Hi,
We planted a reasonably mature 7-8 foot high bamboo tree(?) around October
last year, but it has not visibly grown yet. Should I expect that? Is the
growing season just about to start, as we enter spring?

I'm in England. The bamboo was the common type, and green. I can find the
exact name if that is important!

Neil

Hi Neil,

This is normal, but you should be rewarded for your patience soon. I
would be happy to give you more specific details if you tell us the
variety. But the following things are true of all bamboo:

Bamboo "shoots" for only a couple of months per year around May. Each
bamboo shoot comes out of the earth and reaches it's full and permanent
height in 6 to 8 weeks. So the culms (the stalks) that you see today
will never get any bigger. However, you can expect new culms to "shoot"
up in the near future. New culms are typically bigger than old ones
(once grown). This is how the plant increases size and height... It
uses the energy gathered from several smaller culms to produce a few
bigger ones each year.

Sometimes the shoots will just poke out of the ground a little and
appear dormant for a few weeks before they actually start their quick
growth spurt. And if some of these emerge that never grow, don't worry.
I have seen a lot of cases where several shoots emerge, but only half
of them actually grow. This can happen to all plants, but is
particularly common with new divisions, as the plant might have several
buds ready underground, but when the plant was cut in half for
division, it no longer has enough energy to make them all grow.

Let us know how it goes in May.
Cheers!

Neil wrote:
Hi,
We planted a reasonably mature 7-8 foot high bamboo tree(?) around October
last year, but it has not visibly grown yet. Should I expect that? Is the
growing season just about to start, as we enter spring?

I'm in England. The bamboo was the common type, and green. I can find the
exact name if that is important!

Neil

"HumanJHawkins" wrote in message
This is normal, but you should be rewarded for your patience soon. I
would be happy to give you more specific details if you tell us the
variety. But the following things are true of all bamboo:

Bamboo "shoots" for only a couple of months per year around May. Each
bamboo shoot comes out of the earth and reaches it's full and permanent
height in 6 to 8 weeks. So the culms (the stalks) that you see today
will never get any bigger. However, you can expect new culms to "shoot"
up in the near future. New culms are typically bigger than old ones
(once grown). This is how the plant increases size and height... It
uses the energy gathered from several smaller culms to produce a few
bigger ones each year.

Sometimes the shoots will just poke out of the ground a little and
appear dormant for a few weeks before they actually start their quick
growth spurt. And if some of these emerge that never grow, don't worry.
I have seen a lot of cases where several shoots emerge, but only half
of them actually grow. This can happen to all plants, but is
particularly common with new divisions, as the plant might have several
buds ready underground, but when the plant was cut in half for
division, it no longer has enough energy to make them all grow.

Let us know how it goes in May.
Cheers!


Thanks. So let me get this right. All the stalks I have now, grow no more,
but instead new shoots will come out during May, and grow higher than the
original/existing ones?

ps. what I have is a "Phyllostachys Aureosulcata" or short name
"Aureocaulis".

Neil

That's right. Though once established, it can really increase in size
(by putting up new shoots) each May. Once it gets going, you can feel
free to get agressive about pruning out the smaller culms or culms that
are too close together, and trimming off lower branches to show off the
culms that they might be obscuring.

If you want to give it as much energy as possible for growth, do this
in late fall / early winter. If it is growing too quickly and you want
to slow it down, do this right after the shooting season finishes.

FYI, you probably have Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Aureocaulis', which
is a little different (golden vs. dark green) than regular
Phyllostachys aureosulcata. More info on this bamboo (both types) can
be found at these links. I have no affiliation with the site, but find
it has good info.

http://bamboogarden.com/Phyllostachys%20aureosulcata%20'Aureocaulis'.htm
http://bamboogarden.com/Phyllostachy...eosulcata.html

Cheers!

The culms (stems) you have now will not increase in size.
New culms will emerge in the spring but will likely be smaller than the
existing ones.
After about 7 years you will see the biggest ones emerge.
It takes a lot of energy to make new culms and right now most of the
energy is going into just stabilizing this new planting.