Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Ask questions about growing bamboo

Moderator: needmore

Tyke-A
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:08 pm
Location info: 0
Location: SW Missouri

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Tyke-A »

Brad, that's interesting about the Parvi. Thought mine was yellowing from the extreme heat and drought this year. I'll try some fertilizer.
Tyke-A
Posts: 34
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2015 1:08 pm
Location info: 0
Location: SW Missouri

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Tyke-A »

Rufledt, I have some Bamboos that survived several nights of -12 here in Missouri so maybe they could work for you. Phyllostachys Stimulosa has come thru with very little top kill. Indocalamus Tesselatus and Longiaritus have performed really well here and spread very quickly as far as shrub types go. I have some unknown Sasa's that have performed well too
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

Thanks! i never even considered Phyllostachys stimulosa, i'll add that to my potential list. From what i read it shouldn't be hardy here but MO isn't too much warmer than here, maybe a zone or so. Leo suggested the indocalamus plants, too. He says sheltering from sun and wind keeps them looking surprisingly good in the Chicago area. I think he said the same for P.nuda, that cold doesn't bother it much at all but winter sun and wind destroys it. I wonder if the same conditions could make my incoming Sasamorpha borealis survive a good winter.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

So now that the potted bamboo plan is made and in action for at least the next year, I want to revisit the outdoor landscape.

No new info in particular, just planning and i did something i want to share. First, i found my house on google earth, took a screenshot and put it in MS paint. I then drew lines around stuff. Then, I taped a piece of paper to the screen and traced, then removed it and added some details. The result:
20180903_113035.jpg
North is up, btw. That's what I'm working with right now. Circles and large rings of dotted lines indicate trees or shrubs. Some stuff might not be obvious looking at it but I can make sense of it. This doesn't indicate which trees are thick or thin, how much light gets where, but it's a good reference point better than just standing out there and thinking.

What i'm doing with this is tracing it, then working out what definitely will stay where it is next year (e.g. trees that i'm keeping, the house, driveway, existing landscaping, etc...)

Still working on the copy with my plans, but in a nutshell basically everything along the south side of the lot is getting changed, 2 trees in SE corner are being removed, and playground is probably staying put. The south wall of the house will be changed a bit, the east wall will have something added (though nothing complicated) and any dead spots will be filled with something. The north side of the house isn't going to change much. A couple dying plants are going away, a couple newer plants will go in, but the landscape won't look much different.

On the right side of the driveway near the house is some landscaping, and you see on the top there is a small dotted line. That's not a tree, it's some kind of tall shrub and it's half dead. It looks terrible. As you can see, its on the north side of the house but actually gets quite a lot of sun. It's a pretty nice spot for a focal plant, and as much as I would love a big Jiuzhaigou Genf. or something, i would assume it's too sunny, right? Not sure any of the super cold hardy clumpers would like that much sun when we get our hot weeks in the summer. Thoughts? Fallback plants are something like a tree peony or one of those tree looking flowering shrubs. Not many flowers around there, so i feel like one big thing with some color (like the current plant before it started dying) would be great. If you think Genf would survive let me know, I love the way those look when big. Not sure how big they would get here though.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

Came up with an idea, made a model, got it approved by the wife. Here it is:
yard.jpg
That is my idea for the south east corner of the lot, camera is looking north. I have 2 spruce trees in that corner currently, but they are going to be removed. That leaves pretty near full sun all day. I worked it out so i can have lots of raised beds in full sun for veggies and such, a place to put pots and planters, and 2 large in ground bamboo plantings without shading anything. The 2 pots on the left are about 12" pots, the planter box is a movable 2x2' planter box I whipped up from board sizes i can buy off the shelf at home depot. It's also up off the ground and can be moved with the huge dolly should I go that route. The reason for the shape and size in the back corner of the yard is also to fit in a bit with the neighborhood, very few fences around here and most people have some kind of garden or planting in the back corners of their lots. This is a little bigger than my two adjacent neighbors, but has the same footprint as another corner garden that borders my south west corner, so it's not out of place. The raised beds are kinda unique, but everyone here has veggies.

I'm thinking the 2 groves will end up being 2 of the super hardy species, probably spectabilis and bissetii, or maybe one of them will be parvifolia should that prove to be hardy enough. Containment plan is rhizome barrier on 3 sides, open towards the lawn (north side of the grove) with a pruning trench there.

For size reference, the larger grove on the left side is about 12' tall, the one on the right is more like 9' high. the 2 rectangular planters are 4'x10'x1'tall. Made from 4 single boards of cedar that i can get off the shelf at menards (11.25" tall, being dimensional lumber). The whole thing takes up less area than the 2 spruce trees currently there, so that's a plus.

Those bamboos I ordered to put in pots will likely never be hardy enough for planting, but a 2x2x14" or so planter comes out to somewhere around 30 gallons with a couple inches on top for mulch. That's plenty big i would think for decent sized bamboos. I can fit 4 of them into that space, or more if i build them smaller or put them somewhere else. I ordered 1 gallon sizes so when i get them i'll probably put them in more like a 5 gallon pot, the following year into big planters and see what happens.

This is a loooong term plan. This year just removing the trees, next year maybe a couple of those raised beds and bamboo still in large pots, more the following years.

I'm hoping the potted bamboos will be fine in the full sun, i'll probably only put the phyllostachys plants there. I know it's kinda weird putting a screen-type bamboo grove that blocks me from seeing the garden clearly, but the windows don't easily look that way anyway. Also as I mentioned I want to put bamboo in the ground, but I don't want to block the veggie garden from sunlight.

More ideas as I come up with them. I'm using google sketchup for the model btw. Open to any suggestions.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

New idea:
20180905_133539.jpg
20180905_133446.jpg
20180905_133504.jpg
Removed one big center in ground planter, added space for mobile planters/pots. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to plant in all those raised beds anyway, and I can always add the middle one later. The 2x2 movable planters all have bamboo in the model because I copy and pasted, but I don't have near that much. I can always fo veggies in there too. Also added a 3rd in ground spot for bamboo to balance the look the movable planters are smaller than the in ground one, which gave me room for a bench or two.

This might mean my in-ground bamboo plans will change a bit depending on which species survive winter. 3 plantings in ground dont have to be 3 different species but why not mix up the colors or something. Idk. This is all planning stage at the moment.

Questions: I want this corner to be productive with the high sun, and I know parvifolia shoots taste pretty good. How about bissetii shoots? Leo says aureosulcata shoots can be cooked in a way that removes the bite I believe, anyone have specific tips given that these will likely be 1" diameter at best in my climate?
Alan_L
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:13 pm
Location info: 81
Location: St. Louis area

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Alan_L »

I really like the plan but have some concerns. Biggest concerns first:

- The smaller raised beds will expose the rhizomes and roots to more cold than if they were in the ground, as if they were potted plants (especially if there is an air gap between them and the ground). I think the general gardening rule of thumb for potted plants in cold climates is the plant must be one zone hardier than your zone if it's in a pot: so for your z5 you would need a z4 plant.

- Raised beds won't contain rhizomes and can make rhizome pruning more difficult if space is limited.

- Remember that the first few years you will have a lot of "shrubby" culms that are leaning out into your sitting and walking spaces. Just keep in mind that you may need to support them somehow to get them out of your way.

- Wood rots, sometimes surprisingly quickly.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

Thanks for the feedback!

The 3 big plantings are in ground, the small 2x2' raised bed looking things in the middle are actually movable planters. I plan to move them into the garage for the winter as I'm putting plants in there that cant handle the winter temps. If they escape the planter, the winter will kill them. The garage is heated to around 40f or so.

Good call on wood rotting, I'll probably have to line them with plastic, right? Gonna use cedar to fit in with the cedar house. the larger raised beds along the bottom and right side are for veggies, not bamboo.

Current plan is for the in ground plantings to be spectabilis, bissetii, and maybe parvifolia, surrounded with rhizome barrier with the side facing the grass to be a pruning trench. The design there has 5 2x2 movable planters but the bamboos I plan to put there are nigra, henon, and vivax. The other 2 planters I probably wont build until I have a plan for them, maybe I'll just grow more veggies in them. I dont know. Room for expansion in the future either way. I'd like to experiment and see which species I can grow as big as possible in planters assuming 40f winter temps in the garage and a 2x2 planter. I assume I'll be doing some rotating over time as well but just going to try these species at first.

Any other suggestions for species or planter growing techniques?
Alan_L
Posts: 2966
Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:13 pm
Location info: 81
Location: St. Louis area

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Alan_L »

Definitely line with plastic. It will give you years of extra life from that wood.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

sounds good, i'll do that then.

Package came in from Bamboo Garden:
20180910_192016.jpg
1 gallon plants, i put them in bigger pots. Not sure what kind of "gallon" measurements they would be, but i think they are 14" plastic pots. Easily a few times more volume than the nursery pots.
20180910_201038.jpg
We'll see how it works out. These plants are Nigra, Henon, Vivax huangwhenzu, and sasamorpha borealis. in typical bamboo garden fashion they look pretty good, they were obviously in the nursery pots long enough to get settled. one had rhizomes starting to wrap the pot, and i think henon had a rhisome escape from a drain hole by a few inches.

I filled the pots with a mix of potting soil and coconut coir, probably more soil than coconut coir. I'm gonna put them in a spot with filtered light for a week and let them bounce back from being in the box, then move them to a sunnier spot. Looks like sunny weather with highs in the 70's for the next few days. Nothing to hot, so that's nice. Or maybe not if phyllostachys likes that.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

Quick question for anyone who has grown sasamorpha borealis or other similar plants, I know brad has. How much is it set back by top killing?

I was planning on growing it in a large container but I'm curious if I can get away with growing it in the ground. I have a spot that's pretty big along one wall of my house, sun until noon then shade the rest of the day. If its right up against the foundation and I mulch heavy the soil may not freeze during winter, but any above ground growth would be toast. Just curious if it would handle mowing down every spring and still get taller than a foot or two.
User avatar
needmore
Posts: 5008
Joined: Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:14 pm
Location info: 0
Bamboo Society Membership: ABS - America
Location: Kea'au, HI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by needmore »

I'd guess a couple of feet might be tops with it, Sasa oshidensis is hardier and I'd expect taller but the S borealis would be attractive even if a tad shorter.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
Leo S
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 9:48 pm
Location info: 0
Location: NE Illinois, zone 5, USA

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5 - tip from Bonsai fo

Post by Leo S »

Right now Phyllo aureosulcata normal form (green with dull yellow groove) and Pleioblastus viridistriatus are the two bamboos I have in quantity that anyone local to Zion IL, (north of Waukegan IL) can come and dig. If you dig your own, no charge.

I'm responding to the posts about wintering bamboo in a heated garage. A trick that was learned from bonsai people wintering pine trees and other evergreens in heated garages. Keep them cold, below 40 F.

Assume the basic mechanics of operating temperatures for chlorophyll are fairly universal across the plant kingdom. At temperatures below 40 F (about +4 C) down to 32 F or 0 C, this is cold enough that chlorophyll activity is near zero, the chlorophyll is not producing sugars below 40 F. In addition the cellular metabolism for the plants is quite low. This means the amount of sugars burned by the trees to maintain life are minimal. Because of these two facts, bonsai people store their evergreen conifers, pines, spruces, all manner of evergreen trees, without light. Yes, in the dark. If you keep them cold. You can store your pines, and I assume bamboo, in the dark if the temperatures stay between 32F and 40 F. Temperatures below 40 F do count in terms of ''hours of chilling'' required to break dormancy in spring.

For my sensitive not quite hardy bonsai I use an unheated well house that has no light and hovers between 28 F and 40 F. Works great.

Potential problem I identified. When temperatures rise above 40 F, many trees begin to wake up. As they wake up they begin to first metabolize sugars, and then with a few more hours above 40 F, they try to photosynthesize. If these episodes of above 40 F are relatively few and short, I see no problem. If they are prolonged you could end up with bamboo shoots coming up in a set up that doesn't have enough light to give you normal growth. So for winter storage - to keep your bamboo dormant, not using sugars, keep them below 40 F.

If you run them warmer than 40 F, you should consider adding a lighting system.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

Thanks Leo, i might have to take you up on that. i have plans to use pleioblastus viridistriatus in my landscaping and it would be nice to have the normal aureosulcata, too.

Interesting you mention light setups, my garage is very well lit most of the time that i'm in there. During the winter, the only time temps get above 40 is when i'm in there and the heater is on, and that's only for half a day or so. I don't have enough lighting in there for growing crops indoors or anything, but it's definitely one of the most lit garages i've seen. almost a dozen 40watt fluorescent tubes and a couple of those "300 watt equivalent" LED lights. I'm always going for more lighting in there, it's awfully dark under a car. I don't think i've ever considered how people hibernate the bonsai trees, that's really interesting.

Looks like the 4 plants I put in pots are over the stress from shipping. Some leaves dried up and fell (less than 10%), some have turned deep green again, and all but henon are putting out new leaves. Henon looks good even if it's not putting out leaves. The vivax especially is going crazy with new leaves. Every branch is pushing leaves.
Rufledt
Posts: 191
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 4:35 am
Location info: 0
Location: South WI

Re: Getting back into gardening, zone 5

Post by Rufledt »

A big thank you to Leo, I went to his place last weekend and did some digging! Got a couple aureosulcata divisions and some viridistriatus. It was great talking to him, I had a good time and learned a lot about growing bamboo in this region. Looks like the aureosulcata divisions are going to mostly defoliate, though not completely, while the viridistriatus divisions mostly look fine. I guess I'll have to see what happens to the aureosulcata in the spring, but i'm pretty confident it'll survive. Seems like I have one large division, one small one, and one good chunk of rhizome. The large one curled pretty fast but in 2 days a few of the leaves started uncurling. Most of them are feeling pretty dry, though. As soon as I got it home, i took the 2 culms and topped them to fit in my garage and thinned out the leaves a bit, but seems like more water was lost anyway. The small division didn't curl until the day after digging, but the leaves ALL feel dry and curled now. The culms on both divisions still look fine.

Couple questions: What temperatures are we talking about for hibernation vs. needing sunlight? My garage is very well lit, but it doesn't hold a candle to the sun, obviously. I'm keeping the stuff shaded for a while until it gets over being chopped out of the ground, but if the garage stays 50 and below as the forecast seems to indicate, will I run into problems leaving it in the garage until spring? If the garage temp stays around the average of the daily high/low, it'll be around mid 40's Fahrenheit. That's above the 40 that Leo mentioned above, but there aren't really leaves on this thing. Maybe half a dozen that aren't curled right now.

Being mostly defoliated, i assume most of the photosynthesis won't happen until it pushes out some new leaves, but will it do that in the 40's?

I can just leave them in the garage, not a big deal, or I can take them out. Doesn't matter to me, just want to give these things the best chance of recovery. Shade is in short supply outside at the moment, last week all my trees dropped their leaves. To add insult to yard work, my rake broke yesterday when I was only half done. :x

Also i took the pine trees down from one of those pictures above. That now opens up the area i'm putting that garden, including the in-ground bamboo plantings. I've heard the trees (they were actually blue spruce I believe) make the soil a bit acidic and some plants don't like that, though bamboo does, right? Does that mean I should forego the lime treatment? The veggies are going in raised beds with new soil anyway, so just the bamboo is going in the ground. The soil under the trees is very nice feeling, very organic and loose, a nice change from my normal clay.
Post Reply