Yushania
 

I obtained a small group of this bamboo last year and it has settled well
with lots of new culms, however I have just noticed that it is flowering,
does this mean that all of this group is now flowering and will die or could
it be a one off? If I leave the roots in will it recover? Hope someone can
help me with information.

Yushania
 

Hi

I've read 2 things :
_ flowering allways weakens bamboo, sometimes enough to make it die (even
the roots !), sometimes not.
_ by cutting the flowers you can sometimes avoid its death, because the
extra energy spent to make flowers and seeds is what makes bamboo die.

I recommend you cut all the flowers and keep some seeds for security; if
your bamboo dies, it's a cheap way to get new ones.

Good luck.

--
Fred

Remove x,y,z for answer

"Jennifer Stevenson" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
I obtained a small group of this bamboo last year and it has settled well
with lots of new culms, however I have just noticed that it is flowering,
does this mean that all of this group is now flowering and will die or
could
it be a one off? If I leave the roots in will it recover? Hope someone
can
help me with information.

Yushania
 

Hi

I've read 2 things :
_ flowering allways weakens bamboo, sometimes enough to make it die (even
the roots !), sometimes not.
_ by cutting the flowers you can sometimes avoid its death, because the
extra energy spent to make flowers and seeds is what makes bamboo die.

I recommend you cut all the flowers and keep some seeds for security; if
your bamboo dies, it's a cheap way to get new ones.

Good luck.

--
Fred

Remove x,y,z for answer

"Jennifer Stevenson" a écrit dans le message de news:
...
I obtained a small group of this bamboo last year and it has settled well
with lots of new culms, however I have just noticed that it is flowering,
does this mean that all of this group is now flowering and will die or
could
it be a one off? If I leave the roots in will it recover? Hope someone
can
help me with information.

Yushania
 

"Fred" wrote in message ...
Hi

I've read 2 things :
_ flowering allways weakens bamboo, sometimes enough to make it die (even
the roots !), sometimes not.
_ by cutting the flowers you can sometimes avoid its death, because the
extra energy spent to make flowers and seeds is what makes bamboo die.

I recommend you cut all the flowers and keep some seeds for security; if
your bamboo dies, it's a cheap way to get new ones.

DO NOT CUT OFF THE FLOWERS!!! If you do that the seeds will have no
chance of being viable. It is my understanding that the act of
flowering is what sucks all the energy out of the plant causing it to
die, cutting the flowers off will do nothing to diminish this.

Get some old nylons and wrap the flowers in them loosly so when the
seeds are released they are caught.

Notify Betty Shor of the flowering, she tracks these things for the
American Bamboo Society. Betty's email is

Chris

Yushania
 

"Jennifer Stevenson" wrote in message ...
I obtained a small group of this bamboo last year and it has settled well
with lots of new culms, however I have just noticed that it is flowering,
does this mean that all of this group is now flowering and will die or could
it be a one off? If I leave the roots in will it recover? Hope someone can
help me with information.

I have heard of "stress" induced flowering, it may be the plant is
just overstressed. It does not necessarily mean your plant will
completely die. The seeds may not even be viable. Some varieties of
bamboo flower much more frequently with less negative effect, though I
am unfamiliar with the Yushania.

Make little nylon (like people wear) "baggies" around the flowers to
catch the seeds as the flowers "burst".

Good luck!

Chris