Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

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MikeNY
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Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by MikeNY »

I am sharing some photos of my attempts of growing various bamboo in Upstate NY. Hopefully this can help anyone in Zone 6 who has some questions and would like to see some real experiences. Our winters here are long and very snowy (Avg around 100 inches). In Rochester specifically it is rare to drop below -10 degrees F. We typically only get about 2-8 nights of subzero temperatures each winter.

This past winter (17-18) was long and snowy. We only had 3 subzero nights however, with the lowest being -6 degrees F. We ended up with 120 inches of snow!

Last year i brought back some large mature divisions from Washington DC to plant in my yard plus i already had a few species i have ordered via mail, plus i have a few divisions from Steve Lau who also grows bamboo in Rochester.

I have attached some photos and will add more plants in future reply posts.

Here is what i found this year.

pseudosasa japonica - Entire plant has leaf burn. Culms still appear green. Too early to see any signs of new life yet.

phyllostachys rubromarginata - Fair amount of leaf burn but the entire plant is beginning to leaf out. No Dieback.

phyllostachys vivax - Entire plant has leaf burn. There is still life however. Most of the plant is leafing back out. Not sure, but some of the branches may have suffered some slight dieback.
Attachments
pseudosasa japonica
pseudosasa japonica
phyllostachys rubromarginata
phyllostachys rubromarginata
phyllostachys vivax
phyllostachys vivax
MikeNY
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by MikeNY »

phyllostachys decora - Entire plant has leaf burn. Culms seem to have died back as well. Not certain but that is how it appears right now.

phyllostachys nigra henon - Entire Plant has leaf burn. All Culms are top killed except surprisingly a whip shoot that grew late summer. That has survived and is leafing out. This plant is in the most exposed location out of all of them.

phyllostachys nigra- Entire Plant has leaf burn. All Culms are top killed. This plant is in the most protected location on the east side of my house protected from the winter winds. It still did not fare well!
Attachments
phyllostachys decora
phyllostachys decora
phyllostachys nigra henon
phyllostachys nigra henon
phyllostachys nigra
phyllostachys nigra
MikeNY
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by MikeNY »

phyllostachys atrovaginata - Most of the plant has leaf burn. Too soon to tell if any of the culms have top killed.

Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young' - Entire Plant has Top Killed

fargesia rufa - Minimal Leaf burn. Very Green! I have had this bamboo in the ground for 3 years and it has done very well in an exposed site. Each year it gets a little taller and wider
Attachments
phyllostachys atrovaginata
phyllostachys atrovaginata
Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young'
Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young'
fargesia rufa
fargesia rufa
dependable
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by dependable »

Looks like your plants got set back quite a bit. Had a similar event here a few years ago, but your location will get frozen out more often.

It will be interesting to see which ones are top killed, and which come back. I doubt PS japonica will come leaf out despite green culms, from what I've seen. Do you know what your minimum temps were last winter? That is always a key factor.
MikeNY
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by MikeNY »

Yes, my bamboo definitely took a hit this winter. I will post photos later this spring of how well everything bounces back. This year the lowest temp was -6. But we had a week and a half of very cold single digit lows with some wind and snow mixed in.

The 2 Phyllostachys that look the best this winter are Nuda & Bissetii. No dieback at all on either and still some green left on both clumps of Nuda.

The bissetii has been in the ground for 3 years now and the Nuda is a transplant from a local mature grove (some 2 winters ago, some planted last summer)
Attachments
phyllostachys nuda (Full Sun)
phyllostachys nuda (Full Sun)
phyllostachys nuda (shady location)
phyllostachys nuda (shady location)
phyllostachys bissetii
phyllostachys bissetii
springtimeshoots
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by springtimeshoots »

Thank's for sharing.

I am not really surprised by the results except for your Atrovaginata. I thought it would do a lot better there. Actually I lied, I am surprised your Vivax didn't have more die back. If my Grey Henon has die back, rest assure my Vivax isn't far behind.

What's up with you guys not having any form of Aureosulcata? :evil:

Also poor Robert Young. You should dig that bad boy up once it recovers and bring it in door along with your black bamboo.
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by dependable »

From what I've seen, I'd expect vivax to be killed to ground at around -3 to -5F. with henon & borida being slightly less cold tolerant, and straight nigra even less so, reliably being KTG at around 0*F. Wind is also a factor during freeze events.

The "aureosulcatas" seem as hardy as bissetti and mature nuda (immature nuda seems less cold hardy). But it has never hit below -10*F here in my memory, so the extremes have not been observed. Bissetti tends to look the best at end of winter, with less leaf burn than others, but that may be just because it is not as tall.
MikeNY
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by MikeNY »

I have acquired some of the aureosulcatas this year and am very excited! The only reason for not growing any yet is because i have been unable to find a source with some sizable plants. I prefer to dig out larger transplants rather than order small mail order plants.

Varieties I now have to try!

-YG
-Spectabilis
-An all green variety dug from a friends house (Alata?)
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Re: Growing Bamboo in Rochester, NY (Zone 6A)

Post by dependable »

MikeNY wrote:-An all green variety dug from a friends house (Alata?)
Yep, alata is the all green one. Seems to be at least as cold hardy as any of them, vigorous grower, perhaps a little taller than some.
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