Bamboo Rhizomes

[copperhead]

I'm in "Area 5". I bought some bamboo rhizomes off of a gal that said they were for my latitude. I did not get the name of them. Is there a rule of thumb about how long these guys should take to break the surface? Thank you in advance.

[drobinson]

I don't know about how long they take to come up, but I do know my son put some bamboo out 5 yrs. ago and it is taking over the side of his yard, and has gone under the fence into his neighbor's yard. Bamboo is neat stuff, but very invasive. Be prepared.

[schuyler gardener]

hey copperhead,
i have 3 bamboo species. all of them have new canes only once a year, around the middle of march in zone 7. if your rhizomes aren't very big, i wouldn't be surprised if they didn't produce any canes at all for for a year. they will come along soon enough.

[Pharmerphil]

Schuylergardener is correct. They may not do anything the first year. Did you plant the rhizomes before they bagan to sprout?

[schuyler gardener]

i just realized that i told you the new canes will come up around mid march in zone 7. i meant to say may. i see that you posted this thread in july of this year. you will probably have a few canes in late spring.

[copperhead]

Thanks for the replies. There were no sprouts on them when I planted. They didn't do anything above the grounds' surface last season. I noticed the last couple days that there were "bulbs" (for lack of a better word) that were burst open above where I planted. They've probably been there a long time. Are these the bamboo plants or coincidentally something else?

[FourDeuce]

Bamboo sometimes takes a while to get established. Watch it in the spring when the ground warms up, after you get a nice rain. Once that happens, you should see some results. Don't be surprised if you see some sprouts coming up quite a distance away from where you planted the original plant. The original plant can be pretty busy even when it doesn't look like it's doing too much. The first season it's just getting established, so it may not do much "running"(if you planted a running type), but once it gets some growth above ground to feed the roots, it'll be able to feed the roots, and will start spreading underground.
I planted a clump outside my backyard and within about 3 or 4 years it sent a runner under the ground and popped up about 10 feet into the back yard. That's quite a feat in this rocky Ozark soil.