My B. tuldoides 'Ventricosa' BUDDHA'S BELLY sometimes does not belly unless under the right conditions, usually strained from lack of water over a period of time, but I find that strange for Wamin not to have 'bellies', since it produces the bulges no matter how much stress or water it gets.

My Wamin produces bellies whether the culms are small/thin or large/thick. It's possible that you got Buddhas Belly instead of Wamin.

I would give it till next shooting season and if it does not produce any then, I would think you have a different bamboo than Wamin.

How long are the internodes? Wamin usually has consistent short internodes, about 3 to 4 inches, where BB sometimes has longer internodes, over 8 to 10 inches.

Kt

Have a pic handy?

My Buddha-
{{gwi:398418}}

Wamin-
{{gwi:423902}}

Thanks KT and CJ for your help.

Yikes. My bamboo doesn't look anything like that. Yours is gorgeous! (I took a pic but can't figure out how to get it into this post.) The only similarity is that the culms do zig zag a very little bit.

My internodes are 6 inches.

I emailed the supplier, who said that their lumpies don't belly until several years in the ground. (They are on the Big Island of Hawaii and at 1900 feet elevation.) They said that at my elevation (around 1000 feet) it might belly quicker. They also said that it could get really tall (up to 30 feet) because I'm in a wetter area of my island.

Now I don't know what to do. I'd love to take Kt's advice and stick it in the ground and see what happens, but there's a big overhang in the area I wanted to plant it. If it gets too tall it will damage my house.

Hmmm....Maybe I'll have to think of another place to plant it.

I'll have to check the culms sheaths on my Wamin and make a comparison.

Wamin and Buddhas Belly look similar when culms are young, but not all BB culms will produce bellies, but all Wamin culms will make bellies, at least from my experience.

Kt

You can upload photos to photobucket.com... them copy the "tag" link it creates once file is uploaded... paste that tag link into your reply here... when you hit the preview...the pic should show up too :-)
Take care

hisun, aloha, i'm on oahu and although there is wamin here, i've yet to see a properly id'd one (except for some mite infested ones) for sale in a nursery. a few months back i stared and stared at a young one that looked wrong again but the other plants from that big island nursery were very robust, healthy and properly id'd. i took a chance on it thinking that perhaps being a juvenile explained the slight 'off' look but within a week it flowered, i knew that the ventricosa form was moderately flowering on the mainland so i really became convinced this one was not wamin. i contacted the nursery, they said they thought it was right but they'd get back to me. a couple of weeks later they emailed me that yep, it was indeed ventricosa and not the lumpy noodle. honest mistake, nice folks, but i still see their plants on-island mislabeled.

the wamin should be lumpy from the start and the new shoots should have hairy culm leaves wrapping them, no hair is likely ventricosa. i still am looking for the noodle on oahu...

Thanks for all the help. I think maybe I should keep this in a pot until I get a new shoot. It really would be a major pain to stick it the ground, have it get huge and then have to dig it up.

Inversa,do you know a nursery here that sells properly labeled wamin?

While we are on the subject, I have what I believe is Bambusa vulgaris 'Wamin striata'. Typical nodal swelling with darker green stripes. In addition, I do get occasional white striped varigated leaves. Is this seen in all the 'Wamin Striata'? Does anyone know if there are conditions that make the varigation on the leaves more stable instrad of just here & there?

In the early Spring, my D. Asper gets a few white striped leaves every year, but as the season progresses, they go away and don't grow any new ones, only 'normal' green leaves. Don't have an explanation.

I have seen this on a couple of my Bambusas, but it is more rare.

Kt