Replacing a small grove

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Alan_L
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Replacing a small grove

Post by Alan_L »

I'm going to be digging out 2-3 plantings soon and replacing them with other species. I'm hoping that the shoots are different enough that I don't have to worry about getting every single rhizome out, but I'm going to try. With that in mind, does it make any difference if I leave some amount of culm to help me pull rhizomes? When I cut down a small tree or shrub I leave some length of trunk to use as leverage to help get out the rootball, but I don't think that will really help with bamboo. Is it better to just cut all of the culms down to the ground?
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by needmore »

Leave some handles!
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Alan_L
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by Alan_L »

Thanks Brad. Is 12" enough? Too much?
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by dependable »

How much of a handle you leave may depend on how much you can stand leaning over to pull on it. Might depend on thickness of culm too. Gripping a larger culm species would work better than a thin culmed one. Myself, I would not contemplate such work without mechanical advantage from below, in my case, pallet forks and a machine. If no machine, then other leverage from below, lever/fulcrum out of some metal prying device.
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by needmore »

Alan, I found it helpful to have enough to grab a hold of, mainly it can allow you to carry removed hunks w/o getting as dirty as you would grabbing rootballs. But you'll get dirty anyway. 12" should be plenty. If you leave them a bit longer you could later snip them off and make pan flutes...
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Alan_L
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by Alan_L »

I have begun my removal project: three small groves will be removed. Ph. nigra (not hardy enough), Ph. propinqua 'Beijing' (flowering), S. fastuosa 'Viridis' (not hardy enough). And by "I have begun" I mean "I have hired a college-aged neighbor with a love of the gym" to do the work for me. :)

I will be replacing these with Ph. dulcis, Ph. heteroclada, and Ph. makinoi -- all of which have been growing in those raised "boxes" I built. It's going to be fun trying to get those into their new locations. Will probably need to hire some equipment.
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by johnw »

Any chance your 'Beijing' will shoot again Alan? When my flexuosa flowered in the 90's I tossed the tub out only to hear later that it re-sprouted a year or two later. No sign of a single seed on my 'Beijing' so just maybe.

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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by Alan_L »

It sent up plenty of shoots this year (started flowering last year) but the culms are all curvy and floppy -- not the straight, upright ones I saw before flowering started. I don't really want to wait another few years to see if this recovers, as it looks pretty terrible right now. Maybe I'll pot up a section just in case...
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by mountainbamboonut »

friends or neighbors with a backhoe? it's a little far to trailer mine there. you can rent a 70 horse backhoe in my neck of the woods for a day for $400. You could clear a huge grove in no time and then dig berms or mounds or a pond or grade a driveway or remove stumps the rest of the day. Even with my little 40 horse backhoe I could clear a huge grove fast. Just a thought, may be worth the money if you don't have any buddies with one.
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by johnw »

Alan_L wrote:Maybe I'll pot up a section just in case...
Good idea! Would be awful to have this important hardy selection to die ouyt when there's a chance it will survive. Mine looks like the culms are made of rubber and the leaves are brownish. I might have a seed or two by no means certain.

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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by dependable »

Alan_L wrote: I don't really want to wait another few years to see if this recovers, as it looks pretty terrible right now. Maybe I'll pot up a section just in case...
When P flexiosa flowered, the part that survived afterward were new survival shoots that came up at edges of died off groves. So if you want to try to save any beijing, maybe don't disturb one of the edges of the flowered grove. Potting some old stuff from the middle might not accomplish much, and the first survival shoots were fairly modest, so might not transplant too well, and they did not come up everywhere, so may be hard to find.
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by Alan_L »

There's one escaped rhizome that sent up culms this year 12' from the main plant -- none of those flowered (this year). I was planning on saving those, so glad to hear your experience.
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Re: Replacing a small grove

Post by Alan_L »

I was wrong: at least one of those culms on the escaped rhizome does have flowers. Kinda glad I never got around to digging this up as it would be fried in a pot in our current cold snap I think. Now just need to decide if I should dig it up before it shoots or wait until later in the year...
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