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| It is exciting to watch new shoots emerge and grow taller day by day |
A customer who recently purchased some Vivax Running Bamboos and some Seabreeze Clumping Bamboo sent this email:
I was busy most of the weekend so I didn't get out Saturday to check on them. Sunday afternoon I saw these shoots. 2 out of 3 of the Vivax have shoots. 2 on this plant and 3 thinner ones on another. Nothing new on the seabreeze yet, just lots of leaf growth. I saw these exactly 4 weeks after planting. Can't wait to measure them every day. You can tell I'm new to bamboo. Very excited, Michael
Spring is the time of year when all the running bamboos start sending up new shoots while clumpers wait a few months longer until the weather is warmer. It really is exciting to watch those new canes emerge. Not only is it thrilling to see the shoots pop out of the ground but, like Michael is doing, their growth can actually be measured daily and seeing that - especially when you've never grown bamboo before - can be amazing to watch.
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| Ralph stands next to a young Vivax cane here at Beautiful Bamboo. The new shoot that he's touching is less than a week old! |
Hi Sherry,
ReplyDeleteI live in North Florida and I am new to Bamboo. I own 5 acres of land about 12 miles east of Monticello (Greenville address) and I wanted to screen the neighbor's property after he logged off what he had. Starting in the 2nd week in December, I planted 4 different types of clumping bamboo that I bought online, most in 3 gallon pots, and a number in 1 gallon pots. These plants were; 1 Gracilis, 2 RG Dwarf, 2 Giant Buddha Belly, and about 15 Alphonse Karr, most of which were 1 gallon size. Later, in the beginning of January, I planted 3 more types in 3 gallon size; 1 Clone X, 1 Sunburst, 1 royal Kanapaha. The winter here has been very mild and mostly warm. I have all plants mulched with wood chips and I did a drip irrigation system to each plant (I can only go out to the land once a week from where I live) and set it to water daily for an hour and a half time in the evening. The plants went through a period of exhibiting some stress after being put in the soil, but appear to be all healthy now. There were existing new culms that grew in height and are now leafing. We are going to have one night (tomorrow night) that's projected to dip down to 31 degrees for about 2 hours, but as I wrote, this winter has been very warm and it will be up in the upper 70s, low 80s, by next week.
I have 2 questions: I know new culms shoot in Spring, but when in Spring? I know I am suppose to fertilize right before that happens, but when? Should I fertilize in the next 2 weeks? I had also added time release fertilizer when I had planted, should I just leave it at that and not add anymore?
Thank you so much!
New canes emerge in April or May depending on the variety and weather conditions. We have many that began shooting in February this year, but this is not typically.
DeleteWe use 18-6-8 time release fertilizer. This will usually last about 6 months. If the plants are doing well, there may be no need to add more until around 5 or 6 months. If the plants seem to be struggling, go ahead and add more.