Moso characteristics?

[kudzu9]

I've got several moso that are about 2 years old that I grew from seed and they're about 2' tall now. They have rather large leaves that are apparently characteristic of juvenile moso and the hairy auricles. I also have an older plant that was sent to me in a trade and identified as moso. It came as a root ball with a 1' tall topped culm. It is now 6' tall and has probably a dozen culms up to 3/8" in diameter. The culms are covered in that light fuzziness that I associate with moso, but I'm only partially convinced this really is moso. The reason I'm questioning the ID is because the new shoots don't seem to have the dark, hairy auricles that my seedlings do, and the culm sheaths on the shoots aren't the dark color I've seen on mature moso. I can post some pictures, if necessary, but just wondering what others think. Are there other species that have that overall fuzziness on the culms, or is this a certain identifier of the plant as moso?

[Brian_K]

H. tranquillans 'shiroshima' also has hairy culm leaves.

[needmore]

Kudzu, my 2 year in-ground, 4 year old Moso seedling still produces fuzzy culms up to 4 feet tall, with the large juvenille leaves and the shoots do not look Moso like. Thus far it seems to focus on running and producing culms rather than on sizing up and acting it's age/species. The Moso divisions I planted did not produce Moso like shoots until year 3 after being planted. Only this year (y4) did they really look like the normal Moso shoots.

[Iowaboo]

What height is moso topping out in the Needmore State in '06?

[needmore]

What height is moso topping out in the Needmore State in '06?

A whopping 3 meters m/l.

[CJW]

This is not an agressive runner like Vivax or Bambusoides which can acheive full height in 4-6years.. Moso takes 10-12 years to get any serious growth. Be patient & feed it lots! How many gals was your moso.. it should be over 10gal to get any serious growth sooner than 12years, other than that it going to take quite awhile.

[CJW]

Painfully slow growing and has large leaves to start off with.
Shoots have a purplish tinge to them with reddish hairs. Later in life these shoots will be brown with black spots..