Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

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ghmerrill
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Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by ghmerrill »

Im making another trip up to bamboo garden in mid Feb, and getting a couple more plants. one of the ones Im going to pick up is P. parvifolia. they have 1gal plants for $75, but the 5 gal plants are only $150..... so, without actually seeing the plants, heres my thought.... if someone wanted to split a 5 gal size one with me, we would both be getting a larger plant to start with...... I would pick the plant up, divide it at home, and let the divisions stabilize, then let you pick which one you wanted, you pay USPS shipping for me to send it off to you.
anyone tenatively interested?

a couple of thoughts- if the 5 gals do not look easily dividable, then I will just get the smaller one gallon plant for myself, so it will be a play it by ear kind of thing. also, since im the one fronting the money, and taking the risk of dividing the plant and killing it..... if you are not serious, or dont have the $75 and shipping to spend, please dont say you are interested :lol: . im just looking to get a bit of a larger plant than if I put out the $75 for the one gallon plant, and thought there might be someone else who might want to do the same.......

also, if any of you who have actual expirence with P. parvifolia know of something that I dont- like if you try to divide it, it automaticly dies, PLEASE speak up :lol:
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RE: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by Markj »

It's not renowned for it's ease of propagation :roll: to say the least....

But obviously doable :D

The shoots tend to curve out of the soil almost at 45 degrees so be a tad careful with the saw, but you probably won't really know till you get on site.
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RE: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by ghmerrill »

I remember seeing the photos that needmore had posted of one growing out all wonky... its definitely goning to be a look first before deciding proposition...

rather than saw first, I will rinse as much dirt out of the rootball as I can, so I can see whats what with it.
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RE: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by needmore »

Early on, I was using copious amounts of fresh hoarse manure/saw dust mix as a deep mulch on many of my bamboo. I always noticed that where I had done this the rhizomes tended to grow up into the mix and form the tiny feeder roots like mad. I think that the Megurochiku rhizomes I sent Gene were ‘hairy’ from this.

In my conversations with folks about the difficulty in dividing Parvifolia, it sounded like one of the issues was a very scarce amount of the fine feeder roots being an issue. If you get one with the intent to divide it, perhaps planting it in a medium that would likely stimulate fine root growth would make this guy easier to divide. I’ve noticed the same thing with A gigantea, it has been very tough for me to divide - not many roots on it either.
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RE: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by David »

It's not the dividing that is difficult, but the growing in pots that seems to be the problem. I've made several divisions now, and have a recipe. Larger than usual pot, light potting soil, B vitamins, Iron with micros, and as soon as it shows new growth start fertilizing with a good quality time released lawn fertilizer with micros.. I nearly starved my plants to death until I realized what heavy feeders they are. In the ground Parvifolia just takes off, but I have yet to take a division from the ground. I'm planting it in several different settings to see which it does the best in.

BTW I made a division from a Parvi that I was potting up. It's the smallest division I have taken from any plant. It had 3 leaves, about a 2" tiny rhizome with a couple of buds, but had a good set of roots for such a small plant. I took it because it was going to be covered by dirt in the bigger pot and I thought I'd just give it a chance. It grew quickly, and turned into a very nice 3 gal pot in 1.5 years, and has now gone to live with a friend in far frozen north. Hope it makes it!
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ghmerrill
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RE: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by ghmerrill »

holy cow! thats awsome David... gives me hope!

Brad, thanks for the observation on the root thing. Some of the clumpers are like that, especially the open clumpers. I know I have seen that with Chusquea gigantea. I will hold off and see what the pots look like of the parvifolia.

I know that mulching deeply really brought the roots of my Vivax up to the surface. I put about a foot of leaves on last year, and looking at it now, even though the top layer is not composted down, they are stuck in place from all the root growth going through them. I was wondering how you managed to get so many fine feeder roots on chunks of rhizome. Short of growing in sand, around here I have not seen that on any of the divisions Ive taken.
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Re: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by foxd »

Since my P. parvifolia turned out to be P. mannii 'Decora' I am once again interested in getting a P. parvifolia, this time for sure. For trade I will shortly have P. mannii 'Decora' :roll: and Pleioblastus shibuyanus 'Tsuboi' seeds.
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Re: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by David »

Hey Dan,
I'll dig a division for you this fall if you want to wait. I've got some really ugly ones in 5 gal pots that top killed when my greenhouse door ripped open one frigid last winter night, but they are shooting out the drain holes, and I suspect they will be OK.
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Re: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by stevelau1911 »

BTW I made a division from a Parvi that I was potting up. It's the smallest division I have taken from any plant. It had 3 leaves, about a 2" tiny rhizome with a couple of buds, but had a good set of roots for such a small plant. I took it because it was going to be covered by dirt in the bigger pot and I thought I'd just give it a chance. It grew quickly, and turned into a very nice 3 gal pot in 1.5 years, and has now gone to live with a friend in far frozen north. Hope it makes it!
It looks like tiny divisions have been generally thriving for me as long as they have both leaves, roots and at least 1 rhizome bud.

Based on this picture, you might think it will dry up and die in a few days but the ones I have been taken several weeks earlier with just as much root mass, sometimes even less have been thriving. I just need to make sure I don't break off the only rhizome bud it has on this one. I think the juicy root does make a difference since my older divisions seem to be establishing quickly. This is almost equivalent to thinning out smaller culms since so little rhizome mass gets removed.
Image

Here are some divisions taken from the same way which are a few weeks old showing new leaf growth and obviously getting established despite having so little to start with.

Image

Image
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Re: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by Alan_L »

Steve -- you should try two similar divisions, one with the root additive, and one without. Keep every other variable (water, soil type, fertilizer, light, etc.) the same and that will tell you if it's worth the extra $ for the Juicy Root.
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Re: Phyllostachys Parvifolia anyone?

Post by stevelau1911 »

I did take 2 divisions without adding juicy roots on the same day I took my late summer whip shoot divisions which I made provoked by exposing rhizomes to more sunlight. The major difference is that when all the divisions were still outside, only the 2 without juicy roots kept their leaves curled for over 2 weeks while all the other ones straightened out in under a week under full sun. I hope this means that this stuff has increased the rate of root growth. Once I took them all inside the greenhouse, even control divisions straightened out their leaves due to high humidity.

I still don't know if there is a long term benefit in this rooting gel so I'll wait until shooting season which should clearly show if these 2 control plants grow less than the rest. The root/rhizome mass of most these divisions are pretty consistent(almost none) however some started out with a lot more foliage than others so I think the ones with more leaves will probably establish faster regardless to whether or not I added juicy roots.


I will also be starting up another large batch of blueberries from seed which I can experiment with as much as I want not really to grow since I already have over 50 plants in the ground, but to find out what conditions or products make them grow well. I'll definitely be able to add a bit of juicy roots to these guys to see if it really makes a difference on them. The good thing about them is that they don't require that much light to grow making them ideal for winter plants.
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