Continuation of last years upsize pics started by bamboothew from last year..
bamboothew wrote:I thought it would be fun to have a thread with nothing but upsize pics, and by that I mean pictures showing this year's new shoots towering over their predecessors. Here's what I mean. It's hard to believe this moso has already finished shooting in march! The tallest new shoot is about 7 feet and most of them are just starting to branch out now, perfect time for this sort of picture! Well, apparently I can't figure out how to post the picture right-side up
I think I have a good one for this year this is a beast
Phyllostachys glauca 'Yunzhu' shoots starting to branch 2013-05-11 17.37.23 by zxylene, on Flickr
Went from 1/8 in and not even a foot tall to about 3/4 inch and about 7' so far.
My greatest up-size so far is definitely the moso bicolor going from 1/2 inch up to more like 1 1/2, clearly tripling in size. If we are going to be generally cold for the 2nd half of May, then internodes will be more compressed resulting in less height however it will give the smaller shoots a greater chance to make, or even more shoots to emerge.
Here's the comparison from 2011 to 2012 to 2013.
2011 (3 shoots, at 0.5 inches at most)
2012 (1 shoot 0.5 inches)
2013 (9 shoots, a few small ones, but many over 1 inch, and the biggest one around 1.5 inches)
JHW, it looks like your shoots are really getting up there, especially for qiongzhuea tumidissinoda which shouldn't upsize that fast.
One thing that I did notice with the location of the biggest shoots on moso bicolor is that they all seem to be coming from where the black steel 55 gallon drum existed from September and through the winter. Based on where the big shoots are coming up, it looks like too much evidence to simply happen by coincidence especially when there is a shoot that got to 1.5 exceeding my largest shoots from all my species from 2012.
Since rhizomes are supposed to be drawn towards warmth, could this mean that the barrel attracted rhizomes to grow under there and also cause those shoot buds to swell to exceptional sizes?
If this is true, then it would be very interesting to test this out on something like parvifolia or atrovaginata by placing some huge black drums filled with water next to the groves.
Bamboo garden lists it hardy to 10f/-12c. Supposedly it's one of the hardier Chimonobambusas.
I got mine from Jim Bonner at Bamboo Plantation. I bought the 'Emei II' version since it was collected in the mountains. Here is the description:
"Collected from the Emei mountains, probably the same as the type."
And the description for regular szechuanensis:
"A square bamboo from Sichuan, China where it grows at 1000 to 2400 m. Used for shoots and as a food source for giant pandas. Introduced to France in 1990, relatively new to this country."
johnw wrote:10F sounds a tad generous for 1000-2400m but I hope it thrives for you. Will be interedsting to see its progress!
I hope so too! I've had good luck with C.Quadrangularis 'suow' and Tumidissinoda so far. Both survived the winters of 2010 & 2011 with nighttime temperatures that dropped as low as 5f/-15c. Luckily My property is surrounded by tall trees and shrubs that act as a windbreak from the arctic air that can blow out of the Fraser river valley of British Columbia.
Quadrangularis 'suow'
I'm finding Tumidissinoda anklebreakers several feet out in all directions, my most aggressive runner by far.
Borindas are also growing good here, but we haven't had a really cold winter since they've been planted.
My Shibataea kumusaca is about 25% taller this year right around 2 meters tall, the uphill side is evenly floppy and doesn't show the change
The downhill side shows an exaggerated difference due to severe flop, it is really only about a 12-15 inches taller now (tallest shoots are invading Pl simonii)