Heavenly bamboo clump questions/help.

[MMJNICE]

Black bamboo culms usually take 2 to 3 years to turn completely black.

FYI I went to my house today... I use it for airb&b mostly so I'm not there except to do yard work and Maintenance stuff.. so the bamboo has turned black almost on "Q" like you said. Last I checked it was speckled, but really there is so many canes and leaves that you really can't see they Individual stocks unless you pull back the leaves. That bamboo really must like the Manure fertilizer I've be feeding it.

 

[Michael P]

Is the black bamboo cold hardy in a container in your climate? I have it in large containers and in the ground. Here in 8b with our hell summers, the container plants look better because the ground-grown are so hard to keep watered.

 

[MMJNICE]

Different types will co-exist in the same pot but there can be some difficulty with different growth rates. As each one spreads you will need to repot to separate them again. I guess if you don't care that the different types merge there should be no problem.

Yea I'm sure after I mix different trees, bamboo and Accent plants I'll Regret it a year or two down the road but I'm probably going to try it anyway. Just gotta find the right mix that can Coexist relatively easily,,,but running bamboo is going to be a headache in any pot I put something else in with it. If I do I'll post it here.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I Just checked out the bamboo link and wow they are pretty cheap but their website is really difficult to navigate on a smartphone. That normally makes me not want to order stuff because finding what I want I'd Extremely difficult. By the way I already have a bit of running black bamboo in a Rather large outdoor planter. I've had the clump in its pot for over two years now and I've only got canes 4" tall and most are not black but a speckled with green and black. When I bought it, it did have one large black cane still alive but it died during the transplant into a new pot.

Bamboo Garden Center has been on the web selling bamboo for over 40 years. Their website was a "build it yourself" and is not very modern, they don't spend a lot of money on web services or advertising. That way they keep costs down. Its now run by the children of the founder. If you want a flashy, mobile phone easy website, there are other bamboo nurseries, but I guarantee you will pay more, often much more.

So the cuts pretty much do what I was expecting which is jut out from the cut point and continue going up. I'm starting to understand how to go about pruning them thanks so much for the information. I really like the little Fern and the mondo grass on the smaller clump pot. Definitely gives me a few ideas about where to take my little three/4 trunk planting. The bushy clump is that a different Variety they the planting with the fern and grass? I wasn't expecting to see one with such a bushy base but considering what a lot of nanas look like in the ground it shouldn't have surprised me. At this point I have just about every type Material people use for bonsai and a few that nobody really uses as well. I gotta start a little notebook with all my Observances about the stuff I've been growing so I don't forget what I've learned every year and have to relearn it all over again. Do you think a real bamboo, like a Miniature bamboo variety could Coexist in the same pot together? I have a super mini clump of real bamboo that I think may look good together here's a picture. To my question anyone can answer if you have InsightView attachment 517936View attachment 517937

The bamboo in the clay pot looks to me like Plieoblastus distichus. One of the dwarf bamboos. With the bamboos, try to use the full botanical name at least once in every post, so we know which species you are referring to. There are several species that use the same common name.

There are at least 4 "black bamboos" one is the running bamboo Phyllostachys nigra, hardy to zone 6b. Two are in the tropical clumping genera; Bambusa lako known as 'Timor Black' , and Dendrocalmus asper 'Hitam' known as Betung Hitam Black bamboo,

Another semi-clumping bamboo, intermediate between clumping and running is Chimonobambusa marmorea which has mottled purple culms, that look almost black, and does fairly well in potted cultivation. Only gets 12 feet tall in the ground, a zone 7 species. I like this one, but no longer grow it.

 

[MMJNICE]

Sooooo new updates to the post. I probably should have done more research but I unwittingly cut off all the leaves on my heavenly bamboo thinking that it was a Purely deciduous plant.. I was wondering why it was so tough to cut the leaf Petials and why they never really fell off..but sure as it's cold in winter I cut everything off. How screwed am I??? I posted a picture of the damage..

 

[WNC Bonsai]

It should bud out lower down now if it was sring with enough stored energy. My wife often whacks hers back hard in the fall when they get too tall.

 

[MMJNICE]

So I wanted to update my bamboo thread because I got a new bamboo and i potted up the original tree but Accidentally cut off all the leaves.... i didn't know it was ever green... and thought the old leaves would fall off by now so i cut them off .....Only one trunk has sent out new branches and leaves so far im reallyhopingi didn'tkill off the other trunkscuz that would totally ruin the planting killing the aesthetic value...The new tree has already started Extending so i'm pretty sure is too late to repot unfortunately cuz it will look amazing in a pot. So quick question how should I go about styling the new tree? Does it look good as is? Do I need to cut back the new growth? What is the process for shaping up these weird trees?

 

[Shibui]

Nandina is not a tree so it can't really be styled as a tree shape. Bushy stalks is probably as good as you can get with this species.

Not sure that cutting off the leaves is the cause of the stems dying. That would not normally kill Nandina so maybe look for other possible causes. Maybe cold, maybe too dry, maybe something else altogether?
Not sure how long individual stems live for. The plant normally grows new stems each year which will replace older stems that die so maybe it was just time for those few stems.

The new Nandina looks good. That's probably the thickest Nandina trunk I've seen.

 

[coachspinks]

Nandina is not a tree so it can't really be styled as a tree shape. Bushy stalks is probably as good as you can get with this species.

Not sure that cutting off the leaves is the cause of the stems dying. That would not normally kill Nandina so maybe look for other possible causes. Maybe cold, maybe too dry, maybe something else altogether?
Not sure how long individual stems live for. The plant normally grows new stems each year which will replace older stems that die so maybe it was just time for those few stems.

The new Nandina looks good. That's probably the thickest Nandina trunk I've seen.

I agree. The best you can hope for is a nice looking clump or "forest." Keep the shoots you want and eliminate the ones you don't want. I have a clump/forest that is probably 30+ years old. It was a landscape bush for a long time but in a bad place. I ripped it out and found enough roots to make me put it in a pot. It looks nice sitting on the bench and the foliage changes color year round and it has nice red berries on it right now. In Georgia, they are considered invasive. I have several volunteers growing in my natural areas.

 

[MMJNICE]

Nandina responds well to pruning. It can bud on bare wood after a chop. I think I have mostly pruned toward the end of winter so it shoots out in spring but I suspect it would respond any time of year. These are tough plants. Very hard to kill and often one of the last plants to disappear from old, neglected gardens in this area but I have no idea how cold hardy they may be.

Don't expect it to stay as 3 trunks forever. Natural habit is to put up new trunks from the roots and the crown each year so I suspect you will be removing suckers to keep the clump small.

The clump has 4 trunks as of now.. I did some late winter pruning unwittingly cutting off all the branches and leaves "didn't know it was evergreen".. from reading the comments it seems like I won't have any problems getting new growth. I don't mind if more trunks grow out so no worries about that, the more the merrier I'd say.

 

[MMJNICE]

Im not completely sure

Nandina is not a tree so it can't really be styled as a tree shape. Bushy stalks is probably as good as you can get with this species.

Not sure that cutting off the leaves is the cause of the stems dying. That would not normally kill Nandina so maybe look for other possible causes. Maybe cold, maybe too dry, maybe something else altogether?
Not sure how long individual stems live for. The plant normally grows new stems each year which will replace older stems that die so maybe it was just time for those few stems.

The new Nandina looks good. That's probably the thickest Nandina trunk I've seen.

The other trunks aren't completely dead" i think". they seem to be very green when you scratch the trunks. I did cut the branches back pretty close to the trunk on most of the nodes tho.. that could be the reason no new growth has appeared yet. I'm hopeful more branches and leaves will appear,,,,fingers crossed

 

[MMJNICE]

Nandina is not a tree so it can't really be styled as a tree shape. Bushy stalks is probably as good as you can get with this species.

Not sure that cutting off the leaves is the cause of the stems dying. That would not normally kill Nandina so maybe look for other possible causes. Maybe cold, maybe too dry, maybe something else altogether?
Not sure how long individual stems live for. The plant normally grows new stems each year which will replace older stems that die so maybe it was just time for those few stems.

The new Nandina looks good. That's probably the thickest Nandina trunk I've seen.

The funny thing is there was two others that had trunks similar in thickness to the one I purchased. They are some kind of golf Coast Nandina I think the tag said,,,, it was probably something like that but not that Specifically. This one had the best trunk movement and tree like shape out the three available. I can't wait to get it in a pot next year.

 

[MMJNICE]

Is the black bamboo cold hardy in a container in your climate? I have it in large containers and in the ground. Here in 8b with our hell summers, the container plants look better because the ground-grown are so hard to keep watered.

In my climate I only put it in my garage when temperatures drop under 35 degrees or freezing for more then a couple of hours a night. When I first got the clump it was a cold winter s o it stayed in the garage for most of the winter. This last winter I only had it in the garage for about two weeks tops because it was a pretty Mild winter..

 

[Topiarius_Peter]

Interesting thread. I love Nandina, I think its really beautiful and grow it in a large pot in my Bonsai garden, I suits a Japanese aesthetic I think, just never considered it as an actual Bonsai…might be a project to keep in mind. There is a much finer one called “”filamentosa” that is also berasutuful,

 

[MMJNICE]

I removed the moss from my newest heavenly bamboo and was shocked how amazing the root Is spread had developed. I wish I could take credit for developing it but it's nursery stock. It was as good as I could have hoped for on a bamboo nn,

Interesting thread. I love Nandina, I think its really beautiful and grow it in a large pot in my Bonsai garden, I suits a Japanese aesthetic I think, just never considered it as an actual Bonsai…might be a project to keep in mind. There is a much finer one called “”filamentosa” that is also berasutuful,

Wow really cool foliage on that cultivar I've never seen that variety before, thanks for sharing. I got inspired to do a bonsai from heavenly bamboo because I've seen it used in many bonsai books mostly for group plantings but I think my newest bamboo is Is destined to become a Single specimen planting because of its unusual @size and shape

 

[MMJNICE]

I decided to take a look at the root spread on the new Nandina by removing the moss that blanketed the root base and was very pleased with what I found. I wish i Could take credit for developing them but regardless, I'm really falling for this tree Now!.

 

[MMJNICE]

Also I think the stress of cutting off the leaves and re-potting the clump planting may have killed the other 3 shoots on that composition. Ya live and learn and propagate I guess.

 

[We're all Mad Here...🎩]

I do feel with a root spread like that, if the tree was kept to a reasonable height for proportion, you could always have a nice thick 'trunk' over time with a single wired down and maybe windswept look containing only one or two branches with fresh growth at the end. To see a tortured, but surviving display like this, even with a species like this in my opinion would look neat, like you found it in the wild at the edge of a small cliff or something along those lines.