expect to lose a good third of new culms before they reach 3'

Thank you for your reply!
I went out of town for a few days, and upon my return found you were right... around a third are laying down...

Does anyone know how the zig zags form?

On mine it just grows that way, I spike it to prop it staight and hence the zig zag, I only had a few that did this. My first year I lost 1/3 of new shoots, this year I lost half, most of which was due to the HOA staining the back fence where all my boo is.. This year I overwatered and ferted and still had the aborted shoots so I dont think there is much that you can do about it..