In the foreground there is P. Pubensces seedling and in back is a D. Strictus seedling. I currently have them in a location where they receive sunlight from sunrise to 11:30 am. I also have a B. Lako seedling the same size as the D. Strictus. When can I move these specimens to full sun conditions?

It all depends in your location, here in Greece sun can cause leaf damage even in bigger plants so what i do is use this green net that blocks a part of suns beams so that the plants can be in sunny locations and receive less sun for more hours. The nets can block from 30% of the suns radiaton to 70% which is more for car protection and other uses i personally use 40% ones

Do you think more hours of shaded light is more effective at producing plant mass than fewer hours of direct light with shade the rest of the day? I wouldn't mind putting up shade cloth but unless it will create more growth I am inclined to keep them as is.

There is no need to move these plants into the sun. Bamboos are woodland plants, and shade is generally beneficial to them, especially when they are small.

In cold climates, they may need sun in order to reach their growth potential, but in my area, no bamboo really needs full sun. In fact, most will establish better and grow larger with significant shade.

I just looked at your weather forecast, and there is no way I would recommend giving them any more sun than they are currently receiving. When you do decide to acclimated them to more sun, do it in the winter or early spring, so they can get used to the sun gradually.

It is just too hot now to take the risk with small seedlings. Wait until they are larger, and then when they are moved into the sun, they can recover from any stress. If you shock them now, they may not have the strength to survive.

Thanks for the advice. I'm guess I'm just going to have to be patient.

Since I'm such a cheapskate and have only purchased two of my current bamboo (and my bamboo addiction is growing), I've been lured into the heart of the cheap internet with an attempt at purchasing seeds from Aliexpress. Here's what's happened so far:

I tried to grow a few last winter (2017) from seed, I purchased 200 P. edulis 'Moso' from Aliexpress which cost me a grand total of $2.00 (50 cents for the seeds, $1.50 for shipping). I received this order in my mailbox about a month after ordering. I tried soaking the seeds in saltwater, removing the seed husks, placing them between moist paper towels, keeping them in a sealed plastic bag in a warm spot on top of the refrigerator. I tried the above method on 4 different batches of seeds, but alas nothing sprouted. Ok, only $2 spent.

Earlier this year I decided to order some more seeds from Aliexpress. I ordered qty. 20 Moso from one vendor (which came from Hong Kong) and qty. 60 Moso from another (which oddly enough came from Kyrgyzstan). Additionally I ordered qty. 30 of what the seller claimed were Fargesia sp. 'Jiuzhaigou' IV. Total price for all three orders was under $5.00. All seeds arrived via US Post within 2 weeks of having ordered them.

I planted almost all of these seeds in 3-inch peat moss pots, and am keeping them in a shady part of the garden. I'll update when/if I see any progress (good or bad).

What has been your experience? Some seed vendors better than others? How about sprouting techniques? Avoid using Aliexpress completely?

Have never done it myself, but three things to note:
1) importing bamboo (including seeds) to the US without a permit is illegal. (I think that's still true?)
2) bamboo seed needs to be very fresh to germinate.
3) anybody posting specific varieties (like 'Jiuzhaigou') is lying.

Alan.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Hi Alan,

Brad kindly pointed out the questionable legality to me as well. Which also explains why the seller sent the seeds in bags marked "beads". Hmmm. Not sure how fresh the seeds were, in fact I'm not sure how one would tell, but given the price, I was willing to incur the cost (under $5). Going forward I'll certainly be less likely to try this again, unless it's from someone reputable. Thanks for the insight.

Bren

It is unlikely that any bamboo seeds sold in the United States are being sold in compliance with United States law.

If you are having bamboo seeds shipped directly to you in the United States, from a foreign source, you are absolutely breaking U.S. law.

Also, even if a vendor is shipping from within the U.S., they almost certainly brought the seeds into the country illegally.

If seeds are produced in the U.S., they are legal, but I have never seen a case of anyone selling bamboo seeds that were produced here. They are rare enough that collectors usually germinate the seeds themselves, or they share them with other growers.

Any bamboo imported illegally is subject to confiscation. If you purchase seeds from a U.S. seller, but they are selling illegal seeds, the plants you grow from those seeds are also subject to confiscation. I am not sure whether the United States Department of Agriculture would pursue any other penalties against you, but potential penalties are quite significant.

Here are a couple links with more information. The second link provides a USDA contact, if you want more specifics.

http://www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralIn ... ntine.html
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfoc ... ct_program

One would guess that they do not have much budget for chasing down bamboo seed buyers/growers but do manage to confiscate as I understand when they do stumble across. Let's hope you're safe in the foothills, but now that they do not have to chase the paka seed growers they may focus on the illegal bamboo trade - then we'll have to have another ballot initiative...

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Brad Salmon, zone 9 Esparto, CA
www.needmorebamboo.com

Great info. I'm wondering if the above has been collected in the bambooweb.info/wiki? (I encounter a 403 Permission Denied when trying to access it)

I guess it is a matter of enforcement priority. I believe I have only heard of one case of a person getting a visit from the USDA after purchasing bamboo seeds online. However, I would not want to put myself in a position to possibly have my plants confiscated at any time. Unfortunately, many new collectors do not stumble across this information, so they are not aware that what they are doing is illegal.

Fortunately, thanks to the hard work and expense of many fine people (including Needmore ), we have an enormous number of bamboo varieties in the U.S. legally, so collectors can get almost anything that they want without breaking the law.

Agreed, for me it is not worth the effort to risk having a visit, the worst outcome would be that they try to confiscate other bamboo I have legally but they do not know it is not from illegal source.

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Brad Salmon, zone 9 Esparto, CA
www.needmorebamboo.com

Hey, great way to have your unwanted bamboo grove removed (confiscated) for free! Submit a hot tip about an illegally imported plant.

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Hahah....I just got an awesome visual of some gov't looking officials standing around a healty, thick, "grove" of whatever timber bamboo you like and thinking "we have to bring back ALL of it"??? Grab a beer and just watch them try....lol

Make sure to get all those rhizomes boys or you'd better come back next spring!!