Bambusa Lako
 

Congrats Anna,

Neat feeling huh?

A Flag leaf is just a real short leaf and usually pretty thick. I starts opening at about 2 ft from the pseudostem. Once you see one or two, you will know exactly what we mean.

I had an almost BETTER surprise yesterday while walking around checking out stuff after all these recent FL rains. Pups are cool, flag leafs are cool, BUT 2 new shoots about 3 inches tall on my Bambusa Lako (black clumping tropical bamboo) is REALLY exciting.

Terry

Re: I think one of my Ice Cream's has a Flag!
 

Got a new shoot on my Lako yesterday or so, too. :hiddenbanana:
It's about twice the girth of the other shoots. This one is aiming high!
Congrats on your TWO!

Re: I think one of my Ice Cream's has a Flag!
 

Do you guys have a good source for your black bamboo? I have been to and bought from Bamboo Headquarters in Vista Ca. and the place is awesome! They have a website too.

Re: I think one of my Ice Cream's has a Flag!
 

The interesting thing about the Ice Cream, I think, is that I didn't notice the Flag because I've only had the Orinoco's bloom. Since the Flag and bloom are so high up, it's very easy to see. The Ice Cream has pups that were hiding the Flag from me. :-)

Mitchel - can we grow that black bamboo out here? Sounds very interesting!

Re: I think one of my Ice Cream's has a Flag!
 

This is tropical bamboo and will not take any cold weather like most of the temperate bamboo will. But the temperate are runners and the tropical are clumpers.

I got mine from a local grower who sells on the web (also e-bay) under www.tropicalbamboo.com. Lots of nice pics and descriptions.

Lako isn't cheap. I paid more for this than what Ae-Ae go for.

Congrats Jarred on your lako shoot. This make 4 shoots on mine since the first of the year. I'm thrilled with that. These new ones are also a lot thicker, about the diameter of my thumb. It took about a year for it to get settled in again.

Terry

Re: I think one of my Ice Cream's has a Flag!
 

Mitchel, I got mine from a seller on Ebay. Can't remember who, though I can look it up. Like Terry said, it was quite pricy. This is the Bambusa Lako, not the other black Phyllostachys Nigra.

I was driving around my neighborhood the other day and came across a nursery mixed in with some houses back in the countryside that was set back a bit, but I could see they had a huge stockpile of tons of kinds of boos. There was a sign on the fence, Bamboo Unlimited
It looked like they had a few kinds of black bamboo, one nice one was lining their driveway. On page 3 of this pdf is their listing.
http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/plan...orts/b_nsy.pdf
I've used this pdf series to find other folks, and visit them too. Sometimes you can match up an ebay seller name with a co. name. ;)

Looks like there's a few listed now on ebay, though. Starting at $25! I've never seen them that low.. looks like a deal.

http://search.ebay.com/lako%20bambusa

Re: Bambusa Lako
 

Hey Terry,
Take a look at your Lako and tell me what you find!
:2223:

Re: Bambusa Lako
 

I have a Gigantochloa Atrovilacea.. the other tropical black bamboo. It's a little dicey here... each winter it gets a little stressed. I think the Lako is similar. 2 yrs ago lost all of it's leaves, but came back well in the spring. This year was a good one, i got 7 shoots.. 3 of which are about full size now. It's not cheap.. I think I paid $250 for a 15 gal.

There's a guy in Chino Hills, Jim Rehor, who sells tons of bamboo. His place is covered in bamboo... and he's real knowledgeable. I've purchased about 7 or 8 different species of bamboo from him.

Jim Rehor [jimrehor1946@msn.com]

Re: Bambusa Lako
 

7 shoots? nice, congrats

There's also Dendrocalamus asper "Betung Hitam", another clumping black bamboo...
on the wish list :)

Re: Bambusa Lako
 

Yup... I like that one, too... but I don't have enough land for a big sucker like that!

Re: Bambusa Lako
 

Re: Bambusa Lako