thank you, there are so many flowers now I think it would not help to take
them off, I will definitely try to get some seed, it would be very exciting
to have success. Are the seeds easily recognisable?

Jennifer Stevenson wrote:
thank you, there are so many flowers now I think it would not help to take
them off, I will definitely try to get some seed, it would be very exciting
to have success. Are the seeds easily recognisable?


Jennifer,

For most species the seeds are about the size of a grain of rice. What
people do is press the flowers between thumb and forefinger and feel for
the hard rice-sized grains. Some bamboo have lots of seed and others
have only a small amount. Most bamboos are wind pollinated. This means
that all of the individual florets in a flowering panicle will generally
not be pollinated so the amount of seed in the panicle will be only a
percentage of what is possible. The general wisdom is to plant the
seeds asap as many bamboo species' seeds lose viability quickly. If you
think your plants have a lot of seed you might try spreading a sheet on
the ground and shaking the plant to see if you can collect a lot of seed
quickly. Then you could mail some to me!

Regards,

Bob