Are those new shoots that are gnawed on? And do you have a squirrel population?

Hi kudzu9. yes, i do have a few squirrels. I take it by your question that you suspect them? Think I will run out and get some chicken wire fencing today.

Squirrels are prime suspects as they like the new shoots with their high sugar content. You might want to get something with a finer grid than chicken wire...something with an opening smaller than a squirrel head/body. I've used a wire screen material from HD that has 1/2" X 1/2" openings. I cut it and form it into 18" tall cylinders that I slip over any emerging shoots. I squeeze the top of the cylinder together so that a squirrel can't get down inside, and I either stake them or tie them to a nearby older culm so they can't be moved off the shoots by the critters. Once the new shoots are taller and harder, they are not interesting to the squirrels.

Hey New, I planted some clumpers too. I found that if you are doing divisions, its better to cut the culm down to a few nodes as the smaller, disturbed roots will have a less demand for water. Should boost your success rate up to 100%.
I have a bunch of shoots coming up and lots of squirls. I have no problems with them. I even feed them dry corn every few days. Even when that runs out, they do not go near the bamboo. I have no deer in my area, how about you?

-Bill

You can also take a cheese shredder and shred up a bar of soap and spread that around the boo, this should keep deer and rabbits out. If your problem is the squirls, I think it will work for that too. They do not like the smell of it and is benificial for the boo, very light fert.

Thanx all for the good advice. After posting I headed out to the store for some chicken wire and created these

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so the little critters, be they squirrels or others, are gonna require wire snips to snack.

Good idea on making wire cylinders for future use. Do they attack new culms of more mature bamboo first sprouting or just these tender new shoots of young clumpers? I've been growing bamboo at my zone 10b garden (from where these were transplanted) for many years and never had this issue.

Soap is interesting idea too. No deer or rabbits, not even an alligator yet. Just the hawks every day (love them) and eventually I'll get a dog. My last dog used to enjoy eating new growth of a tree fern so much that it didn't have a chance.

Transplanting was a mess. I was moving a 16 ft uhaul filled entirely with bamboo a few hundred miles and had limited time to accomplish this. I had cut the bamboo a month or two earlier hoping they'd sprout out towards the bottom but most only grew some more at the very tops. I left what was left of the culms intact when I transplanted hoping that would give them a better chance but mostly the culms just died. I figured the rhizomes should at least survive but I was hoping the culms would too. I really didn't know what I was doing. So now I'm watering dead culms sticking out of the ground. But then every so often a new sprout surprises me, increasing the known survival rate.

Here are some pics of culms that survived.

The first two are bambusa lako aka timor black. The tall one showed signs of life early on and is doing very well. That surprised me too because it was a fairly new culm so I thought it would not survive. The second one looked dead for about a month or more before it branched out at the bottom.

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The last picture is an alternating line of bambusa chungii aka tropical blue & textilis gracilis aka graceful bamboo. The graceful is doing really well, very pleased. But I doubt the survival of many of the blues. I do have three other clumps of blue which did survive including one sprouting out of the ground and one branching out from the culms I left intact.

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The cage looks good. Generally squirrels will go after any new shoot, whether it is from a young or a mature bamboo. Wire cages is the only thing that has worked for me. I have tried "chemical" remedies, like hot sauce in vaseline smeared on the new shoots, but the squirrels get used to it after a while. In my opinion, a physical barrier is the only effective way to keep these critters away from the salad bar.

As far as transplanting, bamboo should be dug and re-planted as soon as possible in order to have optimal survival. You can also pot them up, or you can put them in the shade with the root balls kept moist and covered. However, digging and re-planting pronto is best. The fact that you have signs of life with such a gap between digging and re-planting means you got lucky.

Your squirrels "go after any new shoot" maybe. Mine apparently only go for the expensive bamboos as they didn't touch the less expensive golden Hawaiians. Spoiled little brats. When planted in my old zone 10b garden, the squirrels never touched the bamboo. So I didn't even suspect them until your mention. But there they discovered the coconuts and hollowed them out before I had a chance to eat many.

Maybe I will try planting something sweeter here that these zone 9a squirrels might prefer, distracting them from the bamboo. Total shame to cover up the new culms with chicken wire as that is often when bamboo is the most interesting. But of course I'll use the wire as I must.

You are so right as to my luck in transplanting. I had a lot of plants to move at once so by the time I got the last once dug up the earlier ones had been out of the ground for a while. Many I dug up whole but then cut up some to make transport easier. Some like the tropical blue I kind of shredded. Wow that was tough to get out of the ground. I went through about 4 blades on a chain saw.

So far I've had the best success with the seabreeze & teddy bear bamboos, very forgiving. Even have a bunch of shoots on the sacred bali, which I thought I'd chance growing in zone 9a, figuring at worst it'll die back every few years in a bad winter, not terrible as the older culms tend to get ratty looking anyway.

My buddha bellies did pretty well but I'm afraid both the asian lemons and sunbursts might not have made it. Could be they are alive below ground still though.

As I was dealing with so many plants at one time I couldn't repot them before transplant because of weight so I just tried to keep them moist in huge plastic bags. It was a difficult battle but I think I did fairly well. I'm hoping for an 80% success rate, eventually, but even if less within two years I should have some nice divisions from what survived and of course, staying on site, the next transplants should go much easier.

I just finished posting a lament about squirrels and bamboo on this site when I saw your posting.... I saw that you are located in N Florida and when I saw your pictures I knew that we are dealing with the same culprits... I am sorry to tell you that it is only a matter of time before the squirrels learn to attack the shoots when they taller than the cages or taller than you are able to apply any repellants... In other words , if you want to have bamboo,... start killing the squirrels now...

Here is an interesting link to an article posted by someone at Kew Gardens in England and the damage of squirrels to bamboo...
http://bamboo-identification.co.uk/Squirrel_damage.pdf

Best Wishes,... and much sympathy,.. David

I've been growing bamboo for years and never had this squirrel problem before. Now it is so bad that they are eating the shoots before they hardly come out of the ground.

Here's one I though I killed during transplant but it started putting out a new culm. I was just about to go get some more chicken wire when I found it already eaten.

This area must be the Biafra of bamboo for them to attack so ravenously. Now I'm almost certain that the coconut palm in my previous garden kept their sweet tooth satisfied.

I'm not real into killing little furry animals but I would consider live trap/relocation, though that would become a continuous task as I've lots of oak trees here. Alternatively maybe if I plant some sugar cane they'll leave the bamboo alone.

This is what I thought I killed...

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Here's a culm that survived the transplant (sorry I do not know variety--I should have it recorded somewhere but not all unpacked yet)...

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And here is the new growth I was so happy to see (now so sad to see eaten)...

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Wow that last pic is a big bamboo! Please post when you figure out what variety it is!

Also, where are you at in 9A?

Hi Webgator. Tampa Bay now having relocated from many years in south Florida. I found an old backup disc from a prior puter with my previous garden catagorized but no bamboo listed. As I introduced bamboo to that garden in my last years there, I guess I lost interest on keeping records by then. I might still have the original receipt somewhere, however, if I ever get to finding that. Until then, mystery abounds.

I recall googling but not finding much info on the plant. What I remember was somebody's entry, something about this species being of little interest but to collectors with nothing much else significant about it. But I think it is a beautiful bamboo. And according to the local squirrel, quite tasty too. I've yet to see it offered by other nurseries.

Supposedly it grows to 70 ft. I bought from a guy in the Cutler Bay area south of Miami who had it hiding some very high powerlines. I remember the clump was huge but tight and impressive. But even after about 5 years, mine had only put out about one new culm per year and reached a height of about 20 to 30 feet, though it does branch out abundantly.

Will list the species if I ever rediscover it. Actually took a chance on planting in zone 9a as I do not know its tolerance. I took with me 3 large culms, one has branched out nicely already (pictured below), one has a stalk still completely green after many weeks since transplant but no branches yet (it is planted in a shady spot, however) and the one pictured above (dead to the eye but persistant as I noticed some more green where the squirrel had eaten (will cage today before its second course).

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Squirrel has discovered the golden Hawaiian, shredding the new culm I thought safe as it had already been growing for months...

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So it's war...

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Here's one mentioned above that squirrel munched just as it started sprouting. I noticed some green on it a few days after I thought it destroyed so it is caged now to give it a fighting chance...

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Here squirrel squirrel squirrel...

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@ new2zone9a, it almost looks like my B. emeiensis viridiflavus, but without the yellow stripes.