Bamboo - 2011

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

This was a tough winter on the bamboo, lots of leaves turned yellow, overall though they survived.

I'm still not sure exactly what type of bamboo i have. I think the small trees are Canebreak bamboo (the only native bamboo to the US) and the larger ones are Yellow Grove bamboo I'm only guessing from pictures i've seen. The Canebreak bamboo i got in Kentucky and the Yellow Grove i got in West Virginia.

I also have Moso bamboo that i grew from seeds i ordered online. After reading about the different types i've learned that as long as the roots stay above -10 degrees Fahrenheit they should still be alive in the spring.
In the summer i piled lots of grass over the root area and in the winter i made sure to pile lots of snow around the base of the trees to help insulate them.
Here's the shoots this year from the little Moso bamboo. This plant is only 1 year old and probably will never be very big. Down in Florida it could be 40 feet high and 6" in diameter. But here in Michigan it will never grow that size because of the cold winters.

I was happy with how well the Yellow Grove bamboo grew in 2010. I was really excited this year because of all of the roots i saw growing last year. This picture was taken early in the summer 2010.

Around Easter i noticed the new shoots coming up. Over 30 shoots from this one cluster of trees.

This is one of the bigger shoots, maybe 1/2" in diameter.

These pictures were taken over no more than 10 days. You can see the shoots on the left. They will grow sometimes over 8" on really warm days.

One day i was outside and saw ants chewing on the bamboo. I sprayed some insecticide but this is what they looked like the next day.
Because of the heavy rains and ants, not every emerging shoot fully grew to trees but overall this has been the best year for the bamboo.

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Bamboo 2

Thursday, 11 February 2010

The bamboo i transported from Kentucky and West Virginia last year is still going strong, even in the winter. I was worried that the reason it doesn't grow here in Michigan is that it's too cold. But so far they have been doing just fine. The roots are really starting to spread and by next summer i still expect my back yard to look like a Vietnamese jungle.

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Fire and Ice

Saturday, 30 January 2010

The Rochester Fire and Ice Festival. This was the 2nd year going, both times were freezing cold. It's ice sculptures on Rochester road then they shoot off fireworks. It was great.

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2,600 miles on a Honda - part 3

Thursday, 3 December 2009

I stayed in Amarillo the night before so i only had 30 miles to ride to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. My plan was to get there early enough to go hiking, then camp in the canyon, which it turns out is the 2nd largest in the US after the Grand Canyon.
When i got there i still wasn't 100% sure if i wanted to camp out in 25 degree nights but after talking to some people standing by their tents who said it wasn't too bad if you have a good sleeping bag. So i went back to the main office and got a camp site to stay for the night. Long story short, they gave me a duplicate number as someone else, i had to move once for this old married couple, who were a bit snobby and almost had to move again for someone else but the park ranger straightened it all out.

I was so proud of myself at my first camp site. Finally using the knowledge from all those times watching Survivorman i made a soft insulated grass mat under my tent to sleep on.

I was so proud of my first camp site

After setting everything up i went hiking in the park to look for the Lighthouse Rock, which is what Palo Duro Canyon is known for. I took a shortcut, then left the trail to climb one of the fairly steep mountains to get a better view of where i was going. I kinda got lost but i'm glad i did. I had an awesome view and saw things i never would have seen, like big horn sheep. At least i think they were big horn sheep. They were at the top of the mountain, heard me and took off, down a rocky face that would have taken me 30 minutes to get down. They were a half mile away in about 20 seconds.


So after a few hours i finally got off the mountain and back to my camp site. That's when i had to deal with moving my tent for those people. It was a pain but i made an even better mat to sleep on and then started boiling water for dinner. Around that time is when the second family showed up and wanted me to move again. Luckily i didn't have to.

During the day the weather was great. It got up to around 75 degrees. But at night it dropped to around 25. I thought i would be the only one dumb enough to be camping out but a lot of people showed up. It was a cold night and i did hear some coyotes howling around midnight.

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