Bamboo leafs recovering from the freeze

[doubravsky]

So last Sunday morning, as a part of the general carnage, several bamboo plants had leaves that were white, crispy-fried KFC style. I thought for sure that they would defoliate completely. Here's an example:

So we've had a little bitof warming, and a 65 degree day yesterday, and I went out this morning, and voila! The bamboo leaves had totally come back! The look almost as if they never froze, just some yellowing! It's the weirdest thing... I never would have expected it...

Giganthocloa Atrovilacea

Dendrocalamus Jianshuensis

Bambusa Vulgaris-Vittata in the background past the papyrus

[doubravsky]

"Leafs"?  What was that?  ok  "leaves"... guess I need some coffee...  

[JakeK]

Bamboo, tropical and temperate alike, are extraordinarily resilient. Even if you would have lost all the leaves and part of the culms, by next summer you probably wouldn't even be able to tell.

[Peter]

Nice Dave; I'm still waiting on my Bambusa lako to bounce back.  Surprisingly my Bambusa 'wamin' was untouched(under some protection).

[osideterry]

Bambusa oldhamii and Alphonse Karr: unaffected.

Bambusa ventricosa: a bit scrappy but it always looks that way

Bambusa textilis "gracilis": looking mighty bad

[doubravsky]

Interesting Terry... my regular Textilis came through fine. Just as an update, though, the day after those pics, we had three reallywindy days, and the leaves are back to looking totally fried....

[Scott]

My B. Oldhamii came through majestically. One managed to put through a new culm in the ground!!!! Although it's stalled out temporarily, while the Oldhamii regroups and recoups from all the cold. Awesome stuff.

[iwan]

Bambusa oldhamii 100% burned.  Some newer growth is mush.  I don't think this foliage will recover.  Planted last spring, hopefully will regrow from the rhizomes.

January 2007 Freeze statistics:

Lowest temp 19.6F

6 days with temps in low 20's or just below 20F

17 days below 30F

23 of 26 days at/below freezing

15 consecutive freezing days

12 days with >12 hours below freezing

Approximately 200 combined hours below freezing

Pond frozen for ~2 weeks with 4" of ice.

High temps recovering to mid-40's/low-50's each day.

[Scott]

Robert, Sorry for your loss! I bet it'll regrow from the rhizomes though.

[osideterry]

Bamboo Society and Sunset guide rate Oldhamii at 20F, and you hit 19F. Not much room for error. The fact that it stayed so cold so long has the biggest impact. My palms rated at 25-26F (my low) are practically 100% defoliated, but should come back with time.

My Textilis looked bad going into the freeze and only got worse.