Winter cold damage for winter of 2015/2016

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stevelau1911
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Location: upstate NY zone 6B
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Winter cold damage for winter of 2015/2016

Post by stevelau1911 »

We haven't had very cold temperatures until the morning of January 4th when it got down to 10F. This temperature usually isn't cold enough to cause damage on bamboos, but the one difference this time around is that there was hardly any snow on the ground for insulation, and it was also quite windy with gusts of wind getting in the 20-30MPH range resulting in wind chills below 0F.

Here's the makinoi showing leaf curl, not burn. I may add some compost near the base to prevent this. Basically the top layer of soil is freezing limiting the bamboo's ability to bring water up to the extremities.
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The propinqua beijing is showing the same thing, just leaf curl. Both of these species are pretty similar in form.
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Oddly most of the culms don't have it so I guess the ones with shallow roots are effected more.
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Shanghai 3 is showing a bit of damage on the culms that were bent down to the ground.
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The top culms aren't showing any issues yet
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P nigra is showing some curl too.
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I can't tell if there's any issues with prominens yet since not many leaves are exposed outside of the tarp.
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The atrovaginata and parvifolia don't show any signs of damage. Could this be due to having deeper roots than other species?
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In order to prevent any breaches in air into my greenhouse, I have patched a layer of plastic over the top which had many holes from mice chewing on the cover, and stitched up the spot where the window ripped open just due to being too old. I know that the wind is one of the biggest factors in winter damage.
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One thing that has impressed me is that younger greens in the garden especially the newest leaves appear to have better hardiness than some of these bamboos which aren't in the elite class in terms of cold hardiness. They seem to have the same stuff in them that garlic has, kind of like an anti-freeze in their leaves that prevent them from getting cellular damage despite well below freezing temperatures.
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johnw
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Bamboo Society Membership: EBS - Germany
Location: HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA

Re: Winter cold damage for winter of 2015/2016

Post by johnw »

I was in Boston twice twice this winter. The last time in February I came across a large planting of several types of Phyllostachys on the very edge of Chinatown, near the Chinatown Gate. The soil was extremely poor and dry-looking which was surprising given that it was winter though warm. The bamboos themselves looked they were loosing steam in that worn-out soil. I wonder which species they were and how they fared after I left as I heard the temp dropped to -9F at Logan on Feb 13th.

Think at least one was nuda, another maybe aureosulcata 'Alata'.

john
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
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