Anyone else have Black Bamboo? Phyllostachys nigra? Evidently there's a species wide monocarpic flowering wipe-out in process..

[Lyn96]

I'm bummed. I have a few in 15 and 20 gal pots that I really like and have had for years. Evidently ;

https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/bamboo-flowering-habits

"Most woody bamboo species are subject to gregarious flowering which means that all plants of a particular species flower at the same time, regardless of differences in geographic locations or climate conditions, and then die a few years later. Intervals in the gregarious flowering cycle varies depending on the species, but in general bamboo flowering intervals can be as long as 3-150 years.

In other words, when a certain bamboo species starts to flower gregariously, they do this all over the world for a several year period until the entire forest has died. In some species, only the bamboo stems die, while rhizomes become activated again to start the natural regeneration of the species. However, this happens very rarely and is rather the exception than the rule.

Gregarious flowering often happens in different stages because mature stems start to produce seeds first. When the seed ripen and eventually fall off, the bamboo plant looses all its leaves and the culm starts to dry up from top to bottom until it finally dies. Every bamboo forest contains culms in different stages of development, therefore this entire process can take several years (3-7 years) until the forest has completely died."

Mine haven't flowered yet, I don't think. But others are flowering in the US and England, so it should be soon- maybe this year. I did have one stalk with very weird growth last year, but if it was flowers it did not set seed. I think it was just recovering from being underwatered..

I ordered 100 seeds but am not expecting very good if any germination. Unless they've been kept in the fridge viability is only expected for 3 to 6 months.

[Lyn96]

Wow, just found an explanation for "gregarious flowering". Evidently many commercial forests and nursery imports were cloned from the same original seedling (by root propagation) or seedlings very similar in age. For instance, AFAI can tell all the Blue bamboo Himalayacalamus hookerianus available on the west coast seems to be from only 3 or 4 different seedlings all germinated at the same time from the same parent plant.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00381/full

Each clone has the same internal clock as the original seedling parent so to speak, and that is minimally influenced by it's environment.

[Desertlife4me]

sucks, I planted some Phyllostachys Nigra a month ago that I bought in Seattle, it just started pushing up a new shoot this week

[Chester B]

  On 3/2/2023 at 7:52 AM, Lyn96 said:

Wow, just found an explanation for "gregarious flowering". Evidently many commercial forests and nursery imports were cloned from the same original seedling (by root propagation) or seedlings very similar in age. For instance, AFAI can tell all the Blue bamboo Himalayacalamus hookerianus available on the west coast seems to be from only 3 or 4 different seedlings all germinated at the same time from the same parent plant.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.00381/full

Each clone has the same internal clock as the original seedling parent so to speak, and that is minimally influenced by it's environment.

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Yes they clone them.  I was just at Bamboo Garden here in Oregon and their black bamboo is not for sale due to the flowering.  

[Lyn96]

  On 3/28/2023 at 12:49 PM, Desertlife4me said:

sucks, I planted some Phyllostachys Nigra a month ago that I bought in Seattle, it just started pushing up a new shoot this week

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Crap. That does suck. I guess they didn't know. You might want to email that nursery.

Well, if you feed the plants heavily this spring and late spring you might get viable seeds. I doubt I will- mine are in pots. But you never know, these bamboo are really tough. There's a very slim chance there is more than one original clone in the US but not likely.

[AlanAus]

Hi from eastern Australia,

I have realised, only days ago, that the outlook for the Black Bamboo (P. nigra) is not good. My clump has been flowering for about a month and most leaves are now seed heads.  It certainly is a world wide occurrence as I've seen reports from Europe as well.

It is only a few years old and disappointing to watch as it was thriving.

Sometimes nature lets us know who is managing things; though maybe that is not such a bad thing!

[tropicbreeze]

Back around 2008 our native bamboo here began flowering. It's supposed to happen every 80 years, so I wasn't even thought of last time it did. It progressed over about three years. There were piles of dead bamboo (it's a very tall species) along the rivers for years. But before the last lot had finished flowering there was new bamboo coming through. Now of course when you look around you wouldn't know the difference from before the flowering. It didn't turn out as apocalyptic as I'd expected. I think most species will be much the same, otherwise they'd have died out long ago. Pandas as well.

 

[Fallen Munk]

My black bamboo flowered about 5 years ago.  It looked terrible after flowering but survived and now is fine.  I have several clumps of it from the same initial root stock.  I even sold some last spring and it's doing great too.

Death after flowering is not a certainty like you read in most literature. 

[metalfan]

I kind of hope mine flowers. Its a runner and I am tired of trying to contain it after 30 years

[Lew Franc Esquier]

  On 12/15/2023 at 10:00 PM, Fallen Munk said:

My black bamboo flowered about 5 years ago.  It looked terrible after flowering but survived and now is fine.  I have several clumps of it from the same initial root stock.  I even sold some last spring and it's doing great too.

Death after flowering is not a certainty like you read in most literature. 

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Did you cut them and let new shoots come up or did the old ones just drop the seeds and regrow leaves? 

[Fallen Munk]

  On 8/5/2024 at 12:06 AM, Lew Franc Esquier said:

Did you cut them and let new shoots come up or did the old ones just drop the seeds and regrow leaves? 

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About half the shoots died and I cut those off, the other half grew new leaves, but mostly it got all new growth.