I think it is easier to identify your visitor from the other side of the country than your bamboo. My guess is his first name is Steve.

Now that you are amazed I will say that it is better to move the bamboo in early spring before it shoots. For me the Fargesias slow down their growth in the fall and it is more likely to be damaged by water, rotting the roots.

To identify your plant, does it look like the photos of F. robusta on the attached link?

Bill

Here is a link that might be useful: F. robusta Photos

Plants seen here large-parted ("robust"), including leaves, and not like fountain bamboo. One I planted in Island County, WA, above a pond on clay-like soil developed rapidly.

I moved a F.Robusta in early spring of this year. The shoots were 1-6 inches tall. It did fine, the shoots grew out and matured. I'm guessing the growth was stunted a bit temporarily, but that's normal with transplanting.

Anything impacting roots is likely to affect tops. Roots are the command center, the main area. Even a tall tree can grow back from the roots if cut down. But the cut top dies, even if inserted into the ground.

Just to update this old thread, a couple of culms died on the transplanted section and the remainder of the culms look a bit stressed and lost a lot of leaves over the winter compared to the ones I left in place but maybe because of the mild winter (lowest all winter was about 17 degrees), the remaining culms are all still alive and a couple of new shoots are already poking out of the soil! The half of the clump that I didn't move looks better, and has several shoots just beginning to emerge. I've always been surprised by how early this species shoots.