Topic: Black Bamboo - currently flowering and dying worldwide

[Vinlander]

This is the black Phyllostachys nigra species.

I'm posting this here because it's technically edible - the shoots aren't my favourite for flavour but that's all down to taste.

It's a weird thing how this happens every 40 years or so - it flowers, producing masses of seeds (loved by rats to the extent of causing a population explosion). I will try some once they are ripe. I don't think this 40yr timescale applies to the whole genus, but I can't find any info I can trust - other genera do have different timings - some take 100 years.

DON'T BUY THIS SPECIES NOW - NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY REDUCE THE PRICE!

You can find all this on t'web - but it means that lots of people will need to cut all the canes down and use a rat-proof way to store the seeds.

That's a big job and can be risky with saws etc. Bamboo sap is also very bad on the skin - especially in sunlight.

I find the ideal tool is an angle grinder with a stone cutter disk - a medium 3-4mm one works well, and can also be used to remove the root system (only a few cm down) by cutting downwards easily through rhizome mats, soil & stones. Once you separate the mat into squares (a bit wider than your spade) they can be levered out really easily.

it's actually the perfect method to remove the running types and it's also possible to cut new plants from the (friendlier) clumping genera - like Fargesia.

Personally I'm looking forward to living without it - it's often sold as non-running - that's high BS - it just isn't the fastest. Despite finding the ideal way to control it, it's still an annual task once it gets past 2m wide - and worse when it starts going under paths, walls and ponds.

It will take years to grow the new version from seed, and 2 more years before you can judge how black and how shiny each seedling is. Can't be bothered.

I'm going to buy something from the proper clumping species once I've got mine out (hopefully better-tasting shoots too - but that info is very hard to find) - but I'll still keep it well away from paths and walls this time.

Cheers.

[JanG]

Thanks for this interesting and useful information, Vinlander. I haven’t quite understood the full implications. You’re saying that the whole plant will die, including roots? So your method for removing roots is simply to clear the ground ready for planting something else?

I believe you’re also saying that all Phyllostachys nigra will flower, whatever their age. A fascinating phenomenon if so, weird as you say. I shall inspect mine with interest.

Presumably the flowering and seed-setting will take some weeks or months. I’m not too keen on an explosion of rats and I’m wondering whether it’s possible to keep removing any flowers and whether that would keep the plant alive indefinitely. No mean task; mine is well above my height.

[Vinlander]

Hi - I've been AFK for two months due to largely spurious issues with the borough 'tidy police' - less said the better - though I must try and catch that Parks & Recreation sitcom - I've a feeling it might resonate.

Any news on other people's black bamboo?

I admit I'll be glad if it does die off - but now I'm worried that my actions will make it live longer - because I can't find seed in any of the flowers.

Does that mean I've only gone and done a Chelsea Chop? I certainly don't want a sick plant dripping around the place for years...

Cheers.

[JanG]

Sorry to hear about your ‘tidy police’ preoccupations. I hope things are resolving satisfactorily.

No sign of flowers on my black bamboo. It’s grown phenomenally tall. I don’t know whether that means it’s heading towards something.

[Deb P]

I was looking at my black bamboo clump last night, no sign of any flowers but I noticed it is looking like the canes are drying out and few look black now, and the foliage looks rather sparse....I've never watered it as it grew to a good sized clump over the past twenty years of so but I'm wondering if it's on its way out now!

[Vinlander]

I was at an old friends' party recently and their black bamboo was flowering profusely and had got to the point of making seeds that were certainly more mature than mine.

However it turns out to be an offshoot of mine from years ago. I'm slightly embarrassed about passing it on before mine had demonstrated its tendency to run, but if it does die, at least I'm in a position to pass on a black Fargesia which is definitely less troublesome.

P. nigra isn't that common, so i'm not that surprised I haven't seen one from a different source yet. But it does raise the possibility that there is a virtually identical species running a different clock...

Time will tell.

I still think its correct to say that it needs to flower before it dies - it's implied that the energy going into the seeds makes it die - though drought and disease can still get there first.

Cheers.

[JanG]

I think you’re saying, Vinlander, that there are two species of black bamboo in circulation, and this would explain why some of us seem to have black bamboos which are showing no sign of flowering?