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I'm planning to divide plants in the ground to finish my fence line. Will single culm division work going from ground to ground?

Secondly, when dividing pots into single culm division and making new 3 gal pots, how long does it take for a root ball to establish well enough to be taken from pot and put in the ground?

Thanks

Ophiuchus wrote:I'm planning to divide plants in the ground to finish my fence line. Will single culm division work going from ground to ground?

Yes, but it depends on how well you are able to divide, and the amount of damage to the rhizome and root systems. Try to get clean cuts at the rhizome necks. If you need to top culms in order to compensate for extensive root loss, that is fine. If you have culms from last year that have not yet begun to branch, these work best.

Ophiuchus wrote:Secondly, when dividing pots into single culm division and making new 3 gal pots, how long does it take for a root ball to establish well enough to be taken from pot and put in the ground?

They should be ready by mid summer, with proper care.

Single culm divisions can work, but multi culm divisions work more reliably. Either way, try to get some length of rhizome, with runners, or a nice grouping of culms with some root mass with clumpers, preferably with visible culm buds, with each division. It is possible to make a living division that will never do anything if there are no culm buds present on roots.

Potting up so you can stabilize for a few months is a good way to go, but if you get enough roots with divisions, directly planting them works, if you have provision for daily watering. I do this regularly with plantings I install commercially, with great success, but the divisions I use are usually large, the sort you would want a machine to handle.

As Glen mentioned, less mature growth transplants more easily and seems to take better. Large, mature divisions can be transplanted, but can be a logistical challenge to move for most, and may take a season or two to pick up growing again.

Thanks Glen and Dependable. Most of the culms that I will be dividing have not branched out yet, so based on your observation I should have good success.

Make sure the divisions are stable once planted. You do not want the unrooted divisions to move around too much in the wind. Staking is sometimes necessary.

Let us know how it goes!

Here's an update. Observing the plants that seem to want to survive with visible new growth, I've got about a 75% success ratio on the single culm in pot to pot division and 60% in ground to in ground. I will admit I was very aggressive to get single culm divisions.

I'm still watering daily the one's that have completely dead culms and have my fingers crossed to see a survival shoot emerge soon. Any opinions on when I should abort the plants that show no sign of life?

How did you divide the plants? I want to try this with a couple of mine in pots.

Ophiuchus wrote:Here's an update. Observing the plants that seem to want to survive with visible new growth, I've got about a 75% success ratio on the single culm in pot to pot division and 60% in ground to in ground. I will admit I was very aggressive to get single culm divisions.

I'm still watering daily the one's that have completely dead culms and have my fingers crossed to see a survival shoot emerge soon. Any opinions on when I should abort the plants that show no sign of life?

Thanks for the update! It sound like you are on the right track. For a first attempt, that is a very good result. With a little experience you can get around 100% in pots.

It is fine to be aggressive with divisions. Just keep the roots moist continuously while you work. It is easier to divide plants that are not extremely rootbound, so never skip a year on divisions.

Remember to fertilize the divisions well. It will make a big difference in the vigor of the new plants.

When you say "completely dead", do you mean that they have turned brown/tan?

Just curious....what species did you divide, and how many divisions were made?

I divided 31 7 gal pots into 284 7 gal pots. I have noticed the Emerald was much more root bound than the other species and it's success rate is lower than the Graceful. I also divided Kanapaha and Old Hamii. The Old Hamii was pretty beat up from the storm and it appears that only 14 divisions will make it from 6 original pots.

When I say dead, yes, they are completely tan/brown top to bottom. I'm hoping the root ball is still alive and will send out a shoot soon, but I'm not holding my breath.

If the culm was green when you made the division, and it died back later, I think the division is probably dead. If you do not need to reuse the pots right away, you could wait until the end of May, just in case.

Was not a 7 gal to much smaller 7 gal too big of a pot for this? I'm picturing root rot from cold soggy soils?