I'm not sure what you mean when you say it's "not growing." When bamboo put up culms, those culms reach their full, permanent height in a couple of months and will never increase in diameter...bamboo culms are not like trees. If you have had this plant in the ground for a couple of years and it's not producing more culms, then there may be a problem. As for leaf loss, it's common for bamboo to be dropping and replacing leaves. Again, this is only a problem if it's continually losing leaves and not replacing them.

Hi Kudzu,
Thank you for replying. I guess I wasn't clear.

I put the plants in the ground this past summer. They seemed to "thicken" out a bit after planting, and a few grew a couple of inches. We also had a lot of new culms. I understand that they don't keep growing from the top like trees, but it seems like they were growing (maybe they just weren't at full growth yet?) and then stopped. And then started shedding leaves. I guess I need to go look and see if the baby culms have grown any.

Silversword,
I had nigra.
It is normal. Your bamboo is fine.
It always sheds almost all of it's leaves this time of year and regrows all of them also.
It is fine.
Get ready for some real growth this year.

Thank you Butterfly!!! I've only grown bamboo in Hawaii and it doesn't do this!! It sheds leaves year round, but never loses the majority of them.

I really appreciate you taking the time to reassure me! :)

I just thought I'd update this... went out yesterday and have HUGE new culms!!! YAY!!!!!!!!

silversword-
Thanks for the update. I figured this would turn out right if you just kept giving it TLC. Looks like you're doing good!

Thanks Kudzu, for your moral support. I never had to "make/help" boo grow before, it always just grew like a weed in the rainforest I'm used to. Southern California is still throwing me for loops with the dry climate and the "seasons". I have to force myself not to pull the "dead" plants up... people keep saying they'll come back but it's hard for me to believe!!!

And these shoots are so healthy looking, and are nearly the same height (6-8') already as the mother plants. (the nursery chopped the tops to make it easy to transport)

Hopefully, hopefully, it will block out our back neighbor (a monster mc-mansion that looks right into our yard) by the end of the summer. I don't expect it to be too dense this year, but hopefully it will be enough coverage that I don't feel like I'm being stared at all the time.

YAY!!! Went out yesterday and there are at least 3 new shoots at the bottoms of each plant, and some that have grown over 4' taller than the originals...

So excited!!!

Congrats!
My black bamboo is starting to shoot, too!

Josh

AWright Josh!!! Mine is nearly as big around as a golf ball - so beautiful! And this is just the second year, so I'm excited for next year.

ALL of the culms aborted last year... I was so bummed out!

BUT. I went out last night and they're coming back with a vengeance. So I'm hoping for better luck this year.

Well thats pretty normal. When reaching fall, the green culms begin to develop brown mottling concentrated at the nodes, especially near the base. By Winter the entire culm is speckled with fine black spots, usually dense enough toward the base to be solid brownish black.