The strange thing is I had a small section of this bamboo which caught on fire earlier this year. This is the only area that is now shooting small shoots.

Is it normal for bamboo to not shoot for a season? I know this should have been shooting by now. The bamboo otherwise looks healthy. I watered and fertilized it last season.

Question 2

My Phyllostachys nigra is shooting now, but it is shooting where I don't want it. No big deal I can cut rhizomes and dig it up, but my goal is to have it grow along my fence line. Instead it is growing into my front yard.

My only guess is that it won't grow along my fence line because I had castor beans growing there and maybe the old roots of the castor beans are blocking the bamboo rhizomes and the bamboo is taking the path of least resistance.

Could this theory be correct? The bamboo is not expanding anywhere near where the castor beans were growing last year. I also have more castor beans popping up there now. I like the fast growth and cover of the castor beans but black bamboo is my ultimate goal there.

Oh yea one more question, I have bad the "black" bamboo for 2 years now and it is still green. How long does it take to turn black?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

on another note my yellow groove and arrow are shooting nicely.

There's no reason that castor plant roots would discourage bamboo rhizomes or deflect them or anything. It may be that the rhizomes are just not going in that direction. It could also be that they *are* in that direction, but they just didn't shoot. Rhizomes typically don't shoot toward their ends. That means that if you have a shoot coming up 10 feet from the main grove, the rhizome probably extends 20 feet out.