Hello. Here in Vancouver I got from one of my neighbors black bamboo from 4-5 feet tall to 15 feet tall (some are about 3/4 of an inch wide) some branches have leaves 1/4 up only other are full with leaves. It took me 4 hrs to dug them out . I got root balls with many little feeders . I replanted all of them within 24 hours and kept the roots in a pot with wet earth while waiting . The 1st evening they looks 100% alright but today all the leaves seem to dry out. I had to cut dig them out with a steel shovel as it had grown under a concrete path. it was VERY knotted. I have divided it all and replanted in big strong plastic containers ( black plastic ex paint containers 100% cleaned with 12 drill holes in the bottom and two inside strong PVC pipes that are standing vertically in extremely fragile African clay pots. The roots could brake the pot after a few years. I brought them from Tanzania I can't risk that. I replanted all of them within 24 hours and kept the roots in a pot with wet earth while waiting the replanting. The 1st evening they looks 100% alright but today all the leaves seem to dry out. I understand there must be some stress BUT I would like to know from the experts out here . Will it survive the move or not I did not want to make all this work for nothing. I have transplanted black bamboo in South Africa no problem...I understand Canada is not South Africa BUT they were VERY HAPPY at my neighbor and growing wild and multiplying like a forest as he did not have them containers.
Might grow later. Nobody here can predict outcome. Any divisions with all leaves drying up I would wonder about.
I think they'll probably pull through. You can reduce some of the stress by pruning back the plants, maybe by as much as half, so as to reduce water-loss through transpiration from the leaves. (This is often recommended with transplanting in general, to compensate for the loss of root mass.) For the future, here is what I've always done. First I take the newly dug-up plant and stick it in a large pot with regular potting soil. In extreme cases -- if the leaves are extremely wilty-looking -- I try to wrap it in some kind of huge plastic thing like you get from a dry-cleaner. Sometimes I spray it with a mister several times a day. I keep up this regimen of intensive care until the plant starts to look happy again. Then I start taking it outdoors for limited times -- or during a rainfall -- to let it get used to that again. Sometimes you don't need to take such extreme steps -- the plant doesn't suffer too badly from transplant shock. In which case you can shorten this "intensive care" phase. But I wouldn't skip it altogether. It's hard to know how bamboos are going to react, I find. (I guess this is because it's often hard to tell, when you dig it up, whether you have gotten enough of the root structure that was providing water and nutrients to this particular piece of the plant.) Only when the newly divided plant seems to be quite happy again do I replant it in its new permanent home.
>This is often recommended with transplanting in general, to compensate for the loss of root mass< • There is no need to top-prune landscape plants if post-transplant irrigation is available (and all new landscapes need post-transplant irrigation!). • The only time transplanted materials should be pruned is to remove broken, dead, or diseased branches, or to make structural corrections to young trees. • If pruning is warranted, use thinning rather than heading cuts to preserve tree structure. http://www.puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda ...ural Myths_files/Myths/Transplant pruning.pdf
thank you so much...mmh ..I can only cut them back ... but then I must say what does one do cutting back the 15feet tall to who much the whole beauty is in the branch getting thinnner and thinner...I made huge 1mx1m platers and sunk BIG 340cm across pots into the center with other things to grow around . They were in very wet soil immedialty after undigging . If I disturb them again.... I will make a photo and uplaod it to show the actuall plants and why the tall aspct of them attracted me to do the transplant I wetted them several times today already like rain ... Ok Thank you SO MUCH ..for your input
Thank you so much very interesting. It would brake my heart to cut the tops..I 'll give anything else a try ..and hope for the best I will upload some photos..THANK YOU.
