I'm Digging Up My Baby Bamboo Shoot...

Sing the post title to the tune of "I'm bringing home my baby bumble bee...".  Add a huge amount of sheer glee, as we have germination and a baby Moso bamboo shoot (whom we shall call "Baby Boo #1")! Count them, just fifteen days to germination and ground break! Mind you, it's only a single seedling, but it lives!

So exciting!

I was expecting anywhere from a month to several to see the skinny green twig of a culm escaping the small plot of soil it would be lounging in, teasing us while we waited.  I've let it sit for a couple of days just to make sure it had sufficient humidity.  Bamboo should not be in the same level of humidity once there is any inkling of green rising from the pot.

This one sprouted on the coconut coir side of the sown seeds.  I will repot in nice soil with about 25% coir to avoid any shock.  As it turns out, this transplant was so simple--just pricked it out with a plastic spoon, set it on the 4" azalea pot, raked the mix over rhizome, tamped lightly, and set it in the window.  I am keeping it under warmth at night however as the window can get drafty with the furnace air return just under the sink.

Moso bamboo is very fast growing, so an inch a day on some days at this infant stage of the lifecycle is interesting to oversee and not uncommon. The growth will slow, but right now it is an amazing specimen to ponder.

Cross your fingers and green thumbs for the next!

Moso Bamboo Propagation from Seed

*Whew* Hopefully, my desire for  a privacy screen in a pot will be worth the effort of propagating Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis / Phyllostachys pubescens) from seed.  While this has little to do with my organic pot garden, I shall share my results with anyone who can gain from them. Besides, bamboo shoots are edible!

Delving into the sowing of Moso bamboo seemed daunting after much research.  Not too many years ago, there appeared to be little information on the topic available and those in the know were keeping that information close.  In the last several years, there have been many like me who have journaled their experiences in growing Moso, which has proven to be much more insightful than the generic information of "those in the know" that is so prevalent.

While Moso can reach grand heights of 70-80' in the right environment and maintain very thick culms (this is a timber bamboo, after all), I expect for the time we are indentured to our city lot that when the time comes to head South, that they will be bouncy, leafy, and manageable, clump-like juveniles in my current zone and still fairly simple to transport. 

While there are large bamboo growers in the PNW, we plan to work the up potting along the way the first few years.  I have always been drawn to well kept bamboo, but I am especially drawn to the Moso for its large leaves in the juvenile stage and the cascading small leaves at its larger size. 

This is truly a trial and error venture, but there is a certain satisfaction in growing your own from seed.  I may just be a glutton for punishment.  The germination rate is not fantastic, the environmental conditions must be well tended.

To begin, I hunted down two sources of seed as bamboo only flowers every 100 years, thereabouts.  Estimates vary in years and is not quite an exact science.  Did I mention bamboo can flower globally and then it dies?  Really.  Seed collecting is therefore, not too easy to accomplish and not particularly easy to come by from reputable sources.

I purchased a lot of 25 and a lot of 50 seeds.  Imagine the 50 count lot was 13 short.  *panic*  Luckily, the seed vendor sent me another packet of seeds (another packet of 50, which was also 16 short of 50).  In any event, I ended up with well over 50 from that supplier for a total of over 90 seeds.

I've sown 66 and hoping for a handful!  (Photo shows uncovered seed). I have read that the Moso seed can be planted a couple of inches into the soil, germinated in a Ziploc with moist towelette (wetted paper towel, coffee filter, toilet paper, etc.).  Most of mine were planted  horizontally across the top of the soil. I also tossed some in both directions (thick side up, skinny side up and vice versa) just to see if there is a difference in germination rate.

I am saving the last of the seed for experimental germination methods should the soil and coir mix fail to produce.  I did not soak or treat these, though I understand it is best to do so to avoid fungal problems and damping off later on.  I have 62 in a seed tray and 4 outside in large seeded colour pots.  Really, if it grows in near identical conditions in China, it ought to propagate here much the same without human interference.  We shall see how that goes (or not!).

Have any of you ventured into bamboo seed propagation? What species and what were your results?