Bamboo Conne'iseur

Hello, my name is Aaron, and I am from the sunny state of Florida. I ran upon this site while doing research looking for a very hard to find banana. I am hoping to learn more about bananas, and maybe make a trade or two. I really like to grow ornamental bamboos as my primary hobby when it comes to growing, as my screen name sort of explains. I sort of took a big interest in bananas when I happened upon a monster sized specimen close to home. Right then I knew I wanted one that was as large as this. I myself only have one type of banana, although I am not sure as to what it is. It is growing pretty big now, and it seems to have a nice powder bloom on the stems. It has not produced any fruit yet, but I believe this is the year. It does produce some very nice small sized sweet bananas, as I received this from a friend last year. Its growth has been amazing, especially with all the water I give it, and the complete organic ferts as well. I am a organics guy who believes in taking care of plants naturally, instead of messing with chemicals.
Hopefully I can share what I know, and learn a lot as well. Its nice to be here and to meet other people who like to grow these.

Aaron

the flying dutchman

A very welcome Aaron and I hope you will find the bananas you are looking
for. What is the tallest Bamboo you have?

Ron

Bamboo Conne'iseur

Thank you Ron. The tallest bamboo I currently have is about twenty feet or so. They are all still fairly young. Right now the tallest is the B. Lako aka Timor black. It should give me a mature height of around 40 to 50 feet or so, possibly a bit taller. My bamboo with the greatest potential size wise is the D. asper, which will easily give me a six inch diameter culm and around 60 feet tall, and possibly more as well. In its native country it can grow up to 100 feet tall, and somewhere around 10 inches or so diameter. I expect mature size in about four years or so. My fastest grower is one called Golden hawaiian or B. vulgaris-vittata. It can reach maturity in three years with the right conditions. It produces a very bright yellow culm with green stripes that appear to be painted on, that can get four to maybe five inches in diameter. A mature clump that is taken care of properly, is quite a sight to behold as with the rest. I am a big fan of the giants and the ones with amazing colors as well. I will try to post some pics in a thread here soon. Thank you for welcoming me, and I am sure we will converse some more.
Regards
Aaron

the flying dutchman

Sounds great Aaron, those bamboos you have, I only have 2, a fargesia and
an unknown, still seeking for a black one but those are expensive overhere.
It would be great if you could upload some pics in the near future.

Ron

Bamboo Conne'iseur

Ron, I like the Fargesia ones too. I wish I could grow the mountain types, especially the chusquea which have some amazing colors, and great form to them. I believe there may be one or two that will work for my climate, but other than that Florida is just too hot for them. Do you know which Fargesia you have?
I will try to load some pics, but I am still in the dark ages with no digital camera. I got to get one before the year is out, so I can also update Bambooweb.info. I will try to at least show what these beauties look like once they mature.
Regards
Aaron

the flying dutchman

I have about 15 fargesias murieliea wich I use for a hedge but they are a bit
weak, don't grow fast and can't stand the wind very well, so maybe it was
not my best choice, but in any case I don't have problems with the roots using this specie.
The Bambusa Vulgaris is not hardy at all so not good for my climate.
I am still looking for the Phyllostachys Nigra, I know where to get it but I am
waiting for the Fall when they give discounts.

Ron

Floridagardner

Hello Aaron, Welcome to the the world of banana growing. I'm new here myself. I also live in Florida and have found this is the best forum with information about growing bananas. I'm also interested in bamboo growing. I'm new to Florida so I'm always looking for information to help me improve my gardening skill. Welcome. Dorothy

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Floridagardner

MediaHound

Hi Aaron, welcome aboard!

I'm growing a dwarf clumping bamboo (need an ID on it), B. Lako, Buddah's Belly, and I also have a Golden Hawaiian but that one is potted up.

Buddah's Belly got a haircut the other day, it's looking great... what a fast grower that one is! Hopefully some of the trimmings will take root

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

Bamboo Conne'iseur

Floridagardner, thank you for welcoming me. I will start up a thread about bamboo, so please feel free to join in. I would also like to say that almost all of what I have learned was from the nice folks over at bambooweb.info. Without them, I could not have learned what I know today.

Mediahound, thank you for welcoming me, and it good to see other people who have some bamboo, especially the tropical kinds I am so fond of. Isn't the B. lako a beautiful plant? I am curious as to how old yours is, and its size. I think that anyone who sees a mature specimen of this plant will fall in love with bamboo.
Which budda's belly do you have?
If you would like to post a few pics of the dwarf, I might be able to id it for you. If you can try to get a shot of the entire plant, one up close of the culms and leaves, and even better one of the shoots if possible. If I cannot id it, I know some smart guys who can.
I am also curious how long the B. v-vitatta has been in a pot for. This one grows so fast that it usually outgrows the pot before you know it. It does not seem to like to stay too long in one, and its one bamboo that actually thrives on high water amounts. As I am sure you are aware, it will curl its leaves quite quickly when it wants water. I believe this is one of the few that actually loves water logged soil.
I just want to thank all for the warm introductions and for welcoming me.
Regards
Aaron

MediaHound

The Hawaiian is in a rather large pot under the soffit of the house, it catches a lot of rainwater there. I'll probably plant it out sooner or later, and yes, it does curl it's leaves on a dry sunny day. It's in a high-traffic spot, though, and there's a hose right there that I frequently use to soak it down when it needs it.
There's a shopping mall in Las Vegas across from the Wynn and next to TI that has some really nice pots scattered outside on the lanai, under the huge LED iPod sign, of what appears to me to be this Hawaiian striped bamboo. The pots are overflowing and bursting at their seams, they look great when grown dense in a pot and restrained to grow straight upwards. Mine has a lot of catching up to look like those do. I may have a pic somewhere of the latter.
The Lako is about two years old from a tiny cutting, it has three culms. It was growing fast a few months ago but has seemingly come to a halt. Hopefully a few shoots are gearing up under the soil line. It stands at about 7-8'. I plan on relocating it. Do they dig and transplant well? Any tips I should be aware of?
I think the Buddha's Belly is B. Tuldoides, but what are the others and how may I tell it apart? It was not tagged at the nursery where I got it, and the shopkeeper there said he collected it from a stop on his landscaping route, it was from cuttings at a lady's house. Not that that matters but I love knowing ancestry of my plants
I need to stress it to make it bulge better, got any tips? Does cutting the green leaves away and trimming the bottom of the culms bare work?
Lastly, I had thought I had a gallery for my bamboo here in the photo gallery but alas I do not! I will have to go through my old photos and take some new ones and get them uploaded here. I'll ping you when I do!
Regards

__________________
Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

Bamboo Conne'iseur

MediaHound, I am not sure if you know, but there are quite a few types of bamboo that look similar to B. v. vittata. In my mind I question what the ones you speak about in vegas as to their identity. Reason being that B. v.v does not like to be potted, and it also does not grow erect like the lako. It tends to weep at the top, so its possible it might something else. If yours is in a large enough pot it should be ok for the time being.
Your lako should be fine when you transplant it, as long as you can do a couple of things. One is that you do not want the roots to dry out at all, so digging the hole before hand where you want it, followed by getting it in asap will really help. I think it really helps to dig a bigger hole than what it will need, so it will use minimal energy for the roots to spread outwards into the surrounding soil. Then water it every day for about a month or so. A good thing to remember when looking for a location for the lako, is to find the place with the most amount of light. I have noticed that every time I have seen this one in a place that does not get much light, it does not look as nice, and grows slower as well. In a low light environment it tend to put out less leaves and it looks a little bare.
In regards to the budda's belly, if yours is not swelling, more than likely it is the B. tuldoides 'Ventricosa' instead of B. vulgaris 'wamin' which tends to belly in the ground even when it receives plenty of water. Yours in Fl. tends to revert to a giant, and if you would like it to belly, you would need to divide it, then plant it up and keep it as dry as possible, and allow the roots to really fill up the pot. That stress will cause it to belly out. Its the lack of water, and roots being so tight that will enable the bellying effect. Hopefully I have been of some help, and good luck with your projects.
For anyone interested, here are a few pics of what some of the bamboo we have been speaking about will look like when mature. The B. lako shown here is not fully mature, and has not come to the full size culms yet. It should get a good deal larger. The same is true with the Vitatta. Most of the pics come from Bambooweb.info
Here is B. lako, D. asper and B. v. Vitatta. Also, here is B. vulgaris 'Wamin' which is similar to B. tuldoides 'Ventricosa', but that it consistently produces swollen culms, no matter the conditions.

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	lakohigh.jpg (66.0 KB, 10 views)
	bvv-bamboo.jpg (222.8 KB, 9 views)
	resize_image2.phpDasper.jpg (308.7 KB, 10 views)
	resize_image2.phpwamin.jpg (107.8 KB, 11 views)

Rmplmnz

Gigantochloa Atroviolacea

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	IMG_0831.JPG (2.32 MB, 9 views)
	IMG_0832.JPG (1.43 MB, 9 views)

Bamboo Conne'iseur

G. atro "tropical Black" is a very beautiful bamboo. It was a hard choice when I had to choose between that and the Timor Black. The atros culms have a nice look to them especially when they are large size, and the green at the bottom still shows, before fading to black farther up the culm. Very nice one.