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Originally Posted by vickstar
Hi all, this is my first message.
I have several bamboo plants ranging from three feet to 12 feet tall, some in pots and some in raised beds.
They have suffered this winter - I live up in the North Pennines and we had over a month of continuous snow and several weeks of constant sub-zero temps this winter (down to -15 for several nights), it was also quite windy. Some of the bamboos have wintered here previously and have, as usual, lost some leaves but now have vigorous growth. However, the plants we acquired last year (from a place that is lower and a little further south) have really suffered - they are literally bald, most particularly the tall plants, and some of their culms are turning brown. We did wrap them in fleece and heavily packed up the pots with bubble pack, old carpet and fleece.
I just don't know how to tell whether they're dead or just battered! Any ideas what to look for? Should I cut them back?
Thanks.
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The way you tell if they are dead is keep watering and wait and see if they grow. If you have no releafing and no new shoots out of the ground by about the end of July, they are dead. Most bamboos which are widely grown in Britain are very hardy, surviving to about -25C in the ground, but they can be at risk in pots where the soil can get frozen through. Though they are defoliated at such temperatures. They are also slow to releaf and shoot in the spring. I often see no evidence of anything happening until well into summer. The low rain levels this spring won't help either.