OK i found a basjoo.... gotta wit till april damn it lol

Is anyone growing P. Nuda? or Psudosasa Japicica???

OK i found a basjoo.... gotta wit till april damn it lol

Is anyone growing P. Nuda? or Psudosasa Japicica???

Cool! You can get basjoo at most nurseries around here... Going rate seems to be about 20 for a 2 gallon plant (got one on sale for 10 last year though).

I grow P. nuda. It's slow to size up and not nearly as cold hardy (for me anyway, and others have had similar experiences) as it is claimed to be. I'd say the foliage maintains green until maybe -18C to -20C, then browns rather quickly. The culms seem to be about as hardy as P. aureosulcata (maybe breif exposure to -22C - -25C won't kill them?). Again, it's slow to size up, so if you want a bamboo that will rocket skyward this isn't for you... The most vigourous for me, so far, has been P. aureosulcata 'alata' which is spreading about 2x faster than the others. P. aureosulcata 'specitbilis' also has received good hardiness ratings. I have a bunch of 5-7 gallon specimens that I will be planting this spring. I planted a small 2 gallon last year and anxiously await the results (though small bamboo plants are notoriously tender).

I've not tried Pseudosasa japonica. From what I've read it's not worth the effort in areas that routinely get below -18C. You might be alright with this one, however, if you bend the culms to the ground.

http://www.needmorebamboo.com/pseudosasapics.html

http://www.needmorebamboo.com/phynuda.html

http://www.needmorebamboo.com/spectabilispics.html

The japonica is 14.99 for a 1 gallon. Small plant for sure.. but tis cheap enough to cut it inhalf, and experinment....

Thats fine about the sizing up of the nuda... gives me some time to this of WTF to do with it lol

Here's another pic of P. nuda winter damage. This looks (to me) like partial top-kill. Low temp was -12F or -24.4C.

http://www.bambooweb.info/ShowPictures2.php?BooID=316&Desc=&Loc=&Match=316&Cat=*&Genus=*&s=3

Phyllostachys rubromarginata (also vigorous)...

http://www.bambooweb.info/ShowPictures2.php?BooID=326&Desc=&Loc=&Match=326&Cat=*&Genus=*&s=21
http://www.bambooweb.info/ShowPictures2.php?BooID=326&Desc=&Loc=&Match=326&Cat=*&Genus=*&s=33
http://www.bambooweb.info/ShowPictures2.php?BooID=326&Desc=&Loc=&Match=326&Cat=*&Genus=*&s=32

P. bissettii after -17F (-28C):

Interesting!

hmmm......... I still have somethinking to do lol. I like the nuda... not ust cause its root hardy to -31F apperantly, when nmultched. And i looks really good after a few years.

I like the japinica too cause its a runner... but not bad at all.

I think for my climate i might have to take hardiness over vigour for the time being...... that is... till next year... round 2 of experiments muahhaah

hmmm. Here is A. gigantea 'Macon' after -24C.
Looks much better than a similarily established P. nuda, and yet they are rated the same!!! I don't know who decided that nuda is hardy to -31C. Maybe they were talking about root hardiness?

"not ust cause its root hardy to -31F apperantly, when nmultched" - me

Yes lol thats what they mean......... but still... -31FF..... thats colder then it gets here

Ive been really tempted to try the macon.........

Paul, are you registered to that website????? cause I havnt seen you on there.....

CP- You're making a very common mistake in saying things like "It never gets that cold here". If it's been that cold before, it can be again... If I'm able to get one point across, it's to be realistic. We all read the websites, read the books (GRRRR Francko... Worst offender for inflating plant hardiness figures, his palm numbers are, for the most part, accurate), and grow the plants. "Great, my P. nigra survived an overnight low of -20C in Tennessee, so the plant must be hardy to -20C"... Well, actually, it burns around -16/-17C up here, and will top-kill with temps below about -18C!

Second. We both know that bamboo roots can take damn near anything if they're mulched. You could probably grow them in Moose Factory if you mulched them well enough... This doesn't change the physiology of the plant. Most bamboo can not grow larger if they are continually whacked back to the ground. If they don't die the first year, they may the second or third. What this is, essentially, is the starvation of the plant.

Bamboo, a commonly grown plant, is one of the worst offenders of inflated cold tolerance figures. So what is the thing is root hardy? The plant, with few exceptions (some of the timbers are quite vigourous, and once over a threshold size, and with good feeding the previous summer, 'can' size up the year following top-kill), comes back smaller and weaker than the year before. This is determental in terms of plant health and ornamental value. From my own and others experiences both prolonged freezes with lows near -18C and/or an extreme low below -20C (a little colder for the toughest species, P. aureosulcata, A. gigantea etc.) will cause burning, and temps just a little lower will cause top-kill. I should point out that there are also inflated or even 'deflated' zone figures for some plants. Yucca, with a few exceptions, is hardier to cold than the zone figures usually indicate. Cacti are universally tougher than they are rated.

By all means please do plant a P. nuda, but be sure to keep it protected... I just think that since you're going to have to protect it anyway (snow, mulch) you might as well try something a little more exotic looking and/or vigourous. And, do plant an A. gigantea... I want to know how low it can go and for how long! It certainly would see temps below -25C occasionally in habitat and maybe even colder some times! I'm interested in seeing if it can handle the sort of continuous low temps that you get up there in Tbay!

I 100% agree with you. And I admit, i shouldnt say never, but, it is VERY VERY rare here, fortunatly.

Also, im fortunatly not naive enough to belive everything that i read. Which is why i joined this site. I know tthere are other people as crazy as me LOL. I agree about the hardiness ratings of plants. The system that most of us use are for trees and shrubs. Not pams, cacti, succulents, yucca, bamboo ETC. They are differnt plants, which means differet adapibility. As well as where they grow climate wise. You wont be able to grow something that needs 12 hours of light all year, in england ( like the mazari palm, which apperantly fails horribly there). Not to mention moisture requirments ( some plants are way more hardy if left dry), and humidity, and cold winds... the list goes on and on. Ive been reaseraching this for a LONG time.

I agree about the ,ultching as well. But there are some species that top kill well ( cant remember names of the top of my head... I think they where the Pylostachys. And if this year proved something.... i can make fargesia survive quite well here. So i efinetly learned alot about them this year. And here, no matter what, Im at the very very very minumum, multching. Im probably going to do more of what I did with my fargesia though, it seemed to work well there. Also, this year ive payed attention to the parts of the yard where the snow melts first. I belive thats a good indication of micrclimate, or at least a place to plant some things.

About the root hardy figures. Doesnt the age and size of the root structure play a difference in how well they come back? Our winters are way more moist then others. WEre heavily influenced by the great lakes, where as the US has nothing to even match the size and influence they have. its good in some ways and bad in others of course. The winters are more moist, which sucks becaue it makes it feel colde then it is ( if youve ever spent a winter in ccalgary, it feels way way warmer there, even at the same temp,m and windchil).

Your realy pushing the giganta ??????? Im gonn ahave to ask why. I took a good look at tit, and its actualy very nice, its in my list of possibilities. giganta, is originalfrom up to ohio, and southern ontario appperantly....

As always i appreciate your input. Your in the losest climate to me, , so I hope , and have larned alot , . I will say though, when I seen my fargesia, it dd make me a bit cocky hahahah

"Your realy pushing the giganta ??????? Im gonn ahave to ask why. I took a good look at tit, and its actualy very nice, its in my list of possibilities. giganta, is originalfrom up to ohio, and southern ontario appperantly....

As always i appreciate your input. Your in the losest climate to me, , so I hope , and have larned alot , . I will say though, when I seen my fargesia, it dd make me a bit cocky hahahah"

I'm pushing the A. gigantea since it is probably the hardiest bamboo in the world. I also pushed the giant Miscanthus because it is so rewarding! I've heard about the possible Ontario populations for A. gigantea, but have not seen a herbarium specimen listed anywhere, so, for now, those are only rumours (and if it was once found in ontario, it probably isn't anymore...)

Your protection worked like a charm, so you have every right to be cocky... I'm such an old hen now (I admit that I'm a few years short of 30 still), but I've seen so many people try this hobby only to disappear the next year when things don't work out!

Hey, I should put some photos on that bambooweb website! Show what happens to most bamboo in zone 5!!!

BAMBOO PUSHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL. Of course it happens to be one of the more expensive ones there :S LOL

Im definetly going to take the giganta into concideration. As well as everything youve said. But as for the miricanthus... You know where i might be able to score some? or atleast seeds?

I agree that this is all about trial and error. Which is why i dont listin when someone says "you cant", but i still take in their input as always. Im just lucky that i had success so far this year.

Ya if there were, there arent anymore, or atlest seen. People just probably think its tall grass and pay no attention to it, or kill it. :S even passiflora was apparently as far north as southern ontario. And magnilia, hibiscus.... its crazy actualy...

" But as for the miricanthus... You know where i might be able to score some? or atleast seeds? "

Yes. Send me a PM and I can hook you up. Have to wait until late April though since I don't want to dig any before I know it will form 'culms'!

We still have native magnolia (M. acuminata, you should try it up there), and there are native Hibiscus, in the Southern part of the province... We also have 2 native cacti (one in your neck of the woods, sort of). We also 'used' (still do?) to have Rhododendron maximum, which, if it's still around, would be our only native BLE that can reach tree size! I'm sure that I'm missing some other interesting stuff too...

ok paul...... i think you convinced me on the giganta hahahaha, even though its expensive as hell. BUt answer me this.... which one is mekon?

these ones?
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2595&size=big&cat=543
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=2596&cat=543&size=big

or these ones? Or are they the same??
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1822&size=big&cat=543
http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=1820&cat=543&size=big

The fisrt links look way better then the bottom ones for sure.... if its the top one....... im totaly down with the giganta... it looks like chamedorea ( bamboo palm). And its tolerand of full sun or full shade. And it can grow in moist soil.........

ya im pretty sure on that giganta..