Not AGAIN! Phyllostacys Nigra flowering again.

[Black Dog]

My first post here in 2019 was about this bamboo flowering. At the time it was someone else’s bamboo growing by the roadside. It eventually died off. I had only just bought a small plant from the Facebook marketplace and thankfully mine didn’t flower, but now 5 years later it looks like it has. I’ve got 5 plants in pots but they’re all divided off the same plant. Does this mean they will all die?

[needmore]

It is not 100% that they will die, but I would expect it if I were you I fear.

[T9D]

I wish we'd get some new Hennon seed growth soon. I'd love to pick up some Nigra and hennon but it seems they are seeding for years now. Bamboo Garden Nursery's Hennon grove is totally dead and they have none for sale. I think the websites selling those two should stop, going to have some disappointed people when most of it seeds and dies off in the future.

[needmore]

Agree, there is a nursery near me selling a bamboo that is flowering everywhere, I pointed it out to him and he keeps selling it so I am starting to consider that his is mis-ID'd if it's not flowering already but in any case stop the sales especially at $99 for 5 gallon size.

[T9D]

I hadn't been on the forums and bought some Hennon a couple years back or so. Last year I looked at the branches and could have sworn it was starting to flower. It looked so odd. But figured maybe it was just the hot weather or something. But later found out about the flowering with others groves. I sold the house in July. I'm sure the flowering will only get worse this year and probably die. At least it wasn't a lot larger. I had just put it in the ground, and I planted a few others species of bamboo for the new home owner. Waste of money though, and I would have liked to have driven by in 10 years and seen a giant grove of Hennon. Guess that teaches me to never neglect the forums and stay educated lol. But some poor new person to bamboo is going to be really disheartened when they are sold something that is soon to die.

[Tarzanus]

Are the seeds more viable than in the beginning when there were only empty husks? Perhaps this year, the seeds will start forming.. even in their natural habitat, they fear whole groves will just die off without re-seeding. Hopefully they don't go all out and recover after the flowering.

I would love to try getting my hands on some seeds again and try growing.

[Black Dog]

I read that it rarely has viable seeds. If that’s true then how come it doesn’t go extinct after flowering?

[Tarzanus]

Perhaps in the end, there are enough seeds after all. Birds and rodents have a hard time searching for seeds, because there are almost none among the empty seed husks. That way bamboo plant can prolong the flowering because it needs much less nutrients if it doesn't go all-in into seed production.

Perhaps when its energy level starts declining it does produce seeds in larger quantities. I started one Phyllostachys nigra 'Hennonis' seedling (from one single viable seed in a batch of mostly empty spikelets) and it grows fine so far. Most of the grains I just cleaned were under-developed. Vast majority is empty, either from unsuccessful pollination, other issues regarding plant fertility or abortion during early seed formation.

[Black Dog]

I hope mine survives but I fear it won’t. I’d wanted black bamboo for years, decades actually but it was such an expensive plant and I don’t have much luck with pot plants. I eventually bought a spindly little pot of it in 2019 and then noticed some growing in a garden in my town that was flowering. I had only just got mine and thought it would die, but it survived and thrived. I divided it and now have 5 big pots with the most recent growth as tall as the highest point on the roof of my house. It’s all looking beautiful and now it will probably die. I wish I could save it. I’m so sad.

[T9D]

That's a bummer man, sorry to hear that. I remember back around 2000 I always wanted black bamboo. My neighbor had some. It seemed rare and had an aura about it back then. But back then it was way too expensive for me. I think only one or two nurseries sold it near me. I had no idea Garden Bamboo Nursery was not far away though. I drove all over Portland looking for it and at a decent price. It was selling for like $180 a pot (I want to say maybe even like $220) and I needed a few pots worth. Back then that is like $300 a pot now. For a young guy with his first house and not much money it was way too expensive to buy a few of those.

My neighbor sold his house and looking at google street view it seems the new owners kept topping the bamboo really low, so dumb, looks terrible that low, and it looks like the black bamboo has not been doing good and the golden bamboo has mostly taken over. I ended up going with Golden Bamboo because it was cheaper. Planted it on 9/11/2001. It grew into a beautiful hedge that blocked the ugly building next to me. After I sold the place eventually the new owner cut all the bamboo down and it's all gone. The yard looks horrible and is trashed, house going down hill fast, and you can see the big ugly wall of a business next to it. Seriously what is wrong with people, some people are so mental I can't understand some peoples thinking.

So even though in the end it should have been better over 20 years later that I didn't get Black Nigra bamboo, it all got cut down anyway.

I try to plant bamboo every new house I get now. I have a big stash of bamboo sitting outside in pots at my newest place I'm working on now (like 12 different kinds). Funny enough, I've still never ever owned Black Nigra bamboo. And I guess I wont be for a while. I would actually like to pick some up. A gal I dated briefly had some massive Nigra bamboo, it was probably over 40 feet and looked like almost 3" canes (probably like 2.5" but it was the biggest Nigra bamboo I've ever seen). That is a bummer to think she's probably lost that or will soon.

[ShmuBamboo]

Most all the Phy. nigras are flowering worldwide now. Bamboo Garden in North Plains has all their Phy. nigras listed as unavailable due to flowering. I still get calls for people wanting black, but I sold out of black several years ago. The black I have is punctada, and it has yet to flower here. I have 3 stands of that in the ground. Not a bloom to be seen on them with new large 30 ft culms shooting. My Bory and Henon are both flowering. Or were. My Henon was a large stand in the ground and I cut it back and fed it all to the cows. It keeps throwing up new culms but they keep flowering. I had several Bory in large pots and I cut and fed them to the cows as well. I have a few Megurochikus in pots that are not flowering (yet). My brother's stands of standard black are all flowering en masse. No viable seeds on any of these. I also had a Phy. glauca Yunzhu that bloomed 15 years ago. That had what seemed like fat viable seeds but none sprouted.

[Black Dog]

For those of you who’ve had flowering bamboo, have any new seedlings appeared from where the old stand grew?

[dependable]

I've successfully germinated seeds from two flowering events, F nitida & P arcana, but seeds were planted in growth medium and taken care of.

One flowering event I witnessed and got some plants from was Phyllostacys flexiosa. There did not appear to be any growth from seeds, but growth from younger rhizomes came up all around the perimeter of the old dead grove, and since then the grove has pretty much reestablished itself in places where it was allowed to.

[Black Dog]

How do I know when the seeds are ready to be harvested? They’re still slightly green. Can I pick and plant them now ir must they bee completely dry and the plant dead?

[dependable]

I think the seeds have to be ripe, so probably not green. Perhaps just at the point where they can be shaken loose from plant. Bamboo seeds don't seem to stay viable for that long, so waiting until plant is fully dead and dried out might not work that well.