Finally repotting my Black Bamboo "phyllostachys nigra"
 

Winter is coming up quick and I decided I should pot up my bamboo to get it some extra protection before it gets cold. Originally I put the bamboo in the biggest pot I had at the time at it quickly outgrew the pot but I knew I needed a huge pot to put it back into. All of the big pots I could find were not big enough or super expensive. So I decided to stop at a local nursery and buy a big plain black pot if they had any extras laying around. After talking to the lady for a minute she came out with a huge clay colored plastic pot. It was sun faded but she told me I could just have it for free! So I finally got some free time today to repot it so here's some pics. You can see how root bound it was I had to cut the pot it was in because it had shoots and rhizomes coming out of the holes of the pot.


Reporting my black bamboo by natej740, on Flickr


IMAG2438 by natej740, on Flickr


IMAG2439 by natej740, on Flickr

Re: Finally repotting my Black Bamboo "phyllostachys nigra"
 

If you have more of those pots, you can take the bamboo out without cutting it apart. All you need to do is stick a finger inside the bottom drainage hole, hold onto the culms and pull off the nursery pot.

It looks like your bamboo is ready to go straight into the ground, but its also fine to keep it inside a greenhouse, and wait until next spring to plant it out.

Re: Finally repotting my Black Bamboo "phyllostachys nigra"
 

I had to cut the pot off if you look close on the top pic it grew a small shoot out of the hole so i couldnt pull it off. It actually had growth coming out of 3 of the 4 holes...lol I wish i had a greenhouse to put it in it has been outside for the last 2 winters with no problems yet. Hope to plant it in the ground next year just havent thought of a good spot yet. Do you grow the phyllostachys nigra too? I know you have a few bamboos and was wandering how hardy it was.

Re: Finally repotting my Black Bamboo "phyllostachys nigra"
 

I do grow phyllostachys nigra and many species. Nigra is not that hardy of a bamboo as it can get leaf burned in the mid single digits, but if it is covered with a tarp, it should be much hardier.

Here's mine as of this spring getting up to 7-8ft. It is one of my smaller bamboos.