Black Bamboo health
 

Hi,

I have some Black Bamboo that I planted out 4 years ago now. Its been doing really well since, sending up 10-15 new culms each year which have matured well.

Last Autumn, I dug a trench around it and put down a barrier to stop it spreding into my lawn this year. I did notice a 3-4 horizontal shoots at ground level, I chopped these where I needed the boundary to be. I am concerned as so far this year I have seen no activity. No shoots are showing yet and most leaves are browning at the ends.

Is it too early for shoots to be seen? Is the browning just down to the age of the culms? How should I be looking after this? Should I be feeding?

I made the mistake of piling some grass cuttings around the base last year, I don't think I'll do that again as it looks a mess and I'm not sure it helps any.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks
Bob

Images here...
[img=http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/5458/dsc00047qp0.th.jpg]
[img=http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/6664/dsc00048wn0.th.jpg]

Looks very healthy. Could be too early for shoots depending where you live. Only 2 of my 6 bamboo species have put out any shoots so far, and only in the last few days - (I'm well inland in SE England). The leaves browning at the ends are probably last year's leaves, it will put out new leaves soon if it hasn't already started. P nigra can get a lot more tatty than that over winter, even defoliate entirely, so you are lucky. On the other hand, if you can see that it is this year's new leaves that are browning already, then I suspect it needs watering. Did you fill in that trench, or have you created a raised zone that will dry out? Feeding is up to you: they are hungry plants and will grow bigger from being fed. The energy that delivers new culms is stored in the rhizome, so feeding does not lead instantly to fat new culms.