Just bought a V. Poorly Bamboo

[irridium]

can anyone advise whether this 5l potted bamboo is salvageable or not when it's 4" fine side branches are not quite so breakable but the 8" stems are tho'? It's contained in a pot that's not quite root-bound, but I'm not sure how to check on it's roots as presumably they're meant to be strong. It was in the 'write-off' area of my local Nottcutts branch, orig £56 but I got it for £2. Do you think I've got a chance to rescue this?

[irridium]

[Duke Ellington]

I think it has a good chance. I have two very ill treated bamboos in containers in my garden. I always forget to water them but they do spring back to life when I decide to look after them. I have even cut poorly looking stems right back to soil level and it always sends up new stems.

Duke ..good luck :)

[irridium]

Duke E: thanks for your reply. How big is yours and how long had it gone w/o water? I think mine might have be killed off by the drought we had in the spring or it could of been the harsh winter. Was yours left out last winter?

There wasn't a label for me to ID this, but it's a v. yellow-stemmed one (not sure if it's the aurea... one) but I'm not sure whether to re-pot this and have it at home (in part-shade to help it to recover, altho' that might encourage the colour to revert tho', won't it?). I don't have a clue whether it's an invasive type or a clump-forming one as I would prefer it to recover at the lotti where I have the room for it as at home, my v. tightly packed ornamental bed is a bit too small for it... tho' it is intended to grow at home eventually in a raised bed that's 6' x 2' that is gonna be used as a screen against my nosy neighbours ::) ::) ::)

[Duke Ellington]

Hi again

I am in a similar position to yourself in that I dont know what type of bamboo I have. What I do know is that it grows to about 20 feet and was given to me by a friend. I have been keeping it going for about 10 year now. I did plant it next to a fence once.....it invaded my neighbours garden. I dug mine up and potted it up but they decided to keep theirs and its very tall :o The funny thing is it hasn't invaded my garden. They must have better soil :-[ When I want to revive it a give it lots of water and a nitrogen feed. This greens up the leaves and gives it a good boost. Even when the bamboo looks dead it still manages to come back to life. My problem is I really dont know where I want to plant it. My friend told me that she didn't find it invasive in a bad way because it is shallow rooted and easy to keep it in check. One day I will bite the bullet and plant it as it does look really beautiful when grown in open ground. If you ever want a really tall bamboo I would be happy to give you a piece of mine.
PS it doesn't grow to 20 feet when in a container ;D
Sorry I cant help you more.

Duke