As Nike says, Just Watch It

You could cut it down to the ground cuz it's likely not to amount to anything. On the other hand, it's not gonna hurt anything either and it's perfectly natural. No big deal either way.

Be proud. But seriously Meat, I have a nigra rhizome that did that. I cut it approximately in half, leaving some branches and leaves to transfer energy to root growth. Next year just before spring, I'll cut it to the ground, to encourage new culm growth. Don't know if this is the official ABS way to handle a hermaphrodite growth, but it's the solution I came to ...

Seattleboo-
I'm not sure that cutting bamboo back encourages any more growth than leaving it alone. In fact, I think it interferes with the growth process. I prune lots of plants back to encourage growth or to shape them...but not my bamboo.

I dug up a shoot about that size just before a 5*F night and it is now growing indoors. The shoot has grown another foot already. I dug it as carefully as I could and potted it up along with its roots and a foot or so of rhizome.

well now i have about 6 or 7 on various boo shooting straight up along with about the same number of new culms shooting up

The ones that are still rhizomes and haven't yet morphed into whipshoots could be pinned back down to the ground and buried so that they'll be protected over winter.

Newbie here! Please explain, I'm not understanding why this would be a problem.

Thanks

Thuja,
I had one that started up and I buried it. It grew another foot and then came back up again. I just cut it off since it would not have time to grow before the "frozen hell" moves in.

Patris,
If a rhizome develops into a whipshoot, and there is not enough time for the culm to grow before cold weather hits, then some just cut it off in hopes that the plant will use the energy elsewhere, rather than put its efforts into a shoot that will abort once it freezes. Don't know if anyone really knows what is more beneficial. Hope that made sense....

Rick

Thanks Rick

oddly enough it has gotten to 24 degrees o r so 3 or 4 times yet the thing still grows.