Bamboo turning to seed
 

I have a number of clumps of Bamboo in my garden and this year two of them have lost all of therir leaves and appear to have seeded, although there is no new growth, has anyone got any suggestions as to what may be happening, are they dying? or will they recover to full leaf?

They are flowering. They will probably die. Search this forum for information on bamboo flowering.

Bamboo turning to seed
 

nagitrah wrote:
I have a number of clumps of Bamboo in my garden and this year two of
them have lost all of therir leaves and appear to have seeded, although
there is no new growth, has anyone got any suggestions as to what may be
happening, are they dying? or will they recover to full leaf?

As others noted, they are probably goners. But, the seed is highly
valuable. If you let them fully go to seed and put a tarp under around
the plant to catch the seeds. (Ideally let them fall of their own
accord or at least wait until they fall off when you shake the culms),
the seed should be viable.

It will make any bamboo loving friends very happy, or you can sell it
on ebay for maybe $10 for a small pack of 50+/- seeds. (You will get
thousands of seeds I think)

These are probably Fargesia nitida, no? It has been in flower for a few
years now. You will need to know the variety to sell it of course.

Cheers!

Hi. I'm new to this forum and new to growing bamboo. But the lady at the nursery I ordered mine from (in Portland, OR) told me, among other things, that when bamboo flowers, it dies. It sounds like yours may have flowered :(
From what I've read and been told, it takes more than 100 years for a bamboo plant to flower.

I have a question for the forum, too. Does anyone know or have experience growing bamboo within the 'kill zone' of a black walnut tree? I can't seem to find any information relating to the juglone tolerance of bamboo.

Please help!

Thanks in advance,

RS

It may well be that the bamboo has flowered, all bamboos flower at different rates, some taking decades if not centuries to flower and produce seed, however once a bamboo has flowered it does NOT necessarily die, like a lot of people believe. It may well regenerate and start producing flowers, I have a bamboo that has flowered twice!!

A useful ebook about bamboo, how to care for it and bamboo flowering can be found at www.bamboosuccess.com