Downsizing

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Ophiuchus
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Downsizing

Post by Ophiuchus »

I've been real excited to see how this years shooting season will do with my plants entering their 3rd year, but I'm also very concerned the storm may have downsized them.

All of the shoots coming up this year have really gone back to first year size. I realize it is not shooting season yet, should I expect to see larger culms coming up in June?
mshaffer
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Re: Downsizing

Post by mshaffer »

My moso grove is looking kind of haggard too. A squirrel cut off a lot of branches in the nicest part of the grove to make a nest. One of the 3.5" shoots from last year died for no apparent reason. Squirrels have eaten 3 of the 5 shoots so far this year. I've been thinking about getting a 10,000 volt neon sign transformer to take care of my squirrel problem..
Tarzanus
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Re: Downsizing

Post by Tarzanus »

I will also see downsize on many of my bamboos. Moso got up-rooted by snow because the soil is infested with voles and they removed soil under the plant. I have no idea what to do about it.

There was quite some cold related damage.

Due to unknown reason, Rufa is also not performing. Shoots are small and scarce. Shoot number must be lowest until now. Perhaps it needs drastic pruning.
Nicholas
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Re: Downsizing

Post by Nicholas »

Some of my boos took quite a hit from a brief cold spell this winter, huangwenzhu lost most of its leaves as did a potted bashania fargesii.
We'll see how it affects their shooting soon. So far from the phyllostachys only Shanghai 3 has thrown up two odd shoots.
Tarzanus wrote: Due to unknown reason, Rufa is also not performing. Shoots are small and scarce. Shoot number must be lowest until now. Perhaps it needs drastic pruning.
I'd leave pruning as a final resort if everything else has failed. I have a rufa sitting in a really bad spot (its a 1m wide strip in between a paved parking lot and a walkway exposed to wind and full sun) and it is shooting like mad without any watering or maintenance. The only thing I initially did was to bury some wood logs below the planting hole to try and have them act as a wick and buffer for moisture. There is also a light cover of bark mulch to keep the soil from drying out too much.

Maybe the voles also got to your Rufa? I've also got an infestation and I've planted garlic cloves like mad but it doesn't really seem to help.
For the really precious plants like my moso bicolor I now use mesh wire around the root balls when planting so there is at least some protection.
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Glen
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Re: Downsizing

Post by Glen »

Ophiuchus wrote:I've been real excited to see how this years shooting season will do with my plants entering their 3rd year, but I'm also very concerned the storm may have downsized them.

All of the shoots coming up this year have really gone back to first year size. I realize it is not shooting season yet, should I expect to see larger culms coming up in June?
Since tropicals can shoot throughout summer and fall, you should see some larger shoots later this year. If the plants lost a lot of their above-ground growth, it will set them back a year or two (or more on large plants).
Tarzanus
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Re: Downsizing

Post by Tarzanus »

Nicholas, I found garlic not effective against voles. Last year I tried throwing chili peppers (hot as hell) all over and around my blueberries. So far, it seems it worked and there is much less vole activity. It is still early though.
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needmore
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Re: Downsizing

Post by needmore »

Regarding voles, I had some improvement using castor oil and at the time I could not get the granules but believe they might be better and no mulching at all.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
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