[QUOTE=jvang;606255]how will they do that?



the place we bought em from said not to harvest any until the plants are matured. not sure how much it'd harm the plants to take the shoots right now. culms are still under an inch in diameter so probably a few years until theyre producing larger shoots[/QUOTE]Unless your climate is better than mine, it is unlikely that they will produce culms which are markedly larger. Regardless, I'd still leave it 2-3 years before harvesting your first crop and always leave plenty behind to maintain the health of the plant. My bamboo is a rare spring-time delicacy, akin to home-grown asparagus (which I don't grow). Fresh bamboo has enormously better flavour and texture than canned bamboo.

The weeds will be swamped by the density of the culms crowding them out. That's my experience, anyway.

[QUOTE=xilman;606256]Unless your climate is better than mine, it is unlikely that they will produce culms which are markedly larger. Regardless, I'd still leave it 2-3 years before harvesting your first crop and always leave plenty behind to maintain the health of the plant. My bamboo is a rare spring-time delicacy, akin to home-grown asparagus (which I don't grow). Fresh bamboo has enormously better flavour and texture than canned bamboo.

The weeds will be swamped by the density of the culms crowding them out. That's my experience, anyway.[/QUOTE]

the folks at bamboogarden get ~4 inch culms from their vivax cultivars despite being in the PNW. Here in Arkansas it's always super hot, humid, wet, and sunny which is supposed to be similar to mainland China where these originated, so I suspect these have a chance of reaching the maximum 5 inches at full maturity. They have some pretty cool pictures on their website:

[url]https://www.bamboogarden.com/bamboo/phyllostachys-vivax[/url]

[QUOTE=jvang;606259]the folks at bamboogarden get ~4 inch culms from their vivax cultivars despite being in the PNW. Here in Arkansas it's always super hot, humid, wet, and sunny which is supposed to be similar to mainland China where these originated, so I suspect these have a chance of reaching the maximum 5 inches at full maturity. They have some pretty cool pictures on their website:

[url]https://www.bamboogarden.com/bamboo/phyllostachys-vivax[/url][/QUOTE]Well, good luck!

I'm happy with 2" where I live, but that is at ~53N.

[QUOTE=xilman;606264]Well, good luck!

I'm happy with 2" where I live, but that is at ~53N.[/QUOTE]

i forget which species you have growing?

[QUOTE=jvang;606292]i forget which species you have growing?[/QUOTE]About 15-20 different species in several genera. I forget precisely how many.

The Phyllostachys species include violascens (the biggest one here), bambusoides, nigra, aurea, aureosulcata, bissetii and an as yet unidentified green hedging bamboo which might be edulis.

[url]https://www.cnn.com/style/article/japanese-bamboo-art/[/url]

We noticed today that there are 26 new bamboo shoots (?) in our bamboo garden.

Some are only a foot tall but several are already five feet tall!

:mike:

Pruning season has begun. There is a lot to do this year because a cold snap where temperatures fell to -14C overnight caused an immense amount of damage to the Thamnocalamus crassinodus 'Kew Beauty'. Every leaf died and most culms are dead more than 1m above ground. There are a good number of new culms coming up to replace them but they are very delicate until they start becoming woody. I broke five of them when pruning only 1/6 or so of the stand so the rest of the pruning can wait for a week or few.

The Phyllostachis species managed very well, but they are known to be frost-hardy to -20C. The Pseudosasa japonica took some leaf damage but is otherwise fine. The Semiarundinaria fastuosa took no damage --- frost-hardy to -25C --- as did the Pleioblastus and Fargesia species.