Cosmetic maintenance specific to Sacred Bali Bamboo (Schizostachyum brachycladum)
Sacred Bali Bamboo is a bit different from most other bamboos in that it flowers twice a year. This is a regular occurrence and does not predict any dire scenarios. However, we do recommend specific maintenance practices to keep the plants gorgeous and healthy.
Ok, they’re plants and are not going to follow the schedule exactly but pretty much here’s what they are going to do………..
Every year, twice a year, they will send up new shoots. Each particular cane has a life cycle.
The new shoots are bright lemon yellow, and will be free from flowers in their first and maybe into their second season. Sometime in their second year of life, these shoots will begin to show signs of flowering. This will look like small corn or rice tassels at the ends of the branches. You can cut these off or leave them, depending on whether you like the look.
Probably in the season following this, the same canes will start to exhibit more flowering – maybe from all the leaf ends. At this point we recommend cutting off as many flowering tips as is practical or removing the canes.
The next season, these same canes if not removed, will likely go into a more extreme flowering. The leaves will begin to look smaller, and more pointed, and might fall off. The canes start looking like they have more flowers than leaf. At this point we remove the canes from the ground level. This can be done with hand pruners, loppers or a small hand saw.
During this entire cycle, the plant will continue to produce new canes, so removing the older canes will just allow more room and fuel for the nice new bright yellow ones.
If the plant is allowed to try to produce great quantities of flowers on older canes it saps it’s good energy. It is trying to produce viable seed, which it cannot do, and the process takes so much energy from the plant that it is possible the plant could possibly die.
So do the plant a favor and remove some older canes once a year.
Aloha, and peace without bombs,
Susan and Peter, Quindembo Bamboo Nursery