Bamboo will not grow tall, HELP

Three years ago I planted bamboo as a hedge in my back yard. I prefer bamboo over standard cedar heding because bamboo looks a lot better.

I have 13 Fargesia robusta planted, spaced approx. 3-5 feet apart. It may be worthwhile mentioning that all the bamboo is planted close to trees, however 10 of bamboos have been doing well with no issues, they are over six feet tall. 3 of the bamboo look like they have only grown 12" since I first planted them three years ago.

What can I do to help the 3 that are not growing? They have had very few shoots and the space between them is not filling in.

 

Are the three together, or spaced throughout the hedge? Point being, if together then it's likely related to conditions on that stretch of hedge. If spread throughout, then could be due to mislabeling or a mix up at the nursery, with these being a less sun tolerant species of Fargesia. Second possibility is that these are poor divisions: weaker divisions of clumping bamboos in particular tend to sulk.

 

Probably suppressed by the trees.

 

The bamboos are evenly spread with 4-5 feet between each of them.
I purchased the plants from Bamboo World-Chilliwack and I think the pots all had Fargesia Robusta labels on them.

re: the growth could be supressed by trees.
This is possible however the other bamboo which are now at 6+ feet are also planted near trees 100+ feet tall


Is there anything I can do to help the stunted Bamboo? What about swapping three tall ones for the three short ones? I don't quite know how to transplant a bamboo but this may be the solution. Should I dig out some of the old soil and replace with mushroom manure? any suggestions would be helpful.


may be worthwhile noting that even though the 3 bamboo are stunted, they are healthy, green and vibrant as all the rest....just shorter. I live in Port Moody if anyone wants to come by and have a look at the situation. Despite the lack of growth in these three plants, I am still happy with Bamboo vs traditional cedar hedge.

 

I to have clumping bamboo I also got from bamboo world. I wasn't happy with the growth of three of the twelve clumps I had. I did have some luck inadvertently when I dug a couple up and the subsequent year they seamed to shoot up. So you could try digging them up and perhaps amending the soil and fertilizing. Depending on how large the larger clumps are you could try dividing a few tall shoots out and plant it with the small ones. Other than a high nitrogen fertilizer in the spring and make sure they get water ( those 100' tree drink up a lot of water) most of the year, that's all I have for you. Good luck

 

I think the first thing to try is separating some shoots from the healthy bamboo and planting them in the area that is not doing well. Can anyone instruct me on the procedure to do this? I don't want to end up killing the bamboo.

 

I have found a nice sharp spade and just take a slice out as if it were a pie. I also wouldn't take more than 1/4 of a clump.

 

Robusta is fairly forgiving in terms of dividing (many clumping types are finicky about being divided), do it in the Spring.

If the issue is related to that area of the hedge, though, the result will be the same.