This is a pretty much a lost cause I think, but just in case there is
any chance at all of rescuing the disastrous winter losses...

I previously said my bamboos were all stone dead after last winter.
There is absolutely no signs at all of any regrowth so today I bit the
bullet and dug them up. The bad news is that the roots really are
completely dead and rotting away. But amongst the above ground stems on
two clumps I have found a total of five stems in the middle that are
obviously still alive (but with no roots). Phyllostachys nigra & aurea
respectively so both have issues with photosynthesis in the absence of
any green leaves.

I have cut them one node clear of the basal rot and placed them
horizontal on a tray full of peat based compost. I have no idea if you
can take cuttings from bamboo this way, but it seems like my best chance
of salvaging something from the situation. All the outer stems were
completely dead and dehydrated it was just a few at the centre of the
clump that were "alive" and were dying back from the ground up and top
down. There are no leaves at all.

My reasoning is that a snapped off piece of bamboo will lie on the
ground and might if conditions are right root from the nodes. The big
question here is what are the right conditions?

Being about 10 degrees of latitude further south might help...

Any suggestions or tips for making bamboo shoots root down?

Thanks,
Martin Brown

PS Looks like my fig tree is also stone dead and I thought they were
hardy once they had established. The winter was obviously pretty bad.