Bamboo noob in Southern California

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Vortexblue
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Location: Temecula CA

Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by Vortexblue »

Hi,
I'm new to bamboo and have a bunch of questions! Is there a 'beginners guide' somewhere that I need to read, or can I just fire away with my questions here? I've been poking around the forums for a while here, and maybe an intro post will spur some conversation.

I have:
-10 5-gal 'Golden Goddesses'. In nursery pots still. These will hopefully be planted up on top of a slope to be used as a neighbor screen.
-6 25-gal sized 'alphonse karr'. Rescued from a house in SanDiego. 3 of these are near a fence, used as window covering; the other 3 I just threw up onto our slope.
-1 5-gal 'golden'. I bought this from the local HomeDepot because a grower was dropping them off and I got to talking with him. I told him I was nervous of the runners. He insisted that there was nothing to worry about, so I bought one to give it a shot. I am constantly giving this plant side-eye. :lol:

I'm more of a maker/ builder person, and this is my first foray into growing stuff. I read a lot to learn, and know the basics of running/ clumping, etc.
What I don't know might be simple:
-my Alphonse karr were pulled out of the ground and transplanted at my house after 2 hours of being out of the ground. There are shoots, but they might be aborted? how can I tell?
-Some of the leaves on the tall culms are folded- am I not watering it enough?
-I have a lot of yellow leaves- is this the stress from the re-plant or am I losing the plant?
-these bamboo will have a walkway next to them and need to eventually be shaped- I want to leave them alone until they've acclimated - about how long should I wait before trimming?
-My 'soil' is decomposed granite. It's basically concrete. There's no visible dirt when you dig a hole. Only granite that needs to be dug out with a pic. I added a bag of soil to each hole while planting, but I think I may need further action. Any thoughts?

I'm sure there's more, but for now...

Thanks for any help, let me know if you need pics!
Rufledt
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Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by Rufledt »

Welcome! I think Needmore is in california, he will have better specific info for you. For a bunch of info for beginners I would suggest checking out bamboogarden.com, it's a nursery in Oregon and they have lots of info layed out on their website

Leaves will turn yellow from stress in transplanting, that's not unusual. Curling leaves can happen when the plant is in need of water, but fresh cut divisions can do this when there isnt enough root mass for the leaves. You can soak the roots and still have curled leaves. Dont drench the roots. Water them thoroughly but soggy roots leads to rot and bamboo will die.

I'm a maker of stuff too, what do you make?
Vortexblue
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Location: Temecula CA

Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by Vortexblue »

Thanks! It looks like I'll be pouring over that site today.

Watering - that's where the 'noob' in me shines! I don't know what is too much water and what isnt. I'll typically go out there and water the roots on each plant for about 2 mins, in 30second increments to let it sink in. I've been doing it every day the last week (1st week in the ground), now I've backed off to every other day with the same amount. Is it too much? Too little? I don't know. There's no gauge. :lol:

I think I'm zone 9a (9b?) - Temecula is known for it's vineyards, olive oil, and Mediterranean climate. But the sun gets pretty intense- the past few weeks have been 100+ each day. These plants were not divided- rather pulled out of the ground in their entirety, transported, then planted. I'm sure some roots were damaged, but I dug them out oversized to try and minimize that. It looks like 1 plant in particular is doing worse than the others. The green on the leaves is notably more pale than his brother's leaves.

I've had a strange career path, from IT guy on Wall st, to vintage race car collection steward, to industrial 3d printer tech, to SolidWorks instructor, to race tech (Lotus), to supercar builder (BAC Mono)... now I work for myself doing laser cutting and auto restoration decals.
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needmore
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Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by needmore »

I suspect that the granite drains well, if so I'd flood them once per day, if it does not drain well then make sure they are not in little ponds.

I'd go ahead and trim, the reduction in foliar mass will help them recover from transplant shock. Usually when digging out the rootballs the culms around the outer edge will be damaged so I'd prune those out if they look dodgy at all.

I'm not sure of your plant spacing relative to the sidewalk but those species might be a bit challenging to keep out of the path. My A Karr is around 3 years old and the culms are in a tight circle about 3 feet in diameter whereas their tops lean outward and the tops are about 10 feet in diameter - very umbrella shaped. I think the Golden Goddess might be even more weepy, not sure though I don't have that one. You can minimize the umbrella effect by pruning the top 'X' of the culms, that will leave them more upright. 'X' means snip a small amount and see how much they straighten up.

Here comes some personal opinion so please take it as such - you live in an area where you can grow some awesome species of bamboo. I personally don't find the B multiplex forms to be as exciting as many others you could choose from primarily as I like the look of exposed culms and the B multiplex forms are more about the weeping foliage. Bamboo can easily root in your brain and you might get hooked, if so you'll start collecting these other forms with no regard for your sanity. So if that might happen to you, I'd plant these multiplex where you'd like umbrella-like shrubs and save prime planting spaces for the species you don't yet have!
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
Rufledt
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Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by Rufledt »

"Bamboo can easily root in your brain and you might get hooked, if so you'll start collecting these other forms with no regard for your sanity." Hes got that right! If I had a bigger gardening budget I'd have a constantly expanding collection until I ran out of space and ended up on a new show called "Plant Hoarders".

Vintage race cars? 3d printing? I can tell I'm going to have to send you a PM, I have lots of questions :D
Vortexblue
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Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by Vortexblue »

Thanks for the info.
Yeah, I always 'get into' stuff and go a little crazy. I can imagine this as being no different.

I've attached some pics of the path. We recently bought the house - this was once a large dog pen with white gravel in it. It's 6'x17' between the garbage cans and grille. The plan was 3' for some bamboo, 3' for some ipe ground level decking with a matching horizontal fence in the future. I was hoping for bamboo that was 12'+ and I wanted to prune them to show off the canes for the first 5.5' or so. The 2 windows shown do not have window covers inside. The hope is that the bamboo will grow thick / dense enough to act as outdoor window coverings -- so all we see from inside is bamboo. This side of the house is also shady from 1pm on.

The first pic shows the Golden Goddess- there are 6 in that pic. The next shows the Alphonse karr - there are 3 in that pic. It was taken today.
The karr are 'as planted'. I haven't cut or pruned anything yet. I was going to wait a bit and let it get established before I cut it up. They're way too fluffy right now.

Since this 3'x 17' spot will be visible in the house - I'd love an 'exciting' bamboo here. In fact, what I really wanted was something upright with large green culms. What would you suggest? I only saw Old Hamaii or Japanese timber, but they might be too much for this space, no?

I have almost cleared that crazy-huge slope in the back... I've got plenty of space to put all these other guys- there needs to be a row at the top of the slope for fencing.


Trimming questions:
-there are some 'shoots' that have no leaves at all on them. These are aborted at this point, right? These shoot in the spring?
-how do I tell if the culm needs to be removed? Cane color? More yellow than green leaves? I'd hate to kill off the good ones.
-to expose the canes, I've read that I should only go up 1/3rd the plant. Sound right?
-can I tie this back to the fence to pull it a bit out of the way, or will that hurt the plant / look like garbage?

Thanks guys. Feel free to PM off topic stuff Ruffledt!
Attachments
Golden goddess looking towards front of the house
Golden goddess looking towards front of the house
A Karr looking towards back of the house
A Karr looking towards back of the house
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needmore
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Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by needmore »

Here is a 3-year old A Karr, you can see it is starting to sprawl from the banana on the left to the patio on the right. Having to restrict it as it matures might make it look weird.
bakkx.JPG

Here is a 2-year old Oldhamii and it looks like it would be far too large for your space in another year but is a great bamboo to have.
boldkx.JPG

Here is a 2-year old Bambusa eutuldoides Viridivitata that is an open clumper and I'll have to keep it out of the path but it is a very handsome buttery yellow that I am pleased to have.
bev1x.JPG

Here is a 1-year old Bambusa chungii Barbelatta that is a great looking bamboo but will get too large also but for me is a must have.
bcbkx.JPG

Here is a 2-year old Bambusa pervariabilis 'Viridistriata', the leaning culms are old and I'll cull them soon leaving a nice vertical profile of a fairly tight clumper that I think will be good for narrower spaces.
bpvkx.JPG
And these next two are probably a great choice for you site, 2-year old Bambusa textilis 'Gracilis', narrow profile, vertical, tight clumper that will not produce branches low going forward, thus exposing the culms.
btg1x.JPG
btg2x.JPG
I think you can see from these photos of immature bamboo you will be challenged to have both bamboo and a sidewalk in that narrow space. Whatever you use will require some maintenance to keep the narrower profile, but the multiplex's nature is to sprawl.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
Vortexblue
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Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by Vortexblue »

Ohhh. I think that Gracilis is where I want to be!

I think I'll get my walkway done, and leave the A.Karr in the ground for the winter. Maybe then I'll have my upper slope planter built and I'll move the A. Karr up there and buy some Gracilis for the walkway.

Is it best to buy locally or from a mail order specialist?

Also, I determined that I've been over-watering the A.karr. Over the weekend, I pruned some away and pulled out the dead stuff, and I noticed the culms were soaked at the bottom. I understand this is a no-no. I let them sit for a couple days, and I'll begin watering them much lighter going forward. I guess this area doesn't drain as well as I'd hoped.
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needmore
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Re: Bamboo noob in Southern California

Post by needmore »

Regarding the branchless shoots, leave those alone unless they are obviously dead, it seems to take them quite some time to start producing branches so be patient.

I'd try to source locally if you have the option, I like obtaining the largest plant I can source/afford and mail order plants are beat up when they arrive here from FL. Eyes on/hands on local is ideal, I can't find good mail order options in CA so mine all come from FL.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
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