Moso bamboo diary 2

It is safe to say that spring has finally came. Winter test that I mentioned in Moso bamboo diary 1 has been successful, except the part with mice.

Winter itself was mild so there was no damage to the bamboo planted outside. Since winter officially ended I am opening this new post to continue writing about my bamboo experience. Winter actually closed last phase that I had to do before deciding to plant all moso into the backyard - most of them are in containers indoors. When I find more time I will summarize the most important things that I have learned. 

Today was a very busy day. I had to move some plants from the house into the greenhouse, repair the greenhouse, reorganize plants indoors, water them...Well, by the time I finished it was dark so I couldn`t take any picture.

Bamboo that was indoors stayed indoors. It is still too soon to move them outside, even to greenhouse in the backyard. Weather people say that next week we might have temperatures few degrees below 0°C (32°F) so I don`t want to expose them to that stress. They would be protected in the greenhouse but that would still be stressful for them, especially now when they started to produce new stems. I will keep them indoors until April and then decide what to do. 

In the backyard greenhouse that we build over bamboo planted in the ground I only have 5 bamboo. Other were partially eaten by mice. They survived because I planted them into containers and brought indoors. Soon after that they started to develop new stems and now they are growing like crazy. Backyard greenhouse survived snow but it was damaged by the strong northern wind. I had to repair it few times but nothing serious.

These are photos of bamboo that mice eat. Some of them had only few inches of rhizomes left but they had enough strength to develop new stems. It is important not to cut stems until they are completely dead - as long as they are green there is a chance that they develop new branches.  
These two ones are growing outside in the open. They have leaf damage because turkeys attacked them :(. But they are holding on very nicely. 3-4 times they were covered with snow and that did cause some stems to break.
And this is the indoors jungle :)

26.03.2013.

It is snowing again :(. Temperature did not go below -3°C (26,6°F) so bamboo planted outside will not be damaged. I think that this low temperature might only slow down the growth of new stems. This for sure is not spring we wanted nor expected. Weather people say snowy weather will not last for long so we can expect to see some sun next week. Luckily greenhouse attached to the house never has freezing temperatures, at the moment temperature there is is around 12°C(53°F).

09.04.2013.

After snow we had almost 2 weeks of rain and cold weather. Today was the first relatively sunny day so I moved my moso from the greenhouse attached to the house to the one in the backyard. They will be warm and protected there and also they will have much more sunlight than in the first greenhouse. Can`t wait to plant them in the ground. :)

from here...

...to there :)

18.-19.04.2013. 

Finally came time to plant my moso into the field. Ground was wet because of the rain so I had to use bucket and throw water from ditch in the field into a ditch near the field road. There was around 5000 liters (1300 gl) of water so that was a hard work but I had to do it so that field can dry up much faster so that everything can be planted. I was right because on day 3 field was ready for planting. First I planted lavender and then bamboo.

My plan was to plant bamboo at 3 meters (9,8 ft) apart but because of the land configuration I reduced it to 2 meters (6,5 ft) and planted them in 3 rows. Arundo donax stems were used as support so that wind doesn`t destroys young bamboo. I also left area where I plan to dig up the trench to control moso spreading but that will be done during this year, at the moment I don`t have time for that.

I didn`t water bamboo after planting it because in order to take them out of the containers I had to soak them in water + ground was moist underneath the surface. Soaking plants before taking them out of the containers helps to minimize damage to the root.

Next to moso I planted goji berry and lavender. We will see how it will grow. Between moso I plan to plant peanut, sesame, canna indica, calendula...that way space between moso will be put in good use rather than left empty.

Well, that is it. Now I am waiting them to start to grow. Hopefully there will be some progress in a month or so. Now I must start planning sun protection for them. When summer comes they will definitely need some protection so back to planning :).

23.04.2013.

I added some chicken manure around bamboo root to those ones planted into the field. Since it is not as strong as artificial fertilizers it will not do any harm to the root. Also rain fell yesterday so it melted down some manure and took it down to the roots. I did however water bamboo the day before because it didn`t look like it was going to rain. 

I didn`t have time to write about other bamboo, the ones that overwintered in open (4 bamboos) and the one that overwintered in outside greenhouse (4 bamboos). 

Two out of four planted outside were attacked by the mice but I managed to save them without digging them out. Third and fourth are ok. They are slowly recovering and growing new leafs. Although they look like a disaster :), they are progressing and sending new shoots. Lack of leafs and mechanical damage is result of turkeys last autumn. Now they have better protection.

Three planted in the backyard, in the open...

Ones in the outside greenhouse are doing well. Yesterday I looked closely to see if there are new shoots and I was very surprised to see by now the largest shoot emerging from the ground.
10.05.2013. 

Week after planting bamboo in field stems got darker color, probably due to exposure to the sun; they went from green to purple. New leafs and stems started are growing nicely. At the moment we are having a rainy week so they are enjoying. Personally I`m late with everything because there is a lot of work to do outside so by the time I get inside...I´m dead tired. :(

Yesterday we used motocultivator to remove grass between bamboo and other plants. When rain fell grass grew like crazy so I had to do something. Space between bamboo and goji I am using to plant annual plants like canna indica, calendula and watermelon :).

 Here are some photos of how bamboo looks now...

These are new stems...
This bamboo is planted last year into the ground and in the beginning of the spring it was in 2,5 cm (1 inch) deep water for a week and a half. Soon after water went away it started to grow and this is how it looks now. These big stems grew yellow leafs and now they are finally growing some green ones. It looks cool :).

This is the one in the outside greenhouse. I still didn`t find time to dismantle it so plants are enjoying semi-tropical climate inside. This bamboo is the biggest of all that I have planted into the ground last year and it is producing many new stems. They are all over the place and in order to get a better view I edited this photo. There is only one stem that I don`t know to whom it belongs to so there is a nice red question mark above him. I would say it belong to the big bamboo but there is a smaller one next to him and it might belong to him. 

Basically this is bamboo from seed that grew one year in a container and one year in the ground (in the greenhouse). 

  

As soon as I can I`ll add a page to this In between blog with photos of my other plants. Not a diary but simply photos and short description.

24.05.2013.
Sun and wind did some damage to the leafs but that is something that I expected to happen. But new stems and leafs are growing and everything is looking good. At the moment we are having several rainy days so bamboos are enjoying.
I began to dismantle greenhouse so took a quick shoot of biggest bamboo in there. He is a runner. Others are not running yet but this one is running like crazy.(big bamboo in front is Ph. nigra grown from rhizome)

And these are some of the other bamboos I planted...

Phyllostachys nigra (from rhizome)	Phyllostachys viridis "Rober Young" (from rhizome)	Bambusa bambos (form seed)
Ph. h. Henon (from rhizome)	Fargesia Papyrifera (from seed)	Fargesia Yunnanensis (from seed)

07.06.2013.

It is still raining. I think this is 3rd week since it started raining and weather people say it should be the last one. Plants love this kind of weather although they would love it even more if was a bit warmer. 

The other day I wanted to see will my idea about retaining water around bamboo work, so I did a little test. I applied a thin layer of hay around bamboo and then placed a garbage bag over and dug in bag`s edges into the ground. It looks good and it might work. Bag will retain water and hay will rot and provide nutrients. Surface of the bag is not very big but I think it is big enough for this year`s growth. In the middle of the bag is opening for stems and if new stems develop away from this opening I can easily create a hole for them. 

There was a problem with wild rabbit in the field. He or she eat the biggest stems of my Ph. nigra. Moso was also eaten but only 2 plants. They will recover but it is a one month growth that has been lost. In order to prevent further rabbit rampage I randomly placed plastic bags on branches; they rustle in the wind and so far this has been successful. I think I`ll have to move them around so that rabbit don`t get used to my improvised scarecrows. Since dog is the best way to keep rabbits away from the field I`m in process of acquiring croatian sheppard. We love the fact that they are very loyal and intelligent. Two croatian shepard we had previously died :(.  

Also, next week I plan to spray bamboo with foliar fertilizer. I did it today on some plants but as soon as I finished rain washed everything away so there is no point in doing it until rain stops.

June 2013. (10.07.2013.)

June was the month when I was able to close all reamaining exams in university so after 5 years of education I`m left with graduation thesis and then I`m officially done with being a student. That was the reason I didn`t have time to update this post.

June was also the month that turned my bamboo parcel into a jungle with rainy and sunny weeks. There was

25.06.2013.

a period of some 2-3 weeks of sun and then rain came again. At the moment it is rainy week. That is good because plants are growing like crazy. 

While studying I found enough time to remove weed from around the bamboo and to apply hay. They got a nice thick layer of hay that will keep the water and stop new weed from growing. Well, it was thick layer before the rain...after the rain it`s size reduced by half. When my current jobs are finished I`ll ad some more hay. 

The idea of applying plastic foil (garbage bags in my case) turned up to be a bad one. New bamboo shoots have problem penetrating it so they end up growing under the foil. Some shoots go through the foil so they don`t have any problems in normal development. Seeing this I decided to remove foil from 5 bamboos that had it. Only layer of hay will remain because new shoots can grow easy through it. Also, at the moment I`m in process of cleaning up bamboo parcel from weed. It is all done manually so there is a lot of work to be done. Most important is to remove the weed with its root because if root remains in the ground all my work is in vain. So, I have my kitchen knife, scissors, hoe and rake as tools...although most of the work is done by hands. They do become green at the end of the day but that is only to justify my pseudonym last name :).

11.07.2013. Stem that grew under plastic foil.

06.07.2013. Stem penetrating plastic foil

11.07.2013. Cleaning done so far

Bamboo progresses slowly. Some of them have green-yellow leafs because of the strong sun but new stems and new leafs are ok. Soon I will build sun protection for them and start intensive watering to get them up to speed for overwintering in the open. 

11.07.2013.

11.07.2013.

11.07.2013.

During the spring I dug out a water reservoir in a place where I had rice parcel last year. Intention is to collect rain water from roofs, store it in reservoir and use it for watering bamboo and other plants. The entire construction is fairly simple and can be seen in photos below. Dimensions are 2x4m and depth is 0.65m (6.65x13.12ft and depth is 2.13 ft). Estimated water volume that can be stored is 5200 liters (1373 US gal).

25.04.2013.

25.06.2013. Victoria amazonica was planted in the center

11.07.2013.

Bamboo from outside greenhouse is one with longest rhizome for now. It is growing after every rain and after removing greenhouse construction I was able to inspect surface under the thick layer of hay. Only few smaller rhizomes are on that level (those that were there before), others are deeper in the ground. Since it has a nice amount of leaf mass I presume that underground development of the rhizomes is progressing normally. Fertilization is required and it will be done by chicken manure because it is safer and more lasting than artificial fertilizers. 4 other bamboos that were partially eaten by rodents this winter managed to survive. They have recovered nicely and started to grow.

11.07.2013.

11.07.2013.

11.07.2013.

During June I planted some more moso seed. The best method is using wet paper towel because that way there is better control over moldy seed and it is easier to calculate how many containers you will need. If I put to germinating 100 seeds and only 72 of them germinate than I will prepare 72 containers instead of 100. Also, remove outer coating from the seed before planting them. There are two reasons for that: 1. germ can develop more easily; 2. removing outer coating reduces the chance of mold.

There is one more bamboo that is important and it shouldn`t be left out. He overwintered outside in the open and is located in part of the yard which has best soil quality. I use that area to grow plants that are rare and unique in my area. Also, there are planted "sample plants" (1 plant of each plant I have). It is like Noah`s ark of plants :).

11.07.2013. Testing area for different plants

08.07.2013. The moso that overwintered outside. Notice leaf reaction to strong sun. It is normal reaction with which it prevents loss of water

07.07.2013. New shoots after rain

October 2013 (19.10.2013.) 

It`s time to fill up the gap. Many things happened in time since my last writing and non of them were good, some even tragical. So unfortunately this gap has a good foundation but nothing stopped me from taking pictures and documenting new developments in my bamboo world :).

After the last September rain we had drought that lasted almost 30 days. Temperatures went up to 40°C || 104°F in the shade but that did not bother bamboo much. I was surprised to see that they kept growing in spite the lack of water and strong sun.  Later on I realized why Moso wasn`t affected much with the drought. I planted these seedlings into containers that were 25cm || 9.8 in tall so they filled the container during the winter by developing deeper roots. When I planted them outside they instantly had access to deeper parts of the soil where they will grow. In those deeper parts there are some water reserved even during the drought so they grew without much disruption.

With that last rain water reservoir was almost full but then happened something that nobody anticipated; cat fell in and shredded plastic foil. Being unable to afford new foil I tried to repair it but there were so many tiny holes that it was impossible to find them all. So watering failed for this year. Next year the plan is to expand reservoir and use new foil...and protect the entire reservoir form everything.

The business of removing weed from around bamboo was done successfully as well as straw collecting from my neighbor`s field. Straw will be used for protecting bamboos from low temperatures during the winter. 

22.07.. Weed removed

22.07. Straw collected

22.07. Moso summer travel :)

Rain came on August 17th or 18th and everything began to grow again. Bamboo stared developing new shoots but the weed grew the fastest and it did not took long before weed took over again. This time I decided not to remove it until weather gets colder and growth slows down. That way I`ll remove weed and be done with it for this year.
After that rain real autumn began. There was rain every other week and on October 5th and 6th we had some severe frost. This frost came unusually early so many soft plants like pumpkins and gourds  died out. After that weather was nice again but the damage was done. There was no direct damage to Moso but young shoots did die off 1-2 weeks later. All damage was done at the height of some 30 cm || 11 inches from the ground. It seems like nods at that height got frozen so they slowly began to die out when warmer weather came.
After the frost most of the weed died out so it was time to begin removing weed again. Alongside that I applied hay and straw around bamboo. When doing that I found out that many bamboo had rhizomes traveling under the hay I applied in the spring and that was a nice thing to see.

08.10. They grew nicely this year

08.10. Frost destroy canna indica planted between bamboo

08.10. Applying 5-10 cm || 2-4 inches of hay around bamboo

10.11.2013. 

Finally I placed straw around bamboo and removed dry weed; it looks better now :). Weather was extremely warm last few weeks so everything is growing like crazy. Daily temperatures went up to 23°C || 73°F and that is not normal at this time of the year. Normal daily temperatures would be around 15°C || 59°F. Bamboos are producing new shoots but I`m pretty sure they woun`t survive the frost and winter.

I was surprised by one bamboo whose rhizome has traveled approximately 1 meter || 3.29 ft. Didn`t expect for to travel this much in such a short period of time (from April till now). I almost stepped on it because the shoot grew in the middle of the pathway.

Other bamboos next to moso parcel also got their winter protection. Although I thought there woun`t be enough straw for everyone in the end it all turned up just fine. Now I`m hoping that they will survive the winter without too much damage. Well, this upcoming winter will be second winter test with bamboo in the open field. Hopefully this winter will not be too cold.

Phyllostachys viridis 'Robert Young'	Phyllostachys nigra
Ph nigra	Ph. nigra

I almost forgot. It is plowing time so it is time for me to plan the trenches. Basic lines will be dug up with single-sided plow and later on I`ll expand and depthen them up manually. One trench has been made as a test. It is around 30 cm || 11.8 in deep.






26.11.2013.

First snow came in November. Temperatures were around 0°C || 33°F and bamboo was covered by the snow which provided protection from cold wind.  

30.11.2013. 

Few days later snow began to melt and as expected new stems froze and died. There is some leaf damage but nothing much but. The problem is that temperatures are still low during the night and there is no snow to protect bamboo.

13.12.2013.

Dry winter is the worst thing that can happen to the plants. For now we are having dry but cold weather that is causing damage to the younger bamboos. Those plants planted into the ground in spring 2012.have very little damage (2-3 frozen leafs) but bamboos planted in spring this year have significantly much damage. There is nothing that I can do about it. Some will survive, and some will not. My resources for interventions are depleted and the only thing I can is hope that we will get some snow soon. Average temperature during the night is -3°C || 26°F.  

Bamboo planted in 2012.	Bamboo planted in 2012.

11.01.2014. 

While in US people have unusually low winter temperatures in Croatia we are having unusually high temperature. After that initial snow in November we are constantly on a border of having spring temperatures. For the last 2 weeks temperatures fluctuate from +15°C || 59°F during the day to +2°C || 35,5°F during the night. That is big problem because plants are breaking the dormancy and starting to develop new leafs and flower buds which will die off in February when snow and freezing temperatures come. If this was a normal winter we would have temperatures around -10°C || 14°F in January and even lower temperatures in February. 

As a result of more than a month of warm weather one of my Moso bamboos, planted in spring 2013., has begun growing new stems. I`m just hoping that other bamboos are not doing the same thing because all these new shoots will die when freezing temperatures come. 

All other bamboos are holding well. Young leafs and stems have been damaged by the strong cold wind we had in the beginning of  December but that was something that had to happen because there was no snow to cover bamboo and provide protection. 

05.01.2014.
05.01.2014.	05.01.2014.

22.02.2014.

This winter was mild and very short. For some plants that is good but for some that is bad. Lowest temperature was -10°C || 14°F and we had snow for barely 3 weeks. Warmest winter in my life and the most unpredictable one.

Sow started to melt in the beginning of February and ever since then we have sunny and rainy days. Temperatures go from 2°C || 35°F during the night to 18°C || 64°F during the day. There was frost only once since snow melted. Highly unusual!

07.02.2014. Moso under snow (1st winter outside)	07.02.2014. Moso (1st winter outside)
07.02.2014. Young moso damaged by cold northern wind	07.02.2014.
07.02.2014. Autumn stem died	07.02.2014. Older moso (2nd winter outside)

Most of the damage comes from cold northern wind. Younger stems and leafs were the first one to die off but under the straw/hay situation is good. The other day I randomly chose bamboos and dug under the straw to see the situation with rhizomes. Most of them look good. Some have nice green color and older ones have a nice yellow color. In situations where tip of the rhizomes was close to exiting from under the straw it froze and died off. Although I saw only surface rhizomes ie. ones that travel above ground it is impossible to know for sure are they alive until the spring and shooting time. But I think that they are not damaged by the cold because they had straw/hay and snow isolation during the cold weather. 

 

Trenches that we made in autumn did a good job when snow started to melt. They drained the water from the bamboo parcel so that soil could dry much faster.These trenches are still a rough sketch of what they should be but that will be fixed later during the year. They were initially made for rhizome control but I need them for water drainage also. There is a lot of work to be done this year :).

Bamboo that started shooting in January continued its growth despite the snow and cold temperatures that we had. I added some more hay to protect the shoot from the cold and now it is much bigger. There is also a small shoot growing next to the bigger one. They are still covered with thick layer of hay because I don`t want to risk frost killing them. Can`t wait to see how tall this one will be. Others are not shooting yet, at least I haven`t found any. They will probably come later when weather gets warmer.

 

22.02.2014. Rainy weather	22.02.2014.
22.02.2014. This moso grows in protected place so there is less damage	22.02.2014. This one grows next to the previous one and there is also less damage on the leafs

03.03.2014.

In the beginning od "Moso bamboo diary 1" I have wrote about ways I tried to germinate moso seed. Since then a lot of time passed so it might be a good idea to make a small tutorial on moso germination; at least the way that I do it.

Remove outer shell from the seed. That way seed germinates more easily and it reduces risk of seed becoming moldy. NOTE: even though some seed might look weak and unhealthy that should not be the reason for throwing them away. They might germinate better than healthy looking ones.
Kitchen paper towel and zip-lock bag is a good solution although some other containers can be used together with paper towel (petri dish, ice cream box, glass jar...) NOTE: It is always good to put the seed into a "sandwich" of paper towel because that way seed is better protected from drying out. Also water that condenses on bag walls distributes evenly through the paper towel.
Amount of water should be enough to make paper towel wet. Not soaking wet but moderately wet. On the photo is water that I squeezed out from the wet paper towel to illustrate how much water is in it (later on I collected that water back into that paper towel)
Here it is a simple "sandwich" :).
Just pack it up and place somewhere where you have room temperatures (24°C or more || 75°F or more). It is not necessary to heat it overnight. NOTE: Open the bag every day and unfold the paper towel to let in the air. If paper towel is wet, add water to it.
Usual germination time is from 8 to 30 days. If some seed is moldy discard it because it is dead. Healthy seeds rarely become moldy. Seedlings can be planted into soil when they develop their roots half the size of the root on the photo.
This is one of the germination tests. Observe that mold is not affecting healthy seedlings. Seedlings are a little big because I didn`t plant them on time but that is not a problem. They will continue growing normally as soon as I put them into the soil. Bamboo likes silica in soil so I always use 1 part store bought soil and 1 part garden soil. Garden soil should be sterilized using heat to eliminate danger of fungus gnats and other insects that might eat young bamboo roots.

Shooting season has started so here are some photos that might be interesting...

This bamboo below did not show much growth for the time it was planted outside (in spring 2012.). It is planted on very fertile part of my yard so I was confused why isn`t it developing bigger stems. I think it has something to do with alternate-year cycles associated to bamboo growth. While there was not much growth above ground bamboo probably grew more intense underground so this year it started creating above ground shoots. Notice how they grow in almost perfect line; that shows the direction of the rhizome because new shoots are developing from the buds on rhizome.   

Two interesting photos showing difference between bamboo rhizome and shoot that is developing on it. On first photo there is a bud that is slowly swelling and on the other photo there are some nicely formed shoots on the rhizome. Shoots are approximately 1.5 times thicker than rhizome. (it is still rainy weather so everything is wet)

Almost all bamboo in the field survived. Some don't have leafs but under the straw there are nice healthy looking rhizomes and shoots. I would say that around 95% of bamboo planted in the field survived. 

This is all for "Moso bamboo diary 2". 

Story continues on "Moso bamboo diary 3"

Thank you all for visiting and supporting my projects!