a day, boy was I wrong, that is when it got totally fried. I said I'm done with Fargesia in hot dry places and sold mine. When it was more shaded and cooler it grew awesome. I gave a bunch to my mom more west where it's more shaded and wet almost constantly and they are doing great. If it's hot and dry you really have to keep them very moist, especially the first year or two. Upping the water to a gallon each should help a lot, you can start there, but I really think spraying the whole area is the way to go. You really don't want to get one of those super hot windy days and find it all totally fried at the end of the day. It happens really fast. In one single day it happened to me. At least if you over water it's gradual and you can always back down. I've found if it drains well it's extremely hard to over water though. Right now you are definitely under watering and should be more liberal with the water than not. Plus the water around it will bring up the humidity a bit and help the air around it not be so dry.

To give you an idea of how much I water all my bamboo I would dump an entire 5 gallon bucket of water from my pond on each bamboo every day on hot and windy days. Every other day on not as hot and windy days. I made a round dam wide around them so it totally flooded an area around the bamboo and would sink in deep and wide. They all love it and did much better. When I wasn't doing that I had the same problem like you have with dried leaves. In the end though fargesia where I'm at are just not worth the hassle and stress and don't like the heat, to much direct sun, and wind, so I got rid of them.
Post Reply