I think it is tuldoides. I have both plants and your culms look like they zigzag slightly which is a characteristic of tuldoides. The limbs to the ground also is tuldoides. My three textilis varieties don't tend to limb all the way down. Both varieties have a white bloom at the internodes textilis having maybe a little more. Rich

Textilis shoots look more fuzzy (if my memory is correct).

I am also leaning toward tuldoides. I will take photos of my tuldoides and textilis when they shoot this Summer and make a comparison and let you know if either is similar to the ones in your photos.

Kt

The photo must be mis-leading, maybe the sheaths give an illusion, but there isn't any zig-zag.

ok, I see your point on the last year's thin culms aren't very straight (I also tried last season the suggestion to string the new culms together to reduce the lean angle which probably introduced some lower angles, but the new, bigger culms are very straight.

unautre,

Note the culm sheath blades in your pictures. B. textilis sheath blades are longer. Also, where the blade attaches to the culm sheath proper, near the auricles on each side, B. tuldoides has a distinctive flap, almost like little ears sticking out. I see several of those in your pictures. The link below show B. textilis culm sheath blades on a culms in Winnsboro, TX .

Other factors are still present: lower branch buds even as the culms get larger and taller, culm wall thickness which makes B. tuldoides have much stronger culms.

B. tuldoides and B. textilis look more alike than they do different. It's just the slight differences that make one B. tuldoides and the other B. textilis. There's nothing wrong with it being B. tuldoides, other than the fact that you bought it as B. textilis.

Roy in Tampa

Here is a link that might be useful: B. textilis sheath blades

One big difference between my Textilis and my Tuldoides is the clumping habit of each. Textilis is a very very tight clumper, whereas Tuldoides is very open.

Other differences are: The Tuldoides culms do not get quite as large as the Textilis culms.

Textilis gets white bloom all along the internodes, the Tuldoides does not.

Once mature, Textilis has no lower branches, Tuldoides has some lower branching.

Textilis is thick, with dense foliage, Tuldoides grows more open/thinner foliage.

Textilis has thin-walled culms, Tuldoides has thick-walled culms.

Textilis is more cold hardy than Tuldoides.

Comments? I'm always wondering if I have some misidentified bamboos, although purchased from well-known bamboo nurseries.

UnAutre, what kind of bamboo is in those smaller pots, in the right of the first photo? Thanks.

Kt

"what kind of bamboo is in those smaller pots"

those are my B. tuldoides "air layering" propgation pots.

You can see in the 2nd photo the cut/bent-over culm that then runs through all the pots. Each pot has node. The "culms" coming out of the pots are really branches of the nodes of the horizontal culm. The half-sectioned culm is still attached to the ground and is still alive.

I did this several months ago to see if I could get some more plants, and haven't disturbed the pots to see if they have roots.

Guru Roy Rogers is skeptical, and so am I, in retrospect.

1) I used a culm that was less that one year old. I should have used one 2 or more years old.

2) I should have notched the culms at each node, but I left them intact. I think its from the notches that the roots may eventually appear. I was thinking originally the roots would appear from the node, sort like a branching that turns into a roots

3) with the culms notched, I would have filled the clum near the notch with rooting powder (picked up that trick somewhere else).

NNow that I've got another season's culms, I figure I will propagate by dividing the rhizomes rather than by air-layering. I'm not sure when this B. textilis will be available for dividing. But I REALLY like tuldoides (fast, pretty, strong), and by similarity, textilis.

B. chungii is my next acquisition. Saw a young clump at Quail Gardens/San Diego, very pretty, very vertical vs the textilis/tuldoides.

I did something similar.i took a single node,removed some
of the branches and leaves,sprinkled a little gardenville
"rocket fuel",placed it in the soil and hoped for the best.i'm talking about b.tuldoides ventricosa if that makes a differance.am i wasting my time?
rob

UnAutre, I hope they survive for you. Who knows, you might get some new plants.

I took several divisions from my Textilis last year. Each was a one-culm division and the culms were all around two inches thick. I had posted a picture of some of the divisions, along with the tools used, back when I took the divisions. Textilis is a very prolific shooter, unlike Chungii, with only four culms over the past two years.

I have a waiting list for divisions of Chungii, and it may be a while before I can divide mine unless it speeds up it's shoot production. Yes, Chungii is very vertical growing, like Oldhamii, but unlike Textilis and Tuldoides which lean outward a bit.

What works with my Textilis is, I tie a rope or strong string around the culms when they are young, cinch it up tight, and keep it there until they harden off. This keeps the plant more upright.

Kt

Boy, the differences between Tuldoides and Textillis that I find important have not even been mentioned. Even my small (less than 1" diameter) Textillis culms are 18" to 2' between nodes while the Tuldoides are much closer. I was also surprised that Kentuck mentioned tieing their Textillis together to keep it from spreading/weeping. That, to me, is the biggest difference between the 2. My Textillis is absolutely vertical from where it emerges from the ground until it tops out. There is no leaning, drooping or flopping even at the top. Straight up in the summer/Fall and branch out completely the following year. The Tuldoides on the other hand is worse than a weeping willow. It grows up, over and back down with most tops touching the ground in a heavy rain. They may both have 30'-50' culms, but one is perfectly vertical and the other is a complete upside down U shape. Or at least it slants from the ground out to the side some and then it cannot support the weight of such a long culm so it leans to the ground. A mature clump of Textillis might be 10' across at the base and 15'-20' at the crown, but the Tuldoides would be 10' across at the base and given enough room and sunshine it will weep in 360 degrees and cover a full circle 40'-50' (or more) across of shaded landscape.

Anyway that has been my exerience with the two varieties here in Houston. I see Punting Pole and Oldhamii and Textillis pretty similar in their verticality, but all 3 are very different from Tuldoides which takes up a tremendous amount of space.

I thought that the common name for the B. tuldoides is Punting Pole... hmm

Yes, Punting Pole is the same as B. tuldoides.

Textilis grows in a nice vase shape, a bit more vertical than many other Bambusas including the multiplexes. Tuldoides grows upright also, maybe a bit more vertical than textilis, and the culms are more rigid keeping it from leaning outward much. It is an open clumper here.

Oldhamii and beecheyana are the only two completely vertical Bambusas that I know of...all others will lean outward somewhat.

Selby, I dom't think you have textilis from your description. A photo would be hekpful.

Here is a pic of one of my Textilis clumps. It is about 30 feet tall.

Click on the picture for a larger size.

{{gwi:414733}}

About 5 feet above the 4-foot high wire mesh around the clump, is a cinch rope to keep some of the culms from leaning outward.

Kt

I love that photo. =)

Also, I keep wondering how Kt can grow Bambusa in Kentucky, but then I realize he's in TX.

hi I am new to the forum. I planted what is supposed to be B. Tuldoides. It sounds like the above descriptions. my plant is 1.5 years old and growing very well here in south Texas My question is will it ever straighten up? I wanted super straight solid culms. The Tuldoides has just a small hollow. Can anyone help with a variety that is super straight with solid culms/internodes