Nope. All the moso I grew from seed I soaked for 24 hours then planted in a moistened 50/50 peat&perlite mixture in one of those humidity dome trays. I had plenty of seed so I mixed planting the seed, some barely below the surface and others scattered on the surface. Germination started in 7 to 14 days.

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Here is a pic of one a year later. We had most of them severely underpotted so most are not as big as I had hoped. However, we do have some nice ones such as the one pictured below.

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webgator, I cut into some of the seed and they were hard a rock! Is that normal?

conifer50

I do not recall. I still have some in the fridge from last year. I intentionally saved them for testing purposes. I will check them tomorroow and let you know. I would soak them 24 hours than go from there...you have nothing to lose.

I guess the seeds would need to be dry in order not to rot, so they'd be fairly hard. I didn't have many seeds so I didn't try cutting any. :)
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This is what mine looked like.

You may find this useful...

http://www.bamboonetwork.org/publications/inbar/Page5-7%20from%20ABS_0110.pdf

It mentions seed viability depending on how it was stored, so yours may or may not be good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Moso Info

2 days into germinating 200 moso seeds. 80 degree weather in the forcast... ideal for my new babies.
take care
CJ

Out of the 50 Moso seed I started with I now have 3 plants from 1-3 inches in height/My friend who gave me half of his seeds ended up with none!

conifer50

Yep, they are finicky little things. I don't have many left after 1 year. Now they are out in the full sun/wind. I hope to have at least one or two left by fall. :)

Thuja: At what time did you lose the most of them? I'm wondering because I have 26 of them and want to get an idea of the most critical times to worry. I had a couple were the some new leaves never unrolled and they turned white, which I attributed to not getting enough water, so I changed my watering schedule. I'm not too worried about them since one is putting up new shoots and both are still developing leaves.

Since you are going to plant Moso seeds I will attempt to explain what I have seen from planting thirty seeds. I did not remove the sheaths on any seeds so I do cannot comment on whether that is useful to do or not. The seeds which were planted in small cups (three total) sprouted much more quickly than those planted in small pots. The seeds planted in the pots took anywhere from twice to three times the length of those planted in the cups (seeds in cupts sprouted in about 3 weeks) to sprout. The pot based sprouts seem to be very healthy though. About ten or thirty seeds have sprouted. I had to transplant some of the sprouts from one pot to another since some had more than one sprout growing in them (one had three).

Temperatures in the nineties (sprouts outside underneath a table or chairs for shade) seem to damage the sproutlings (yellowing of leaves and stem as well as an occasional black, shriveling spot on a leaf). It has rained everyday and weather conditions have been overcast for the past several days here. This seems to have protected the newer sprouts from heat damage.

I never really had a whole lot of seedlings. I had split a batch of seed with a friend and he finally got sick of taking care of his and he gave me 6 small plants with dead top growth. I think they're completely dead but stuck them in the ground hoping something might sprout out. From my seed I have 2 strong plants that look like they'll amount to something.
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My non-bamboo progeny likes it too. ;)

I think if you still have live 1-yr plants you should be out of the woods (or in the grove).

I started with about 200 seeds, about 150 germinated, I soaked some, not others, some I tried in paper towel. All methods seemed to work the same, but transplanting them seemed to be the most critical trauma (at about 3" of growth). I found for those that survived transplanting, they didn't like direct sun but recovered quickly with filtered sunlight, outside. I had a problem with fungus gnats, I can't say how much this affected the survival rate. One year later I have about 48 plants of which 30 are healthy and taking off in a big way. These stayed outside all winter and survived some freezing temps. I think from what I've read on here that it's natural selection, maybe 1 in 3 plants seem to do well. My weaker ones are still growing but I don't hold a lot of hope for them. I'm still keeping the babies out of direct sun, but thinking maybe I'll try a few in more light as an experiment. I'm trying more seeds, but this time each in it's own pot. I'm hoping that less transplanting will increase the survival rate. Good luck.

See if this works for posting my MOSO seedlings picture.

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Those look like they'll make the cut. Now if we could just bump up our zone to 7 or 8 we'd be set.

I planted 150 moso seeds on 5/24 and so far I have about 10 that have sprouted. They are under florescent light and 90+ degrees with very high humidity. I will post pictures when they get a little bigger.

Mike what are your plans for your Moso. being you are in similar climate as me, I have two, one looks similar to yours the other well it is the charlie brown christmas tree i think. with loving i think it will live but it is a pale green. mine are still at school in the greenhouse. i could bring them home but i think they will stay there until next spring.

Kurt, good question. I have them planted out in the garden right now to see if I can toughen them up before fall. Then, if they grow enough, I might try to divide them, leave half outside and bring the other halves indoors over winter. I doubt that they'll make very good indoor plants but better alive than dead. Just experimenting... Anyway, a chance to see Moso close up, even if it is small. Perhaps I'll have a few plants to trade too with someone in zone 8 where my babies can live out their lives as God intended. :)

If i hit the "big game" i'll probably dome my property. then use the rest of the winnings to heat it.lol I'd like to see mine get bigger too. i am hoping since it is from seed it is possible that training it to our colder climate we might be able to have it stay outside for a complete year. brad's methods seems to work also. heavy mulching and such. he seems to get new shoots even though he loses the culms. like you said, nice to see it up close.

hello, am new to the game and am interested in planting moso, from seed as i am planning to plant about 5 acres. would you tell me the co. name, address where your friend ordered his seed from? would appriciate all the assistance you can provide.

Thanx

How are these now? Some of mine are getting lighter green leaves with recuded sunlight but other than that, they are ok. I've got about a dozen 5 month plants.

you can order seed ofline. try ebay, or just google....

I bought my moso seeds from www.pflanzen-exoten.de and get a germination rate about 70 %..

Here is a link that might be useful: Pflanzen-Exoten

Michael-
FYI, it's a violation of USDA regulations to bring bamboo seeds into the U.S. without a quarantine and permit. Sometimes it's no problem, sometimes the seeds get confiscated, sometimes you get a visit from USDA inspectors...

Here is a link that might be useful: ABS - Quarantine