Planting Large leaf bamboos from pots

[boonut]

On several occasions now I have tried to plant large leaf bamboos from pots. My experience has been that the larger the leaf, the harder it is to keep them from going into deep shock. Even upsizing from a 15 gallon in partial shade to 75 gallon pots with 80% sun is hard on them.

When I plant a smaller bamboo in the ground with large leaves, they seem to do better. Part of the problem is wind. With our winds, the bigger leaves just don't stand a chance initially. I have noticed that they generally lose most leaves.... go into shock for almost a year, then put out much smaller leaves. The following year, they get a little larger. The year after that they get even bigger, but so far, no as big as they would be in the shade in town with very little wind.

So, my question is: "Anyone know have experience with this and have a technique that works?" I have tried the sprays to reduce transpiration. I tried cutting back leaves and branches by up to 2/3. The answer may just be that they need to go in the ground after a 15 gallon pot. I may have to stick to using the larger pots for dividing and not try to plant the bamboo from the larger pots. Almost all the plants do survive... it just makes me feel bad to see such a beautiful boo go through this process. I have had the same kind of experience with Dendrocalamus Brandisii, D. Latiflorus, D. Asper, D. giganteus "Quail clone", and one Dendrocalamus Minor "amoenus".

[Bamboo Conne'isseur]

I guess I am in trouble then. I still have not planted the D. asper, because the spot I have for it needed to have some nearby branches removed from a tree, plus it needs to finish shooting. I did notice that after I picked it up from Roy, around winter time it did lose the big leaves after I up sized it, and were replaced with smaller ones like you said. Thankfully though, they have started to replace some of them with some larger size leaves from new branches. I have been pressing my luck though, because I can tell its filled out the pot already. I have been watering it every day, and sometimes more than once, and its been handling it ok. It will go into the ground as soon as the shoot reaches its full height.

[boonut]

Hi Aaron,

Part of my problem has to do with most bamboo at the farm being totally out in the open with no shade or wind protection. We do have winds down here. My hope is that eventually, all the trees, palms, and other bamboo I planted around the perimeter will give all of them some wind protection... and they will provide each other some shade and protection as well as they grow.

I just need to be patient. My farm started out as a field of sorghum. Putting plants that have been very protected and somewhat shaded out there takes a while to recover. They all do... it just takes a while... maybe even a year or so. I just wondered what others were doing with the large leaf bamboos.

I also think part of the problem with round pots is they are black (absorbing sun and heat) and the roots go around in circles against the black pot. That is great if you want to see shoots sooner after a winter, but bad later in the year in our heat. I have learned to not let them get too root bound. I have been upsizing a lot quicker and using much bigger pots to reduce the stress. The Amaroo pots seem to help.

I really think as the bamboo grows and puts out many more culms it will reach a better size as the leaves and plant protect itself and learn to adapt. I am confident that they will all do very well in the end... just hard to watch them go through the shock. I have several large leaf bamboos that are doing very well. It just took them some time.

[Michael]

It has been my experience that bamboo transplants much better if it is in drought condition when it is moved. Digging in the field or from pots it is the same. I also make sure that when I move it, I water it in to the degree that I am sure there are no air pockets left around the roots.

My friend, Bamboo Bill, has recently told me that stabilizing the plant is also important to prevent the culm movement from moving the root ball, which can cause root damage.

I have very little experience in large leaf clumpers because they will not live in my area (the bottom of Zone 8a) due to the cold. From that I would have to rule out the sun as being part of the problem. However, you may need to acclimate it to the sun if it is growing in the shade.

Just my 2 cents

Michael

[magsc21]

I put a 15 gal D. hamiltonii in the ground this spring with no problem, no leaf drop. It's not on your list, so maybe it's not so susceptible, but it does have large leaves.

It had been in a clay pot for about a year in full sun, then I planted it in my nasty clay soil (slightly amended w/ compost) in about 80% sun. It got a lot of water every day for the first 2 weeks in the ground. It was a trooper & didn't show any stress, but I don't know if it was skill or just luck.

[mike best]

I can't see boo stressing that much. You must have more wind or something more than me.

A boo in a pot should have an established root system and not stress so much being planted in the ground given that the boo is healthy, established with the sun, area weather, and its established roots not disturbed to much during the planting.

I never put my boo in the ground till one of 2 things: I know I can water and baby sit it for the next month or so, or it has its own water spray head irrigation on auto- timer dedicated just to it. Which all mine do, and by the way I found if I set it to water at hottest part of the day, the small ones in full sun won't curl the leaves so much.

Digging a field specimen is different; now that is stressful on a bamboo being cut and pulled out of the ground.

[needmore]

Not sure but perhaps they need to be worked into full sun in the pots before planting out? After the initial 4-6 weeks after dividing, I move & keep all of my container plants in full sun. This means more watering but they are then ready for any light conditions when planted out.

[mantis]

I know I'm still a n00b with bamboo, so take anything I say with skepticism.

Whenever I buy a new boo it is typically 3 gal. or 5 gal. As soon as I get it home (if I'm too lazy to put it in the ground) I repot into a 15 gal container and throw it into one of my beds to let it get the same sun/weather conditions that it'll get when I finally plant it. The longest I've ever had a large boo in a pot is 4 months (that was due to receiving it from the ABS auction in November, and planting in the spring). As of yet I haven't seen any significant leaf drop, but like I said I'm new to the game, so I've probably just been lucky.

One thing that is somewhat of a tangent to this thread is I've read in multiple places that you shouldn't upsize the pots in large steps because the boo are then "swimming" in too large of a pot. This always confused me because the ground is an infinitely large pot, so a huge pot would be the next best thing to having the boo planted in the ground. I think it would also make the transition easier on the plant. What am I missing here?

-mike.

[needmore]

I up-pot in leaps as well Mantis, I think the key is being very careful with watering. It is VERY easy to make the bamboo unhappy if it lives in constantly wet soil, which can happen easily in the leaping up-pot scene. Conversely, one of the reasons I do it is to not have to water as often, even with full sun containers. Having killed a few this way, I've learned to recognize when they are too wet. I've never killed a bamboo due to underwatering, I've killed several due to too much constant moisture. The in-ground difference is likley how fast the moisture spreads out and the plants don't remain wet - except in Texas this summer.

For runners, I exclusively use squat containers and the leap from a trade 3 or 5 to a squat 7 or 10 is huge, but that is the leap in size I generally make. A squat 7/10 is approximately the same diameter as a trade 15, but shorter.

In June I up-potted 10'0 rootbound 'tall 5's' which are really the diameter of trade 3's, into squat 7s & 10's. Less than 3 weeks later there were several pots with new rhizome already running out the drain holes and into the ground below. I suspect that the clumpers may not like squat containers though.

[boonut]

If the problem doesn't exist with smaller leaf boos, then I suspect that the problem is in soo many huge leaves in a sheltered location going to a windy location.... what I notice usually looks like the rate of transpiration through the leaves is far more than the bamboo can handle. I can put the pots in sun and that doesn't seem to affect them much. It is only when I put them from shelter to open wind.

All the big pots are usually full... meaning I can't upsize anymore because I don't have any larger pots. The big pot is full of culms, roots, and shoots. It loved it in the partial shade with ideal soil and very little wind. Once in the wind... even with putting 15 - 16 cubic feet of extra soil and watering regularly... they can take a dive in a hurry... usually within two days. I even put 5 - 6 inches of cypress mulch on top of everything. The problem may also be perfect soil... to slightly alkaline soil with the transpiration issue. None of the anti-transpirant sprays worked when I tried that... they seem to go downhill faster with the sprays. They almost always come back... in time.

I just don't want to cut the boo back so much because they usually look fantastic when I put them in the ground. Richard Waldron used to tel me to just cut all the culms in half. Boy... that is hard to do.

[boonut]

It has been my experience that bamboo transplants much better if it is in drought condition when it is moved. Digging in the field or from pots it is the same.

Just my 2 cents

Michael

Thanks Michael... I used to do that... maybe I forgot over time. I will try that with the next big leaf boo I plant. End of July, August, and first part of September are our months with the least wind. That may also be a good time to plant bamboo in the ground. I used to go offshore fishing. The best times were when the seas were less than 4 feet. Those were the best months for fishing as well.

[mantis]

After now doing a couple large leaf boo I still haven't experienced any leaf drop. My 'Mei-Nung' had filled it's 15 gal container when it went into the ground, and didn't drop a single leaf.

I know you were talking about going from your 75 gal. boxes, so it could be that they need to go in the ground after the 15 gal. pots. Also, my plants are very well protected from the wind being in a suburban setting.

So I guess I really don't have anything to add to this topic.

[boonut]

I think wind and sun have a lot to do with this. They all grow like crazy at my house where they are protected. It takes a while to grow at the farm.

[mantis]

I think wind and sun have a lot to do with this. They all grow like crazy at my house where they are protected. It takes a while to grow at the farm.

I don't think it's the sun, since I get lots-o-sun, but wind is definitely a problem for you. I couldn't believe how windy it was when I was down there... non-stop.

The other thing I was thinking about is that when trying to plant from your 75 gal. box you are going to be doing much more stress to the root ball than when you plant out of a 15 gal. container. Most of the time when I do the move from pot to ground the chunk I put in the ground is the same shape as the pot since it is an easily manageable size, so root ball isn't disturbed at all. I have to imagine that when you pot out of the 75 gal box (despite being able to disassemble the box when planting) the root ball is getting disturbed just because it is impossible gracefully move that large of a mass.

I'm not sure if I was clear or not with that, but hopefully you get what I was trying to say.

[boonut]

The way you plant an Amaroo pot is to dig the hole about 8 inches wider than the entire pot... and about 6 inches deeper. I put about 4 inches of mulch in the bottom of the hole, then take the bottom of the pot off. The root ball is still in tack with no root movement at all. I also use about 4 inches of mulch in the bottom of the pots to make this easier and to get better drainage. You sit the entire pot in the hole, then take the sides off. They come off very easy and you don't disturb the root ball. Then you pack in good garden soil around the root ball. I also add micronutrients and other things about half way up in the garden soil mixture to get the roots to take off. I use micronutrient tablets along with plenty of Osmocote.

Part of the problem is "plenty of drainage" in the pot with little wind at the house to "no so good drainage" and lots of wind at the farm. I have to be very careful about soaking them the first time.

When you sit the pot in the hole, using the pot to hang on to is important so that you don't stress the plant. It really works very well. I am a believer in the large Amaroo pots. I just think that bamboo is sensitive to these changes... especially when they have very large leaves.

The D. Giganteus "Quail", I planted last year put up a new shoot with very large leaves at the farm, so I am excited that this one didn't go through an extended time of smaller leaves or very few leaves when transplanted. I think the D. Giganteus "Quail" and B. Beecheyana "pubescens" are going to be very nice at the farm and are adapting very well to the conditions out there.