Hi Kentuck,

That is a great picture and a great location for a picture of a large bamboo. Hopefully you got plenty of rain at the beginning of this week. We got several inches and a lot of it ended up running off. I would have preferred less rain more often but I won't complain about any rain we get. My Bambusas that had started shooting earlier were also "on hold" and that rain has now got some of them moving again, albeit slowly.

I know in the past you have commented that sometimes a bamboo doesn't quite fit the description given. There were some comments on another site about "B. textilis" and lower branching, and that some of the "textilis" in TX isn't B. textilis but rather B. tuldoides. About how high does the branching start on your mature clump of B. textilis and the one in the picture?

Mike near Brenham TX

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

Howdy Mike. We got 1.3 inches of rain, but it did nothing for the pastures or my dry stock tank. Swiss Alp got 9.5 inches!

The mature culms, on the mature clump, start branching between 10 and 12 feet from the ground. The one in the picture has several branching at the first nodes and some of the younger culms branching about three feet from the ground. This years culms are still growing, and haven't all started branched out yet.

The mix-up could explain why some say they have a very tight clump whereas others state that theirs are open clumpers. My textilis is very tight and my tuldoides is open enough for me the squeeze through.

You mentioned in an earlier post that the Oldhamii at Zilker has no branches/leaves on the upper part of the culms, from cold weather. Mine have NO lower branches/leaves, and have a large "pom-pom" looking bush at the top of the culms...strange looking.

Thanks for the link of the discussion on textilis. I will finish reading it when I get through here.

Kt

Kt, that is a great shot. With nothing around it it's very easy to distinguish, so you can really get a feel for the shape and look of that particular specimen.

My yard is so small and planted so thick there's no way to get pictures of mine like that--you're lucky you've got so much space!

Hope the rain picks up.

pura vida

Thank, Skie_M.

I think two HPS and one MH will be more safe solution.