Cold damage so far

[rfgpitt]

Jan 28th we got to 33f. From the forecast, we could have another week below freezing. Maybe then the ground will take longer to unfreeze and delay shooting a bit. I hate losing them to late frosts.

[Brian_K]

Outside a really good Italian restaurant, used as a 3 foot hedge:
<img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/b ... ure859.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting">
<img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/b ... ure858.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting">
Phyllostachys nuda maybe.

[JakeK]

Finally got back to the parent's place after nearly two weeks.

Vivax has curled leaves. If temps don't rebound soon the foliage might be toast.

Bissetii looks fine.

Right now damage is pending how long the cold stays around for. This winter, mainly February, while though not extremely cold minimum wise, has been absolutely ridiculous as far as sustained cold temperatures go. One of the worst 12 day stretches since the 80's, possibly back to the winters of 76-77.

Lowest temperature at CVG was -2*F i think. Over at my place in Mt. Adams, the low for this winter so far is a balmy 5.3*F. Further up the hill about 200' the low was probably around 7-8*F.

[rfgpitt]

JakeK,
Pretty much sums it up for me too. At least tomorrow I'll finally get to use my shovel.

[foxd]

I did an inspection of the outside bamboo a few hours ago and it was sad!

Arundinaria gigantea - Mostly okay, some leaves crisped.
Fargesia nitida - All leaves toast.
Hibanobambusa tranquillans 'Shiroshima' - Mostly okay.
Indocalamus tessellatus - Some leaves crisped.
Phyllostachys aurea 'Holochrysa' - All leaves crisped.
Phyllostachys aureosulcata "Yellow Groove Bamboo" - Some leaves crisped.
Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis' - Mostly okay.
Phyllostachys nigra - About half the leaves crisped.
Pleioblastus pygmaeus - Toast.
Pleioblastus viridistriatus - Toast
Pleioblastus viridistriatus 'Chrysophyllus' - Toast
Pseudosasa japonica "Japanese Arrow Bamboo" - Toast
Sasa tsuboiana - Toast.
Sasa veitchii - Toast.
Semiarundinaria yashadake 'Kimmei' - Toast
Shibataea kumasaca - Some leaves crisped.

[ocimum_nate]

Fargesia nitida - All leaves toast.

How cold have you gotten Foxd? I was under the impression that nitida survived well into negative teritory.

[rfgpitt]

Anybody getting nailed with a bunch of snapped culms? We had the snow - freezing rain - more snow thing and since my Phyllostachys are small they just flattened (from what I can see). Hope it's not too bad......

[foxd]

Fargesia nitida - All leaves toast.

How cold have you gotten Foxd? I was under the impression that nitida survived well into negative teritory.

Normally it does, but it has just been so cold for so long, I guess it just wore it down. I know it is wearing me down. I was also noticing a couple of Yuccas, that normally go through the winter unfazed, are looking distinctly unhappy with life.

[foxd]

Anybody getting nailed with a bunch of snapped culms? We had the snow - freezing rain - more snow thing and since my Phyllostachys are small they just flattened (from what I can see). Hope it's not too bad......

On the way home yesterday, I noticed some tree damage due to ice. Culms are leaning over, but I think most will spring back when the ice thaws.

I think we got off lucky.

[Thuja]

I guess snapped culms are never a worry for me, only dead ones. One thing I'd say about F. nitida is is that it is the most cold culm-hardy bamboo I know of (so far). The leaves are excetionally bad in winter but the culms are tough, withstanding temps down to at least -10F but above -17F.

[David]

This has been a hard winter here, not necessarily due to low temps but because the ground has been frozen solid for so long that the bamboo leaves began to desiccate, and could not rehydrate. I have several bamboo that have never shown any leaf burn that have shown some this year. Here's a big surprise for me Ps. amabilis, and S. fortis have shown little if any leaf burn. They may be hardier than we think. The tumidissinoda is toast You can scratch that one off the list

[rfgpitt]

This has been a hard winter here, not necessarily due to low temps but because the ground has been frozen solid for so long that the bamboo leaves began to desiccate, and could not rehydrate.

Same thing here, although we've had some pretty low temps for SW PA. It did hit 34f a day or two ago, but looks like we have another week before it starts hitting 40.

[rfgpitt]

Nitida - Normally it does, but it has just been so cold for so long, I guess it just wore it down. I know it is wearing me down. I was also noticing a couple of Yuccas, that normally go through the winter unfazed, are looking distinctly unhappy with life.

I can't see any leaves left on my small nitida. Maybe there are a few brown leaves left, but it wasn't to full going into winter.

Ditto on the yuccas. I have a y.filamentosa 'Golden Sword"(spelling?) that was looking a bit better than an Adams Needle, but it looks pretty sad now too.

[JakeK]

Nasty ice storm yesterday and last night. Today when I went to check on my bamboo, I noticed my Edith Bogue is practically bent over touching the ground. It looks awful in its current state. It's not little at over 15'.

The bamboo is all bent over with 1/2 inch thick ice covering everything. The ice will actually be a blessing in disguise as the low tonight will be in the single digits.

Unfortunately no warm up in the foreseeable future.

This ice is also a blessing for my eucs as well.

[ocimum_nate]

When I had my negative temperatures I was worried about the plants that I had next to my house because I did not have any snow cover on them so I took some 5 gallon buckets and put them over the plants. The rufa did well and my Sasa vietchii and Sasaella did good with this. ( Although I am hoping that the rufa will be too big for this next year.) I had another Sasa vietchii in my garden which I did not worry about because it had snow cover any how the last week has been pretty mild here so the snow has melted off of the garden. The Sasa had total leaf loss so I trimmed it off and brought it inside to see if I could force it to grow so it looks good in the spring I put it in one of my sunniest window sills so I expect to see results soon. So far I could see a bit of damage most of the heteroclada seedling I left in the garden look a bit on the sad side an occasional green leaf here and there. Hibanobambusa seems to be the winner out there even though I did my collecting in October the leaves look like they were hardly even damaged at all.