Hi all, this is my first message.

I have several bamboo plants ranging from three feet to 12 feet tall, some in pots and some in raised beds.

They have suffered this winter - I live up in the North Pennines and we had over a month of continuous snow and several weeks of constant sub-zero temps this winter (down to -15 for several nights), it was also quite windy. Some of the bamboos have wintered here previously and have, as usual, lost some leaves but now have vigorous growth. However, the plants we acquired last year (from a place that is lower and a little further south) have really suffered - they are literally bald, most particularly the tall plants, and some of their culms are turning brown. We did wrap them in fleece and heavily packed up the pots with bubble pack, old carpet and fleece.

I just don't know how to tell whether they're dead or just battered! Any ideas what to look for? Should I cut them back?

Thanks.

In article ,
says...

Hi all, this is my first message.

I have several bamboo plants ranging from three feet to 12 feet tall,
some in pots and some in raised beds.

They have suffered this winter - I live up in the North Pennines and we
had over a month of continuous snow and several weeks of constant
sub-zero temps this winter (down to -15 for several nights), it was also
quite windy. Some of the bamboos have wintered here previously and have,
as usual, lost some leaves but now have vigorous growth. However, the
plants we acquired last year (from a place that is lower and a little
further south) have really suffered - they are literally bald, most
particularly the tall plants, and some of their culms are turning brown.
We did wrap them in fleece and heavily packed up the pots with bubble
pack, old carpet and fleece.

I just don't know how to tell whether they're dead or just battered! Any
ideas what to look for? Should I cut them back?

Thanks.





Leave well alone and make sure the pots don't dry out. There are big
problems with growing Bamboo in pots and I would always advise against
doing it, one is that as the root zone can freeze solid the evergreen
tops then desicate for lack of water in winter and all the leaves drop
off. often a few new leaves will appear but the stems will look tatty,
don't remove them until the plant has produced new stems with fresh
leaves, and if they recover get them in the ground. give the plants until
August to recover before giving up.

The type of Bamboo can make a huge difference to winter tolerance so you
may have had little chance anyway! depending on what you bought
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

The way you tell if they are dead is keep watering and wait and see if they grow. If you have no releafing and no new shoots out of the ground by about the end of July, they are dead. Most bamboos which are widely grown in Britain are very hardy, surviving to about -25C in the ground, but they can be at risk in pots where the soil can get frozen through. Though they are defoliated at such temperatures. They are also slow to releaf and shoot in the spring. I often see no evidence of anything happening until well into summer. The low rain levels this spring won't help either.