Naughty Bamboo and a Nasty little Rash!

[AJQ]

I was tidying up the garden yesterday, tyeing back some of my Bamboos with the Green gardeners cord/string as the Phyllostachys Bisettii was starting to hide one of my Arenga Engleri's.

I know that the Arenga is toxic so was careful not to get too close and worked around it. Obviously not careful enough, as this morning I am covered in itchy Rashes over my wrists forearms and calfs. ( It's still warm enough to wear shorts here) And I thought those fronds were dead!

On a positive note, I had a similar problem with my Chamaedorea Radicalis vs my Pseudosasa Japonica, which was also starting to take over and hide the Palm. Bit more of a radical decision here, was to dig up the clump and bring it forward a couple of feet to the front of the raised bed.

Certainly seems like a good decision now, as it has grown quite well, recovering from its sun burn a couple of years back and it looks better at the front of the bed.

Some of the roots from the Boo were quite large and had penetrated through the clump of the Palm, so they had to be cut off.

At least I think they were Boo Roots!  ???

Regards Andy.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Andy,

It must be an allergic reaction. I work around Arenga engleri often and plant lots of them in client's yards and I've never had a problem with them. The fruit, on the other hand, is rich in oxalates which are very irritating to the skin.

[AJQ]

Hi there Jim,

I have also have had similar rash from a Caryota mitis a while ago, allthough it was a smaller palm indoors in its pot and it was nowhere near as bad.

I hear that the sap is Toxic from both of these Palms.

Regards Andy.

[Tad]

bamboo hair (i have no idea the correct terminology) is a really great irritant, couldve been from the bamboo????

[Zac in NC]

Andy- I asked earlier on one of LaLaHaHabra Daves posts on how your Jacarandas are? Could we get an update?

Zac

[AJQ]

Could be the Bamboo, never thought of that.

Jacarandas? 3 Carked it, 1 survived and is doing quite well.

Strangely though, it was the 3 planted in the ground that didn't make it. The one in the pot and in the coldest location survived.

I shall keep it in a pot now as long as I can before planting it out. We had a very long winter here, wasn't particularly cold though, in fact it was quite mild but there were very few days with clear blue skies and sunshine.

They were always late to start off in the late spring.

That coupled with an early Snow Storm early last November started the winter off very early.

They would not normally lose their foliage untill January or February.

Regards Andy.

[AJQ]

Actually now I have had a wee think about it, I have tied up these Boos in the past with nothing untoward happening??. I also have transplanted them form a different site a couple years ago too and again nothing, No rashes at all back then either.

All things being equal, probably is the Arenga as the culprit.

Regards Andy.

[Zac in NC]

Andy- Well I am glad to hear at least one survived and the one you probably least expected to live at that. Good luck on that last one.

Zac