help my black bamboo is dying

[Mackel in DFW]

I plant everything a little high... Really, it helps me concentrate (?)... I've learned to simply dig a wider hole, and mound up a little in the hole's center, before planting. It's clay out here. My point is that water-logged conditions, thus a lack of oxygen in the soil, is always a possibility as a contributor to stress when attempting to establish bamboo. Best wishes, OP. M

[johnw]

Bare-rooting or at least removing most of the soil always seems to work better if the soil types - potmix vs ground soil - differ. Aas long as a heatwave doesn't strike.

johnw

[Mackel in DFW]

Rite on, John. Results vary from poor to excellent, once the heat is on. At that point, prolly better to repot and hold out til cooler weather, eh? M

[pattitude]

I was able to raise the root ball up about 6 inches, it turns out that it was very wet under the ground. I planted the bamboo at ground level and packed it in. I think I may me suffocating the bamboo. Do you think 6 inches like in the picture is too high above the ground?? All I have are tiny roots that are growing???

[pattitude]

here is the picture

[stevelau1911]

I think it should be just fine. Just don't over-water it. If you have an enormous division which is either root-bound or has too much foliage to roots ratio, many of the leaves will dry out to compensate, but it looks like you have new growth and over time it should adjust to the new location.

[Mackel in DFW]

Computer/seeing pictures down for a couple of days. Dern. M

[pattitude]

Steve i have About 20 clumps at ground level. the picture is the one I raised, Should I raise the others about 6 inches like pictured or just a couple inches.

thanks

patrick

[stevelau1911]

I don't think there's a need to raise them at all. With so may clumps that big, you can expect them to get pretty crowded within a couple of years.

[ShmuBamboo]

Costa Mesa, you should be fine with your boos growing there. That close to the coast you will not get the killer heat that they get inland all spring and summer down there. You will get June Gloom fog instead. Also you got a huge amount of rain last week which is not typical there, even this time of year. I seriously doubt that you could over-water a bamboo in Costa Mesa, short of constantly flooding it and leaving standing water. Seriously. I lived in Sandy Eggo for 7 years. Water 'em the first year twice a week and once they are established cut back to once a week, year round. Water them 2x a week during heat waves though (above 90 or so).

They should be OK as they are now. Not too deep, with the top rhizomes a few inches under ground. I have found that black bamboos tend to run rhizomes deeper than most other Phyllostachys. For the culms that are now fully leaf killed, I would just remove them at the ground level. Likely they will not fill out any more leaves. They usually re-leaf old culms about the same time as they shoot. You are in a different world than most of us here who are still in the throws of winter, where shooting is a ways off. You can leave any culms that you like for aesthetics, or for support. You can also cut boo culms to any height that you want once they are leafed out and they will not grow any higher than where you cut them.

[Mackel in DFW]

Look here, Brother Schmu, I spent my youth in California. I know it's full of dope smokers, progressives, fruitloops, gaiaists, gangsters, hippies, nudists, alarmists, and surf doods... And hulticulturalists... who are always tryin' to sell ya something; be it potbound, wrong zone, short-lived, or antiquated advice, a lot'll take yer money "in a new york minute" and go on about their business...now you want to do some braggin' about yer credentials, son, while yer out there sellin' thangs, others are studyin' 'em! Ha! You know the OP can find out his drainage, simply by diggin a hole, fillin' it with water, and timing it's disappearance. Then, after you knew his situation, you could tell him how to water the silty sand, or the expansive adobe clay that he's livin' on. That would be very nice, precise, and helpful, too. M

[pattitude]

I would like the tall clums to re populate with green leaves, I have many tiny clums 2 ft high with greenery, Should I take tease out to force the bamboo to replenish the leaves on top. Based on the root ball mass to green ratio/


Thanks

[stevelau1911]

Those tall culms would not grow back their leaves if you got rid of the smaller culms as that would just kill the vigor of your clumps. Basically if they have declined, and put out smaller culms to replace the big ones, your bamboo has already committed it's energy to the smaller stuff while the bigger culms are just a shell which will only decline further.

Once the small lively culms harden off nicely, it may help to remove the dead tall culms to create more space and light. I may need to do the same thing with my p dulcis, and p shanghai III which appear top killed all the way for the first time ever. I'm not looking forward to seeing how much they downsize.

Even on my atrovaginata and parvifolia which still have some leaves and only some top kill, it may make sense to cut off some of the dead part after shooting season so more light can come through to the leaves. This is the first winter that truly challenged my bamboos since having started 6 years ago.

[pattitude]

Thanks steve. I know with trees its best to plant them a little high to let it on the top of the rootball. The top of my root ball is about 3 to 4 inches under the soil. I can bring them up pretty easily to about 2 inches above the ground level . Will this help with air circulation and better health? When I dug down 20" it was very moist in the soil. I think breaking up the root ball to plant these sections it what caused the leaf kill at the top. In a effort to get 15 to 20 ft clums, I'm reduced to 7ft clums, the size of the new ones.


thanks

Patrick

[pattitude]

By the way the natural soil I have is very hard clay, Now I have a 30 inch trench with 6' of gravel and container soil on top. The trench is slanted towards the driveway acting like a fench drain. But the clay would hold water for a week. Fyi