Needmore Bamboo Co.

Bamboo Propagation   Seed Propagation -   Bamboo flowers and sets seed so rarely that it is not a reliable way to obtain new plants.   Some species flower every decade or so, while many species may not flower for 100 years or more.   The species that flower more frequently tend to not produce viable seeds and those that do, have a very short period of viability with germination rates often less than 10%.  I have had 5 species flower in the past 6 years and have not collected a single seed, although I do have a few seedlings that I grew from seed collected from another growers flowering of Pleioblastus fortunei.  To make matters worse there are seeds being sold on Ebay that are purposefully 'misidentified' to lure consumers into buying seeds of whatever has been collected and I would encourage you to do some research to verify that the named species has been recorded as being in flower.      Tissue Culture -  There are several species that are now being propagated via tissue culture and experimentation on new species continues to be explored.   Tissue culture plants have the potential to provide consumers with low-cost plant propagules, however thus far the tissue culture plants are no less expensive that those generated through more traditional methods. Hopefully as the inventory of desirable species produced via tissue culture grows, consumers will eventually find low-cost bamboo plants in the marketplace.  Some people are concerned about the possibility of tissue culture plants having genetic inferiority but I have no opinion on this and time will tell how the TC plants perform.    Bare-rhizome Propagation -    It's all about timing - it really bothers me to see bamboo rhizomes being sold year-round on Ebay.  Although a certain percentage of the time one can get really lucky and have a bare rhizome produce a new culm, this is only reliable when the rhizomes are collected in early spring, just prior to shooting season.   I'm willing to bet that a significant majority of people who buy Ebay rhizomes at any time outside of the period from February to May are in for a disappointment and I feel very strongly that vendors should not offer bare rhizomes once shooting season has initiated.     The new rhizomes that begin growing in early summer do not have much potential to produce new canes until the following spring after they have had a chance to convert nutrients into stored energy.  Older rhizomes that are dug after shooting season may produce a culm but they have 'spent' their energy during shooting season and are unlikely to be able to sustain additional new canes.  Often these rhizomes will produce a shoot or 2 but they usually abort after a few weeks as the rhizome is exhausted.    During early spring - prior to shooting season - many species will reliably produce & sustain new culms from bare rhizome cuttings.  The portion of the rhizome nearest to the growing tip should be discarded and only sections of the rhizome that contain a quantity of healthy feeder roots, and multiple rhizome buds should be used.   If you see that some of the buds have already begun to swell those portions of the rhizome are ideal for bare-rhizome propagating.   Cut an appropriate section of rhizome approximately 12"-18" long, place it in a pot (bend into a 'U' shape if using a round pot) on top of a few inches of potting soil, cover with several inches more of potting soil and water the pot.   I advise to keep the pots on the dry side, especially after new shoots appear as the rhizomes can easily rot - drier than wet, but be sure to water when needed.   Now be prepared to wait.   Bare rhizome propagules almost always produce very small culms the first year, and hopefully by fall you will see new rhizomes growing from the pots.  Generally when you purchase a 1-gallon size bamboo from a vendor, it will be a 1-year old bare rhizome propagule.     Layering & Culm/Branch Cuttings - Tropical clumping species of bamboo can often be reliably propagated by using branch and/or culm cuttings.  Experienced growers can obtain many new plants from a single culm of these genus of bamboo and I'll leave the details of their techniques to those who have a proven track record of producing new bamboo plants via cuttings.   Thus far I have failed in all my attempts to do culm and branch cuttings of my tropical forms, even on those species considered to be easy to propagate this way.        A form of air layering is done by packing moist sphagnum moss or other suitable material, sealed in plastic at the junction of the branch & culm. When this method was demonstrated at the 2004 ABS Annual Meeting in Pasadena, there were comments from the California folks about having limited success of layering due to low humidity, while the Florida people were generally much more successful due to the more humid Florida climate.       Sadly for those of us who wish to propagate the temperate 'running' species of bamboo, I have never heard of anyone successfully making new plants via cuttings, although one could argue that tissue culture plants are obtained from cuttings, so perhaps in the future someone will figure out how to do this outside of the 'test tube'.  Until such time we are left with the options of bare rhizome cuttings at the appropriate time or digging rhizomes that have live culms attached.    Digging New Divisions - Making your own divisions may help you to understand why the cost of bamboo plants at retail are more expensive than other ornamentals which can be more easily propagated - plants should be inexpensive but people should be paid for their labor. Root balls of an adequate size to support culms over 15 feet tall may weigh in excess of 80 lbs. The largest division that I have ever dug was a six culm division of Phyllostachys Aureosulcata that had culms in excess of 25 feet tall by 1 1/2 inch diameter, - 2 of us could barely lift it into the truck and I estimate that it weighed around 200 lbs. Digging bamboo is hard work & involves heavy lifting so please do not attempt this unless you are in good physical condition.  The photo at the top of this link  Controlling Spread   illustrates how much rhizome one can remove with single culm division in a friendly soil.       The most important things to remember are to select culms that are 1-2 years old so that the associated rhizomes will have plenty of viable buds, to get a root ball of adequate size for supporting the above-ground portion of the division, to keep the root ball moist at all times, and to keep any exposed parts of the culms covered during transport. Another important factor to consider is the time of year that you are making the division. I believe that the appropriate timing varies widely across the county and I can speak only for those areas which like mine, are classified as a 'continental-humid' zone 5b/6. In my area, I only make divisions in 2 periods: from late February through the beginning of shooting season, usually the beginning of April; and again from early August through mid-November. It may be possible & appropriate to make divisions at other times in your area, but I find that the above periods provide for the greatest opportunity of making viable divisions. I have seen where some bamboo gardeners warn against making single-culm divisions. I do not know what their experience has been but I almost exclusively make single-culm divisions and there is no problem whatsoever with this technique. You'll need access to water at the digging site so if a hose is not available be prepared to bring several gallons of water with you.       It is important to understand that a balance between the culms/leaf mass and the root ball must be maintained. The best way to ensure that this balance is maintained is to reduce the culm height to the extent that there are only the bottom 2 or 3 branches remaining. This will greatly increase the survival rate of the division as the root mass has a very minimal amount of foliage to keep hydrated. When too much leaf mass is left on the culms the roots can not supply an adequate amount of moisture to keep them hydrated and the leaves communicate this condition by tightly rolling up. But if you're like me, you want your newly transplanted bamboo to have an immediate impact in the landscape and let's face it - a 2 branch culm stump does not cut it! Therefore, I'll proceed with the assumption that we're both impatient and we're not going to shorten the culms but be prepared to top & limb the culms later, in the event that the leaves indicate that it is necessary.

Tools of the trade - Shovel, 5 foot chisel for rhizome chopping & levering the division out of the ground, pruning saws, pruning shears, twine, newspaper (soaking in a tub of water), 5 gallon cubes of water, trash bags (or reuse soil bags) for wrapping the rhizomes, tarps for wrapping any portion of the culms that are exposed during transit, and bags of soil to backfill the holes that you'll make. Oh yes, a vehicle for transport.

These 2 culms of Phyllostachys Aureosulcata are close enough to each other that I can include them both in 1 division. These are growing on the outside edge of the grove where the youngest rhizomes are usually located and are desirable in that the associated rhizomes should contain plenty of viable buds. Grass, weeds and other materials should be cleared from the digging area. Sharpen your shovel to make severing the rhizomes easier.

A rule of thumb for ensuring that the root ball is large enough is to keep the shovel 8 culm diameters away from the culms, on all sides. Dig straight down, not at an angle. When you have severed all rhizomes the division may be lifted or levered out of the hole.

This division was about 8 feet tall and was not topped. Others I dug that day were nearly 12 feet tall.

The root ball is immediately placed in a plastic bag.

Water is generously poured on the root ball and then wet newspaper is placed on it to maintain moisture during transport.

The bags are sealed and the divisions are ready for transport. Any part of the culms or leaves that would be exposed during transport are tightly sealed up in tarps or plastic to prevent desiccation. Be sure to backfill the hole with the soil that you brought!

The divisions were made during a serious drought and I was not able to pot them up for a few days so I soaked them in a wheelbarrow full of water overnight.

2 months later, the divisions are quite stable and did not need to have any foliage removed.