I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

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Eric Layton
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I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by Eric Layton »

I am again looking for some Phyllostachys atrovaginata. The imposter was too small to ID and took the word of the trader that it was a true "atro". Well, this spring the shoots were large enough and wouldn't you know it, bright yellow grooves all up and down the culms. Plain old yellow groove. See the attached photo. Check my plant list for possible trades. I have a couple of groundcovers and taller varieties.
Eric
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Common yellow groove imposing as Atrovaginata
Common yellow groove imposing as Atrovaginata
Yellow Grrrrrroove.jpg (74.81 KiB) Viewed 5665 times
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ShmuBamboo
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by ShmuBamboo »

Well, at least it's bamboo! I mean, it could have been Heavenly or Lucky. ;)

I have had the same thing happen to me though. What I thought was something else turned out to be yellow groove. My brother had what he thought was a Henon and its really an Alata. I was given some Golden that was really Henon. Some vivax I had turend into Bory. I still have some bamboo sold as "Tortoise Shell" that has yet to reveal its true identity. Its not aurea, and its not aureosulcata. It is not Moso. It has yet to shoot this year. Its another 'unidentified green Phyllostachys' (UGP) so far.
Happy trails...
stevelau1911
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by stevelau1911 »

I am again looking for some Phyllostachys atrovaginata.
So far my atrovaginata has been in about half a year, and its only put up 1 shoot maybe 6 inches taller than the original culms topping off at a little over 3 feet which is pretty slow upsize for it's first year. It was pretty well rooted too, and may make a few more shoots this year but I'm not really satisfied with this year's output.

Atrovaginata shoot last week
Image

A bamboo that looks similar to atrovaginata (P Dulcis) had the same plant size to start with and this one gave me from a 1/8 culm a shoot that is near 5/8 diameter at the base, near 7ft now, another 3/8 shoot at the base of the first one and still growing so its definitely giving me results. If you want a big diameter bamboo with quicker results, I suggest sweet shoot over incense.
P Dulcis
Image

P Parvifolia also looks like these known for a big diameter and its output isn't amazing, but still much better than atrovaginata at this point.
parv
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All 3 of these large diameter bamboos don't get much leaf burn in zone 6, but I think Dulcis would reach mature sizes in about half the time it takes others.
ghmerrill
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by ghmerrill »

Welcome back to the Forums Eric! how was the wild west coast trip? any pics to share???
fredgpops
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by fredgpops »

Buying something sold as tortoise is, to me, like buying part of the Brooklyn Bridge. No love or giving a good try to someone going for fools gold. Rgds
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Eric Layton
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by Eric Layton »

Thanks for the advice Steve, I have considered dulcis, hearing how quickly it sizes up.

My Oregon Coast trip was great, we stopped by the Portland Chinese and Japanese gardens, the Oregon garden in Silverton. We also saw several lighthouses, the sea lion caves and the Tillamook cheese factory. Our last stop was the Bamboo Garden nursery. Here are a couple of pictures......
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The Chinese Garden
The Chinese Garden
The Japanese Garden
The Japanese Garden
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ghmerrill
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by ghmerrill »

boo garden is pretty impressive.. too bad it was still early in the year!
ShmuBamboo
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by ShmuBamboo »

fredgpops wrote:Buying something sold as tortoise is, to me, like buying part of the Brooklyn Bridge. No love or giving a good try to someone going for fools gold. Rgds
:roll: Well yes, I knew that it was not Moso, let alone Heterocycla. I was knowingly buying a chunk of what was reputedly a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge as a souvenier. It was dirt cheap. Like $5 or $10. I will call it "Brooklyn Bridge" bamboo now. It also has some PNW historic color. It came from a collection of boos that some old coot had in central Oregon. They had Buddah, Bory, Allgold, Harbin, vivax, and a lot of mis-marked stuff. The owner supposedly had OCD. He was compulsively moving and re-organizing the bamboos, and driving the manager nuts. The bamboos from there also had some surprises in the pot as well. They were planted in an exotic mix of fir cones, concrete chunks, and wads of clay with a thin veneer of topsoil. From that day forth, I have repotted every bamboo that I have bought. Some lessons are good in the end, and this particular unknown bamboo has been rather amusing for some years now.

Which also reminds me, when I was last at Ned's (Bamboo Garden) he jokingly (or maybe not, sometimes it is hard to read Ned) tried to get me to buy in on his Heterocycla experient that he was doing there. He had bought a huge culm of tortoise shell. On examination, the culm did not have any rhizome, just roots. They had buried it sideways to try to get the culm to produce rhizome from the culms and branches. So in that case at least, he was trying to sell me on some bona fide tortiose shell bamboo. There and Hakone Garden are the only two places I have seen Tortoise Shell (Phy. edulis Heterocycla).
Happy trails...
ghmerrill
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Re: I thought I had Atrovaginata......NOT!

Post by ghmerrill »

I sugested he try rooting hormone on it, to see if anything would develop.
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