bamboo in the snow

[stevelau1911]

We had our first snow of the season this morning which almost completely buried the shorter bamboos with only 1-2inches. The 8ft tall ones should be able to completely covered once there is 2-3feet of snow on the ground based on how easily they bend down to the ground.

[moriphen]

nice photos, thanks for posting

M

[stevelau1911]

Here are some snow pictures.

The greenhouse is pretty much crushed from the last snow storm.


Parvifolia






Spectabilis


Propinqua beijing


Dulcis




Fargesia denudata left, moso right


f rufa


atrovaginata


makinoi

[jpluddite]

Hi guys.

I'm curious about attitudes regarding whether to shake the snow off or leave it on. I'm sure this has already been covered in prior threads, but maybe opinions have changed...

I've been shaking the snow off because I don't want the culms to be permanently bent, e.g. see Steve's posts of Dave Andrews' boo. On the other hand, I realize that if you completely cover the boo, the snow will act as an insulator.

What do ya'll think?

[Tarzanus]

I try to keep it on. I even covered more delicate specimens myself. Using a shovel I created a pile of snow that kept soil below warm and cozy. In a matter of fact, It was -15C several nights and even daily high temperatures stayed below freezing. which made me think I'll have to say good bye to Moso seedlings and especially not so hardy Borinda fungosa. They both remained in great shape under the pile of snow, the only problem were mice issues for Moso and broken culms for Borinda. All the culms got broken on Borinda fungosa. Leaves on it are mostly still fresh and green so there is still some activity in it, transport of water wasn't completely stopped. Exposed branches that were not under heavy snow cover of Phyllostachys pubescens 'Moso', Hibanobambusa tranquillans ' Shiroshima' and Phyllostachys aurea got quite damaged. All late autumn shoots seems to have froze to death, except perhaps fresh shoot on Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis - lamatemple'. That one is still erect, has visibly damaged branch-buds and seems to be alive. It did not fall down like other (dead) shoots did.

I'd say... Keep it covered. Hopefully culms will not snap under the weight of snow, especially if you decide to add some more yourself. Sadly we usually get dry cold with not much snow cover last years.

[johnw]

I will dig bamboos out of the snow in late autumn or late spring or if the weather is predicted to be above 20F for the next few weeks. Otherwise I'd leave them buried to protect them from cold, especially seedlings.

We were promised 40cm of snow overnight but only got 7cm and now it's raining and to get cold later in the week..

[jd.]

I'm curious about attitudes regarding whether to shake the snow off or leave it on.

It's typically too cold and windy for bamboo here, so I tend to leave any snow on.

I've been shaking the snow off because I don't want the culms to be permanently bent, [...]

If a bamboo is marginal for the weather in an area, no protection could cause the culms to be permanently dead.

Yet taller bamboo tends to be too exposed to wind and sun for snow to persist long anyway, so shaking off snow may change the outcome little if the bamboo is otherwise left unprotected.


I notice the Ph. propinqua 'beijing' bamboo, too tall for any snow drift here, is already looking tattered with a few leaves now extremely curled.

[stevelau1911]

We finally got the first snow of the season well ahead of usual and an expected low of 23F, close to the record. When it is wet snow, it seems to stick to the culms pretty well.













It's even sticking on the greenhouse, before the sun came out and got into the 60s which is enough to make it come off.


It even covered up my 21ftX31ft raised bed.


I haven't added leaves to the garlic yet, but that will happen in a couple weeks. Snow tends to stick to it very well, resulting in better insulation through the winter.

[JWH]

Bamboo looks great with some snow. Though I don't look forward to snow and cold here if we get it this winter. Would it be too much to ask for a 3rd mild winter in a row?

[pokenei]

Saw a bit of snow covering as well this morning. All bamboos took it well.

Last Winter was not mild. It was on or below average in my area, but there wasn't extreme cold temperatures either, so that was good. The lowest last Winter for me was -21 or -22 Celsius.

[stevelau1911]

One thing I found interesting with both the parvifolia, and atrovaginata is that tying them together will re-inforce all the culms preventing breakage, but another amazing thing is that 7 inches of wet snow will bring the entire clumps to the ground even though my own body weight is not enough to even budge them when they are all tied together. This snow must weigh quite a bit. I'm quite impressed that they can bend like that without snapping.

Atrovaginata




Parvifolia




The tarped dulcis and propinqua beijing shouldn't be effected at all by the snow.



It looks like the greenhouse does hold snow very well as advertised.



With little or no wind, the wet snow really piles up well on just about anything.



The overall accumulation from last night was 6-7 inches, but the storm is not over yet so I do expect a few more inches in the next couple days. This stump does a pretty good job at showing the snow accumulation.