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Re: [SG] Bamboo redux

Sheila,
fertilising and watering are two things one does not generally worry about
with the boos, although some supplemental water during initial stages of
xplanting is fine.

if your boo has defoliated, it has just done the job of fertilising for you.
ome of those serendipitious, thank you Lord, kind of things.  the leaves are
high in silicon, whitch is one of the major nutrients required by the boo.
this is usually missing in commercials ferts anyway.  one natural method is to
cut and spread another fine noninvasive, the equisetum, to the area.  for
beginning a grove, i like to use a complete fert, like Sta-Green Nursery Spec,
found in this area.  keep in mind that youre growing a grass, though , and not
a tree.

transplanting is best done between july 4 (when it's nice and cool) thru early
spring.  wwe have dug all these times with great success.  the time you do not
want to dig is during shootoin, and before the new culms harden off.  digging
during that time will usually kill your boo.  same goes for cutting for poles
and crafts.  cut after the culm has gone thru a summer and the a winter to
harden it.  best culm strengths are reached after 3 years.

to transplant, dig a shallow broad (pancake type) root mass.  the long
underground rhyzome will run horizontal to the ground, try to get at least one
culm in a bundle.  you may cut back the tops to make it easier to move.
always leave a couple of branches on the culm.  a flat, wide hole is best,
although you can just seat the clump on the ground, peg the rhyzome down, and
backfill around it.

it's really hard to make a mistake in x-planting.  except the one to do it at
all.  i am currently recovering from major knife like slashes from collecting
culms in a patch of p. aurea near atlanta, ga.  the doctor said the leg cuts
were unusually deep. exiting the grove on wednesday, i looked like an escaped
ritual sacrifice. the blood provides nitrogen for the boo.  this is called
payback.

ps the giant timber types are shooting now, and the growth rate on them is
phenomenal, with shoot diameters reaching up to 3", and heights of 45', here
in the piedmont.  we do go into the adjacent property this time of year, and
cut shoots for eating.  it is only a lazy overfed person that lets the boo get
ahead of them.

i include myself here.

y'all be good

ha7a
nawuth of the hooch
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