PHYLLOSTACHYS HETEROCYCLA PUBESCENS

Mr. Bamboo, Australian photo  

Wolfgang Eberts, German photo  

Wolfgang Eberts, German photos of bicolor canes

Judith Verberne, French photo of turtle-back form

Judith Verberne, French photo of bicolor canes

Judith Verberne, French photo of Nabashima cane

 

          The ultimate use of moso is to create an open grove to walk through and experience the effect similar to that of a giant redwood forest.  One never forgets the experience.  But moso is a slow-growing plant and it takes 5-10 years to just start such a grove even in an ideal climate.

        Moso has a world-wide reputation.  In China it develops 10" diameter culms.  70% of their Bamboo is moso - it covers an area the size of New Jersey and is their most commercially important species.  They use it for food as well as manufacture of furniture, scaffolding & concrete reinforcing for building construction.  Gib Cooper saw Moso in China 10-12 years old only 15-20' high with 2" diameter shoots & 15 years away from being ready to harvest.  But a mature grove will produce 10 tons of shoots per acre per year.

        In Japan it's known as the "Noble Bamboo".  20% of Japanese bamboo is moso, growing mostly in the southern islands,  Hokkaido being too cold.         

         In Europe it's increasing in popularity.  Claude Rifat says a division planted in Lugano, Switzerland reached 70' with 5" diameter in 12 years.  Moso planted at Prafrance in 1880 were 80' high with 9" diameters in 1990.  Wolfgang Eberts imported 7,000 seeds from China into Italy around 1985 & grows them on a grand scale for landscaping.  

        Moso hasn't done well in most of the U.S.  It seems to need lots of water and humidity, not too much heat or cold.  The USDA unsuccessfully tried to introduce it on a large scale for 15 years in the early part of the 20th century.  It does poorly in Southern California more than a few miles from the coast & in Southern Florida.  The California problem seems to be dry air & summer heat, which can be partially solved with mist, constant watering and shade.        

        The most mature plants in the U.S. were planted in the early 1900s.  There's a large planting at the old USDA growing grounds in Savannah, Georgia & another in Abbeyville, Louisana.  There's a grove of 50-60' high plants growing at a cemetery in Anderson, South Carolina and maintained by the local Bamboo society.

        It is one of the least likely bamboos to survive drought.  We lost our moso when we moved to new growing grounds in the desert climate of Perris, California in 1990. 

        Moso planted at Hakone Gardens in 1987 had canes of 2" in diameter in 1994.  A small grove planted in 1980 in Sanger, California had canes of 4" in diameter in 1994.  The Quail Gardens removed their moso in 1990.  Elizabeth Haverfield says moso does poorly in Southern Florida.  Rick Howard in South Carolina says his moso, when planted near an existing grove of trees chose to penetrate into the grove rather than grow in full sun.

        David Andrews reported leaf damage at 10 degrees F. but Claude Rifat says plants survive in France down to -6 degrees F. with no damage.  Mature plants have small leaves held in cloud-like clusters.  Immature plants have large juvenile leaves with tufts of black hairs at the base of each leaf.  Mature culms, culm sheaths & leaves are covered with a fuzzy, velvety coat of soft, fine hair.  The culm nodes near the ground have only one nodal ridge, rather than the more common two ridges.  It has numerous enemies - gophers, rabbits & snails among the most common.  It likes perfect drainage.

    It's the largest and most handsome hardy Bamboo.  I wish we could grow it outside of a greenhouse.