Thinning Slender Shoots - Phyllostachys Nigra
 

Hi all.

Great forum for Bamboo lovers.
I have caught the bamboo bug in my small garden for five years now and am the proud owner of a 10m x 1m grove.
I am in Hertforshire UK and the native soil is heavy clay with back breaking flint.
The young culms, when I bought them, (dissapointing, sickly and 6ft ish) were planted one early spring in a 0.6m x 1.2m x 10m trench which was enriched with various materials (everything was added including the clay spoil from the trench - minus the car sized bits of flint)
So far the Phyllostachys Nigra is having a great time given my daily, 30 second a plant, watering and fortnightly feeding. It is now as tall as a house.

The area is not as sheltered as I would have liked but in all of this time it has not complained one little bit.

I feed with cheap nitrogen grass food (minus the weeding element) while the plant is growing from April to August and suppliment this with Fish blood and bone and a good bark mulch.

This is working very well and to make the most of the grove I remove weak completed growth and "leg up" the culms to show off the ebony black & some dark dark dark green rich canes (such a lovely colour - like an army camo green).

Anyway that is my introduction. If anyone wants to know more just let me know but dont expect a short response HAHA!

I have searched the net for some advice on this:
My questions a
Every year I watch the rhizomes put loads of energy into producing a varied and abundant set of different sized cigar shaped rhizomes. A wonder to watch. I can't help but wonder, as I sip my cider and water them generously, 1 - why should I let the plant expend alot of energy on producing the 20% of skinny culms that i will just cut back later in the year after they have completed their growth cycle.
2 - If I cut these shoots as soon as I am sure that they are going to be small, would that energy be diverted elsewhere?
Logic would suggest that the case but there is nothing like asking the experts for advice.
3 - Will I upset the grove by manually aborting its shoots at low level?
4 - Surely it will just fight back as if I am a hungry bamboo shoot eater and send up more rhizomes in defiant response?

I think all bamboo lovers will understand my dilema. Trust me I do want all of the culms to survive but I must mould and shape them to my will to keep the grove looking attractive. This requires me to trim back the weakilings.
5 - Shoud I cut them sooner or later?

What a pleasure to watch the "fatties" rise above the soils surface and soar skywards.

This year the best shoot I have has an angle of 70 degrees or so leaning into the garden (DOH!!)

I have numbered my five questions within my ramblings to make answering me a bit easier. Your feedback and questions would be greatfully received.

Geebea

How sad to respond to my own post (awww)
I suppose that no one else has a view on my bamboo.
Although I have not found any advice on the net, I am just going to do it anyway and remove all of the new shoots that I think will only be cut out later.
In my mind the roots will use less energy and may redistibute this either this season or next season.

Surely I cant be pioneering this approach HAHA! surely not?

G

Sooner. I'm pretty sure this is standard technique among bamboo cultivators trying to get a few fat culms. No point letting it waste its energy on culms you don't want. I think some people even think that one should reduce the number of shoots anyway to get it to concentrate its energy on a smaller number of fat shoots. I find that some bamboos have a large number of culms that abort, and part of the problem is too many shoots starting for the energy available.

Fair point. I have given a good few of the tiddlers a trim but I am a bit wary as it has only really put out medium 15mm (3/4")ish culms this year. Lots of them though. It generally looks OK so I don't believe its unhappy.
MAybe it will give out a second flush in early June.
Thanks for the response though. I am struggling find a bamboo source to learn there methods from. I seem to just make it up as I go.
G

This is a very quiet forum, and, hope I don't offend anyone, not anyone I'd really call a bamboo expert regularly visiting. The high traffic bamboo forum (though heavy US focus) is bambooweb.info • Bamboo Forum
There are also some expert bamboo contributors on some more general temperate climate exotic gardening forums (and with a higher UK focus): growingontheedge.net - Index page and
Hardy Tropicals UK - Forum Home

Thats great, I need all of the pointers I can get.
I will give those forums a visit.
Thanks again
G