New Member - Glad to be among fellow bamboo enthusiasts

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DesertDweller
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Location: Arizona, USA

New Member - Glad to be among fellow bamboo enthusiasts

Post by DesertDweller »

Found this site not too long ago and after lurking off and on, decided to become a member and introduce myself.

I'm based in the US, in Phoenix, Arizona and got into bamboo about a year ago, give or take. I've always thought it was a neat plant, but never tried growing any before that point. I've been focusing heavily on my backyard the last couple years and finally had the funds and initiative to get new plants in the ground. :mrgreen:

Since starting, I've gone through almost one full year with some of my first acquisitions and I have been super impressed with their hardiness and tolerance for our sometimes rapidly swinging winter temperatures and brief but damaging freezes that have nuked some of my other plants in the past. The whole thing sort of snowballed after that, and I've been happily acquiring different varieties wherever I've found a place for them. This is definitely a fun plant to grow, even in the desert! 8)

I've got 5 15-gallon B. oldhamii from last year, of which one has just sent up its first new cane of the season, which looks to be well over 1" diameter. Hoping the others do likewise. Also have some B. tuldoides and the B. tuldoides 'ventricosa' in separate sections. I did end up digging out and putting in an enclosure with HDPE barrier to grow a couple of runners, and I have 2 15-gallon P. nigra and a 3-gallon B. spectabilis in there all of which seem to be kicking off the growing season as of last month sometime. :D

For the smaller stuff, in a micro-climate I have beneath a large Eucalyptus tree, I've put a few varieties of B. multiplex and, even though it's probably not ideal, could not resist at least attempting to grow a pair of 2-gallon F. nitida that I acquired. The culms are just beautiful and, so far anyway, it seems to be handling transplant very well despite our temperatures here. Summer is going to be a challenge once we get into triple digits temperatures and low humidity, but hopefully diligent watering and shade during most of the day from the tree will help.

Last but not least, I just recently filled my last open spot along a block wall with a pair of beautiful B. dolichoclda 'stripe' 15-gallon specimens with 3/4" canes. One already had a new cane coming up, hopefully it won't abort from the transplant. They should look spectacular given the proximity to a lemon tree and with those yellow canes. I have seen reports of some plants in this variety having the BaMV but these are quite a ways from my others (no chance of physical contact) and seem robust, so I'll proceed with caution, sterilize pruning tools just in case and hope for the best. :wink:

I guess that's about it as far as an intro. I'm not out of room yet for planting bamboo and there's a few more varieties I'd like to acquire (B. lako for example, and maybe one of the larger blue/white powdery clumpers) but no dice as of yet. May be able to get something from Bamboo Ranch down in Tucson, but not until later in the year it seems.

Looking forward to sharing more as time goes on and hopefully being able to share some of my experience growing these beauties in the desert. :wave:
Attachments
B. dolichoclada 15-gallon speciments, newly planted.
B. dolichoclada 15-gallon speciments, newly planted.
Fargesia nitida in its new home.
Fargesia nitida in its new home.
New B. oldhamii culm emerging. Planted from 15-gallon pot just under a year ago.
New B. oldhamii culm emerging. Planted from 15-gallon pot just under a year ago.
I_am_Ian
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Re: New Member - Glad to be among fellow bamboo enthusiasts

Post by I_am_Ian »

Welcome.

I'm curious to see how your bambusas do in all that heat. My guess is that they'll grow huge as long as you keep them watered. I live in a pretty warm climate and all my bambusas get sun all day and a lot of heat but I also water them with a drip irrigation timer multiple times per day and they always look great and grow fast. Even on the hottest days of the summer they look fine.

Most of them handle mild freezes good too except Oldhamii which can look pretty ratty after anything below 30F. How cold does it get for you?
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DesertDweller
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Location: Arizona, USA

Re: New Member - Glad to be among fellow bamboo enthusiasts

Post by DesertDweller »

I_am_Ian wrote:Welcome.

I'm curious to see how your bambusas do in all that heat. My guess is that they'll grow huge as long as you keep them watered. I live in a pretty warm climate and all my bambusas get sun all day and a lot of heat but I also water them with a drip irrigation timer multiple times per day and they always look great and grow fast. Even on the hottest days of the summer they look fine.

Most of them handle mild freezes good too except Oldhamii which can look pretty ratty after anything below 30F. How cold does it get for you?
I think we dipped below 30F by a hair or two this last time around, but that is unusual. Typically more like the high 30s at worst. It is rare to get into the 20s in Phoenix. As for the bambusa, I did not covering or protection at all during the last "freeze" and they showed no real damage. I think being situated so close to a block wall that gets sun all day, it probably gives off heat and keeps them a few degrees warmer than if they were more in the open.

I worried a bit about over watering, as I've gotten up to almost daily now that we're popping into the 90s again, but I've seen no signs of unhappiness from the plants unless I withhold water too long and skip more than a day at a time.

At the moment the Fargesia are a bit pointy/curled since today the temperature climbed and the only water they've gotten the last couple days has been from the rain. Good water, far better than the tap water, but methinks it dried up quicker than I had thought so just went out again and hosed them down. :)

I suspect it will be challenging to limp those Fargesia through our 110F+ late summer, but I'll give it the old college try. :)
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