"BosScone" wrote in message

summer{these 1s r not as vigorous}if you want an all over black appearance
xpose the plants to full sunlight this gets rid of the green in the
culms{caution over xposure will damage the culms in hot dry weather, keep
well watered

In my experience in my area, full sun culms stay green longer, as a
matter of fact if you look at the culm, the part in shade is black,
the part in sun is green. Ultimately it will turn all black, but the
shaded plants turn black faster. My friends P. Nigra turned all black
this year about 1 1/2 months before mine did.

Chris
Chino,CA
(about 30 miles east of Los Angeles)