Chusquea gigantea flowering event

[Chad]

My Chusquea gigantea flowered last year and now looks dead.

Digging it out seems like a lot of unnecessary work though.

For a couple of years it can be the support for a few Cobaea scandens.

Then the canes should pull out.

Although there are quite few different bamboo here, there won't be any more.

What did I see in them?

In this windy garden they look ill from November until July most years!

Chad

[Paul S]

Not sure that approach can work for me, Chad - if you have a lot of space and can afford to have several square metres of real estate looking crap for a couple of years until the culms rot that's pretty fortunate. My own plant is situated in a highly visible part of the garden and the last thing I want to look at is a decaying hulk of a bamboo corpse. :D But even once the culms have rotted enough to pull it still leaves a sizeable network of woody rhizomes in the ground and they take much longer to rot down. Chusquea in general and C. gigantea in particular delve deep and wide so, without the luxury of leaving the site fallow for several years, to get that area planted again you are left with little choice other than a brutally back-breaking dig out. In fact I went to Wickes yesterday and bought a fencing bar in preparation. My already dodgy back aches at the prospect. :shock:

[AndyC]

When my Fargesia nitida died I was left with a 5ft wide root mass to remove. I tackled it with a log splitter, breaking off manageable chunks of root to lift out. It left quite a large crater behind.
I wonder if a mini-digger would do the job :?:

Semiarundinaria fastuosa is a good suggestion. The one I had came from the garden of Mark Halls in Windsor (shame he doesn't post any more) as a 15ft high clump that he had dug out for me. The root ball sat in the front passenger foot well and the top stuck out the back of my hatchback. It was a wonder that the police didn't stop me. It is now (if the present owners of my old garden have left it alone) about 18-20ft tall and was very well behaved with very upright dark green culms. I have brought a piece of it with me for the new garden.

What about Borinda papyrifera, a lovely thing with beautiful very upright culms ageing from pale blue to olive green. No risk of this one running.

Whichever you choose you would probably get from Mike Bell for less money than anywhere else.

[Chad]

The last thing I want to look at is a decaying hulk of a bamboo corpse.

Trouble is, it looked 'dead' for the half year when it was happy!

Covered in Cobaea it may look better for more of the year.

Chad

[charlie]

Finally got around to cutting it down (amazing what will get done in lockdown!!)

DSC_0018 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Its left a big space, which will have to wait for a year or two as I am not intending to mattock out the stumps yet awhile!

DSC_0019 by charliepridham, on Flickr

Sad to compare to what it was like before

chusquea gigantea 007 by charliepridham, on Flickr


Still I have lots of bean sticks for a few years

DSC_0020 by charliepridham, on Flickr

[jungle jas]

My Himalayacalamus 'Himalaya Blue' flowered last Autumn and now looks just as dead as yours. I assumed it was the cold we had last spring (don't think that one is very hardy, and its been cut back before).

In thought when they flowered they did it world wide at the same time (for that variety) and their communication method was one fo the great mysteries of the world ... maybe its a myth?

I think you will find it was aa world wide event mine died as well and I heard on other forums thers had died as well. As for commutation , I think thy use Facebook :D :roll: .