As I've mentioned several times already, the bamboo took a big hit this winter, with cold, cold winds killing many leaves and probably lots of culms too. The plants will still need to feed though, as they'll be replacing leaves and growing new culms, so I filled a bucket with Milorganite and got to work.
I probably should have done this a couple of weeks ago, as Milorganite will take at least three weeks to start releasing nutrients -- one "disadvantage" of organic fertilizers. So some of the early-shooting bamboos will have to rely on what's already available. It's exciting that I may see these start breaking the soil in just a couple of weeks!
Since spreading the fertilizer is quite basic and boring (grab handfuls and toss into bamboo, repeat dozens of times over the next 30 minutes), I'll focus on more photos of the brown.
It's a bit disheartening, isn't it? (Even though I love the way these leaves look with the bright blue sky behind them!)
Still, not all is lost:
There is still green in the centers of some of these plants!
This last one was buried in snow when the coldest air came through. Wonderful, warm snow!
Let's hope that there is much more bamboo green coming in the next few months. I'm doing what I can to assist!
.
That's just about the same amount of damage we got however it's nowhere close to done with winter up here where we are set to have a foot of snow tonight
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of brown! I feel for you!
ReplyDeleteSo would you say that this winter has been particularly harsh, or just "normal?"
I think it was particularly harsh. That doesn't mean it's not normal though, as things may be changing. :)
ReplyDeleteAnother 8 inches of snow predicted tonight. It'll be a while before we see whether anything out there is still alive! What a winter.
ReplyDeleteThe brown was pretty, until you shared the green! So I hate focus on the negative but what tasks do you have ahead, as far as clean up? Will you be cutting and pulling for days?
ReplyDeleteLoree: good question. I'll start with the groundcover bamboos which just get mowed every year, then shear the shrubby types to remove damaged leaves and any obviously-dead culms.
ReplyDeleteThe big bamboos though... not sure what to do. I should remove some of the certainly-dead culms before shooting starts but leave some for support. I'm hoping all of the dead leaves drop soon so I can see better what's going on. This is a new experience for me though.