PHYLLOSTACHYS VIVAX

    Quail        Huntington Gardens         Burbank

Probable height in Southern California within 3 years = 25'

Probable ultimate height in Southern California = 40'

Height in habitat = 70'

Loses leaves around  0 to  10 degrees Fahrenheit.

Loses canes around  -10 to  0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rhizomes die around  -40 to -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

If growing in the ground it prefers full sun.

A running bamboo - rhizomes will run sideways in moist earth unless restrained with a root barrier.

Minimum soil depth required for a healthy plant = 12"

Unrestrained rhizome depth in moist soil = 24"

 

            One of the most vigorous, fastest-growing giant hardy Bamboos.  5" maximum diameter culms with large masses of heavy drooping foliage.  Can go below -20 degrees F. if heavily mulched.  David Andrews reports plant is evergreen down to 3 degrees F. & culms dies to the ground at -8 degrees F. but then regrow in the spring.  Edible shoots, originally native to China.

            New culm sheaths in spring are light green/pink with masses of brown spots plus a zigzag shape & frilly tip.  Many culms bend back & forth slightly from node to node, creating a slightly zigzag line.  Some growers distinguish vivax by fine vertical grooves on the culms which can be felt with one's finger-nail.  Others say there isn't such a thing as Vivax, it being just a variety of bambusoides.  For landscape use in Southern California the differences between vivax and bambusoides are insignificant.

            One Japanese grower, Frank Yamashita told us a shorter distance (3-5") between nodes at the base indicates a shallow root system (about 12" deep) whereas a longer distance (6-12") between nodes at the base indicates a deeper root system (about 24" deep).  Frank brought one plant from Japan around 1940 & planted it in his L.A. backyard.  In 1985 his one acre plus most of his neighbor's properties on both sides were covered with a 30' high Bamboo forest, the 5" culms all being 4-6' apart & quite easy to walk between.  In wetter, cooler climates it grows taller.  In the Pacific Northwest it gets up to 60'.  Rick Howard in South Carolina says his plants have run into an existing grove of trees and refuse to grow in the full sun outside the existing grove.  The way to grow a giant Bamboo forest is to  first establish the perimeter with paving or a building foundation or planter walls or below-grade concrete barriers.  Then put in a watering system, making sure penetrations in the below-grade barrier are sealed. Then plant as many plants as you can afford.  Next year, after the new growth is mature, prune out all of the shrubby growth & leave only the largest culms.  Follow this same pruning procedure every summer, progressively allowing larger & larger culms to remain.  In a few short years the area will become a grove which can be dense or open, according to the taste of the person wielding the pruning saw.  The size of the plants will be a function of the planting bed, full-size plants requiring at least 20-30 square feet of growing area.

            Kioshi Yoshida tried an experiment in 1989 with below-grade barriers & Vivax. He planted 4 areas about 48" in diameter, one with an 18" deep barrier, one with a 24" deep barrier, one with a 36" deep barrier, one with a 48" deep barrier.  The very first year after planting the Vivax came up outside the 18" barrier, the rhizomes having easily gone below 18".  After two years the rhizomes went under & came up beyond the 24" barrier.  The 36" deep & 48" deep barriers continued to contain the plant until spring of 1993, at which time Kioshi sold his nursery & the plants were bull-dozed to the ground.  The grove at the Huntington Gardens in L.A., which is the largest grove in California is marked "P. bambusoides" but is probably Vivax.  The grove at the Hakone gardens marked "madake" is also probably Vivax.  Canes larger that 4" diameter are very rare in California & most groves have canes with an average diameter of 2 to 2 1/2" diameter.