Is this bamboo telling us to move it to better drained soil?

[jpluddite]

Howdy folks.

Earlier I posted a question about bamboo for not-so-well-drained soil. After doing what he could to improve drainage a friend of mine planted two #3 solid stems about a week ago.

I attached some pictures of how the bamboo looks this afternoon. Several leaf tips are brown. Does this mean the soil is too soggy? [It has been raining quite a bit here during the last week.]

p

[stevelau1911]

I started a thread 2 months ago on this same exact problem that I had with a couple of my bamboos. http://www.bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5498

If the browning has stopped as it appears, I don't think you should worry too much. It also looks like that happened quite a while ago. It seems like if there is freezing rain, or very wet conditions accompanied with freezing temperatures, something like this can happen. Since your browning only happened to a very small extent, I believe that your bamboos will be able to handle the damp soil once they spread out and get a bit larger. I know it sucks since every single leaf contributes to the overall energy of the bamboo, but the amount of browning you have shouldn't make that much of a difference.

If new leaves and shoots are starting to show, there should be nothing to worry about.

[Alan_L]

If you're worried about drainage here, dig the plants up (it's only been a week), mound up some soil and plant them in that. They'll have better drainage for now, but will spread into the wetter soil if they want to.

[jpluddite]

Thanks for the response guys.

Alan, before planting we dug about a foot down, filled with sticks until level, then covered with top soil until we had a mound about 6 inches tall. Should the mound be higher?

jp

[Alan_L]

So the plant is in 6" of soil?

Those 12" of sticks will break down into probably 2" of compost, so this plant will be in a hole by next year, unless I'm misunderstanding something.

[jpluddite]

Hmm, I expected that the sticks would take longer than that to decompose.

Should I pull them out, remove the sticks, and build a bed that is raised about a foot?

jp

[Alan_L]

Well, maybe it's a couple years, but eventually it's going to form a sinkhole that the plant settles into, or a void if the plant has already spread out rhizomes so will suspend itself over the void. At least that's what my feeling is -- I haven't tried doing this.

No plant will like the void under its roots, or to have its crown sink a foot into the ground. I'd pull out the sticks and fill the hole back in. If you're concerned about drainage just plant in a soil mound that is 12" high -- of course that requires extra soil, which may be the reason you filled with sticks in the first place.

[jpluddite]

Thanks Alan.

Regarding the sticks, I put them in there for drainage. I reckon it won't be difficult to remove it.

Cheers,

jp

[jd.]

Hmm, I expected that the sticks would take longer than that to decompose.

Should I pull them out, remove the sticks, and build a bed that is raised about a foot?

How much time depends on the nature of the sticks. A thick stick will endure longer.

There's no need to pull out the sticks. They improve drainage now and will improve the condition of the soil in the future.
Keep in mind that loose soil also settles over time. Just pile on the soil and build a higher mound. Twelve inches is good for now.

[foxd]

Sometimes less time than expected!

I would build up a nice dirt mound for the bamboo over the sticks, so that when it settles the bamboo won't be in a depression.

I recently had to deal with the settling issue due to a new way of digging containment areas. I normally plant bamboo in large barrels buried in the ground and the soil here normally turns to clay just below the surface. I got the bright idea of using a planting auger to break up the clay to make excavating the clay easier. Using one wheelbarrel full of soil/clay to fill near the end of the yard, a saved the second wheelbarrel full to partially fill the barrel once it was in place. To my surprise it nearly filled the barrel. I packed it down and put a bag of top soil on top, planted the bamboo and watered heavily. Over the course of a week the soil level dropped nearly a foot and a half.