Winter damage

[johnw]

For Scabrida Booshoot in their catalogue says damage limit -10F, lethal limit -25F. Right - dream on, where did they get that info? My guess is they pulled it out of a hat. Bamboo Garden says -5F, prob going with Kimmei who says -18 to -21c. The Germans say -18c = -.4c. We planted this one out on the coast, it is its first year out from a one gallon / 5L pot. It has seen lows in the double digits for almost 2 weeks now and highs max -7c, probably the lowest -16 or -17c. Surely the longest cold stretch without a break in years and the plant gets full sun and wind the day long.

The plant is a meter high and not fully established as it didn't get planted till September 2012. F. draco back in the early 90's would have frozen back or burnt until it was out of its teens, so Scabrida is getting a few advance points. I'll go with the Germans on this one until I see differing tolerances. Given what they say I'm not surprised yours was killed there, protected or not.

Susanne grows it in Westport, Ma but she's coastal as well and grows Campbell too, that's a good indicator plant too.

I should have said the true dracocephala looks as good as the Scabrida but the draco is facing north and receives little winter sun. Leaves are neither burnt nor rolled.

Wind to pick up to 90k and temps to +10c.

[kreos123]

Bamboo after -14 ° C for several days. They were buried under 20 inches of snow. Today's temperature +10 ° C, snow slowly melts.

vivax 'Aureocaulis'




aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis'


aureosulcata


nuda


nigra


aurea

[Alan_L]

Don't assume that unrolled leaves means no damage -- it doesn't always show immediately if I remember right.

[stevelau1911]

I find that they typically turn a silver color after 3 or more days after the leaf burn given that it is not too humid or raining. When it rains, sometimes the leaves get re-hydrated and look like they have recovered even if they are dead.

My tarps are getting blown off again with 60mph gusts of wind, but it's not that big of a deal anymore as the forecast doesn't show any temperatures anywhere close to threatening for February. I'm surprised that these winds can blow off large logs or cement cinder blocks that I use to weigh down the tarps with. I still have the string tying culms together because I am well aware that ice storms are very likely whenever the average temperatures linger right the freezing mark.

Based on the test culms outside of my tarps, they did serve a purpose for makinoi, dulcis, kwangsiensis, nigra, and maybe decora. The collapsed greenhouse definitely served its purpose, but it will need to come off as soon as the average temperatures in there start getting above 55F. It will become very difficult to remove if I end up with shoots growing through the plastic.

[moriphen]

We had our coldest nights from Jan. 22nd to the 27th, temperatures in the morning where: 15º F, 14º F, 16º F 16º F, 16º F, and 17º F respectfully. Day time highs where nearly all below freezing. We received no precipitation during this time period; however the ground was soaked from storms the week prior. With all that said only one bamboo is tested at this temperature, my outdoor planting of Chimonobambusa marmorea. I do not tarp my bamboo, its natural leaf mulch and whatever nature gives me.

Here is a photo from December 23rd:


Close up link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/F ... directlink


And here is a photo from January 29th:


Close up link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0 ... directlink

As you can see there is definitely leaf damage but that is limited to the outermost leaves. The culms and the rhizomes all appear to have survived intact this year, this will be this bamboo's 3rd winter outside.

[canadianplant]

Pretty good guys, lets hope the worse is over!

Moriphen. I took a double take at your pics. My fargesia is planted in an almost simlar situation, fence shrub and all. I thought I was posting pics in my sleep.

[johnw]

Kreos - Tell us about your climate and your collection there in Croatia. Where do you buy your bamboos there?'
'Crazy weather here - +10c and foggy here on the coast, +16c in Kentville - the highest recorded in the country today.

[johnw]

Moriphen - That Chimo looks great! So you have not been unusually cold at all - nice lows - wish I could boast them.

[canadianplant]

Sorry John missed your reply.

I would have to agree with what you say about scabrida. There are a few places saying -29C. Im assuming that is root hardiness, under mulch and snow. Was just wondering if it was worth trying again, with proper protection

[johnw]

canadianplant

I haven't had much if any experience with root hardiness and wouldn't care to hazard a guess. The snow factor just makes it too complicated. Back in the early 70's when I first got F. nitida from Toronto and planted it out as a very weak plant we had a helluva nasty dry snowless winter to -23c. The tips froze back and it lost a few canes, both the cold and the cold infiltration into the dry ground surely played a role in the damage. That's the last time I saw damage on a Fargesia here aside from vole damage in the south.

[kreos123]

Kreos - Tell us about your climate and your collection there in Croatia. Where do you buy your bamboos there?'
'Crazy weather here - +10c and foggy here on the coast, +16c in Kentville - the highest recorded in the country today.

Im in 6b/7a climate zone. Hot and dry summer.

Here are a few topics on bamboos in Croatia!

http://www.bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4200 continental bamboo

http://www.bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3656 Mediterranean bamboo

http://www.bambooweb.info/bb/viewtopic. ... 029#p59029 my boo

[needmore]

Did a fairly thorough walk through today inspecting cold damage, our low thus far has been -14.2C a few weeks back and knock on wood, that may be the bottom this year although it is certainly possible for a negative AO/polar vortex event to kick the fridge door open. My 1st layer of usually top killed or close to it bamboos are indeed whacked, these include Ps longiligula, C marmorea, A funghomii - currently all 1st year large plantings but I think more mature plantings of them would be gone as well. Some other serious damage but I think they were drought stresses so I'll ignore them for now. Surprisingly the 2nd layer is hanging in there pretty well - aurea Holochrysa 1st year (new culms 80% burned, older ones 20%) , HT Shiroshima, Phy nidularia, vivax forms, nigra 'Hale' 1st year, Pl simonii has lots of burned leaves but plenty of green ones, moso has leaf burn about identical to parvifolia which I think burns a bit easier than reputed but not real bad - just shows some burn, all of my imports look unfazed.

The big surprise, I have a Sinobambusa intermedia 2 winters old, last year a low of -11C did nothing to it, this year it is also unfazed but very surprisingly there were several late summer shoots that never branched, the branch buds are elongated maybe 3-5cm is all and they look totally fine - no signs of damage is apparent and those culms are still a very ghostly white so I think they are quite viable. This plant does have great wind protection though but it may be solid to -18C??? Hard to say, it will be very interesting to see if indeed those branch buds are intact and will grow out in a few weeks.

I've seen winter conditions similar to this years, nothing seemed exceptional but I observed a first time 'thing' this year right after our 30cm wet snow where the Phy culms were tip buried in the snow - immediately after that storm I noticed that several Phy's were coated heavily in wax. The wax remains...really noticed it on my megurochiku which is essentially henon, it turned that henon grey and it has stayed on so I now have that grey henon thing for the first time. A couple other species are also still holding the wax. Not sure why these particular conditions initiated the wax???

[moriphen]

The big surprise, I have a Sinobambusa intermedia 2 winters old, last year a low of -11C did nothing to it, this year it is also unfazed but very surprisingly there were several late summer shoots that never branched, the branch buds are elongated maybe 3-5cm is all and they look totally fine - no signs of damage is apparent and those culms are still a very ghostly white so I think they are quite viable. This plant does have great wind protection though but it may be solid to -18C??? Hard to say, it will be very interesting to see if indeed those branch buds are intact and will grow out in a few weeks.?

How could I have forgotten that bamboo I am sure i could find a place for it in my garden. I only have 2 questions... How much sun does that bamboo receive and how would you define the running nature of this bamboo?

[needmore]

The big surprise, I have a Sinobambusa intermedia 2 winters old, last year a low of -11C did nothing to it, this year it is also unfazed but very surprisingly there were several late summer shoots that never branched, the branch buds are elongated maybe 3-5cm is all and they look totally fine - no signs of damage is apparent and those culms are still a very ghostly white so I think they are quite viable. This plant does have great wind protection though but it may be solid to -18C??? Hard to say, it will be very interesting to see if indeed those branch buds are intact and will grow out in a few weeks.?

How could I have forgotten that bamboo I am sure i could find a place for it in my garden. I only have 2 questions... How much sun does that bamboo receive and how would you define the running nature of this bamboo?

Mine is from a nice 7 gallon pot, maybe it was a 10? Pretty good size to start with anyway, I planted it in 4/11 I think and dug a hole for it that would have held a 1/2 whiskey barrel, it is currently producing culms a tad outside of that original perimeter. Very dry soil and I did not water it through the drought last summer. Planted up against the west side of my garage it does not get sun until afternoon and then a bit of direct sun before it gets shaded out by the west woods line not far away.

I put it B fagesii, and Pl juxianensis all next to each other there and you can not tell them apart w/o serious study the exception being the waxy white new culms of S intermedia. All have similar foliage and overall form. That fall my Pl juxy started to flower and last spring it went into HEAVY flower and then proceeded to die w/o setting any seed. During this I learned that S intermedia was reported to be flowering so it made me wonder if these 2 were the same but I decided no, they are different enough to not be and anyone would be unlikely to have confused them. So I've been watching the S intermedia to see if it is going flower and leave me with just the Bashania in that area, so far no signs but you should check that out b4 sourcing one.

[needmore]

Forgot one other noteworthy observation - Phy bambusoides 'White Crookstem' at -14.2C plus multiple long stretches of sub-freezing temps has zero damage thus far in its 2nd winter.