Trimming bottom growth.
Trimming bottom growth.
Some of my large bamboos are now in excess of 25ft & with all the rain they are really bushy!! i only want the thick canes on show on the big ones, about 4ft up, when is the ideal time to slice off the lower side growth?. karl.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
many thanks. Jacko is there an particular tool you use to get a closer neater finish on the canes or is it cut as close as possible with pruners?. karl.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
First time I cleaned mine up Karl I used cable croppers and cut in tight, the finish you get by taking them off as they start to drop away from the cane though is a thousand times better so that's how I've done it since that first long pruning session.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
grub is right,i've done this a bit this year and the branches do come off cleanly.but otherwise any other time of year use sharp pruners and make as clean a cut as possible nearest to the culm.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
Grub, is there any chance of a pic of your cable croppers? it would take me an eternity to get a dead smooth finish on all the canes, so i want to do a fairly quick method. thanks karl.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
I was really concerned about opening this thread, but took the plunge anyway!
A good reminder for me though as I need to trim the bottom growth on my Nigra.
A good reminder for me though as I need to trim the bottom growth on my Nigra.
Most wanted list - Any Young Trachycarpus and/or fern.
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Re: Trimming bottom growth.
I'm refraining from doing any bottom trimming as I want the bamboos to bulk up. Removing leaves must reduce the energy transfered to the developing culms.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
thats why i do mine in feb or march when they are dormant,at least that way the branches i cut off will have been photosynthesizing during the previous autumn and winter.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
Again, this is another eason why rubbing them off when soft is the best option. If you don't allow them to develope and leaf up then the plant will be saving the energy that would have gone into thier production. The same goes for removing thin spindly culms. The earlier you remove them the more energy the plant will save.
Re: Trimming bottom growth.
Similar to these Karl http://www.screwfix.com/p/cable-cutters-254mm/47997 , they're dead sharp when new and cut right to the end of the blades.karl66 wrote:Grub, is there any chance of a pic of your cable croppers? it would take me an eternity to get a dead smooth finish on all the canes, so i want to do a fairly quick method. thanks karl.