TBS Meeting Minutes - Click on a Region to see the latest meeting minutes: Austin Houston Rio Grande ValleyBoard of Directors Meetings: (This is a pdf document. You will need Adobe Acrobat reader to view). Austin Saturday, January 15, 2005 Carole & Mark Meckes, Steve Sawyer, Kaylen Souvie, Charlie Garret, & Ryan & Shiriene Coover worked in the Taniguchi Oriental Garden cleaning out an area immediately to the south of the bamboo display beds. The Bambusa multiplex fernleafs received another good grooming and finally look nice, now thinned out and much of the scale having been removed. Dick Nelson joined us at 1pm, expressing various concerns about the Austin group. We chatted with several guests in the garden and answered questions. The next TBS ZBG meeting is Feb 19. Charlie Garret is the contact person, 512-264-0223 and plans are to work on the starcage revitalization. The 48th Annual Zilker Garden Festival is April 2-3, 2005. Vendor spaces are filling up, so if you want to reserve a good space, do it now. A reservation form can be found at http://zilkergarden.org. Advance tickets are for sale for $3 per ticket. ($5 at the gate). Please help to support the Austin Area Council Annual Fund Raiser by purchasing advance tickets or attending the fun festival. Call 512-929-9565 for tickets or contact Charlie 512-264-0223. Houston Jan 22, 2005 Location: Mercer Arboretum & Botanical Gardens Attendees: Linda Gay, Kinder Chambers, Mary Len Chambers, Steve Carter, Becky Carter, Allen Aleshire, Gracie Aleshire, Bob Clune, Carol Goetz, Bill Kimbrough, Mike McGrath, Bev McGrath, Barbara Carey, Quaug Phaiu, Bruce Dewalt, Tom Alford, Selby Clark, Charlie Garrett Steve Carter gave a talk on when and how to divide clumpers. If from the ground it is best if there are 3 culms. The dirt should be very loose and be able to be washed away, a mix of compost & sand works well. Wash away enough dirt to see where you want to separate and separate as many roots as possible while washing away the dirt. Don’t cut the roots if possible. When to divide - when small they will put out more culms, the bigger the culms the fewer the new shoots. Using a small / sharp narrow blade gently cut as close as you can to the parent without getting into it. Once severed, gently pull while washing away dirt, working it away slowly. One of the best blades for this is Milwaukee “The AX” 12”, also for a power saw the Sawzall doesn’t dull as fast and is cheap. To plant the culm divisions cut 1/3 down & 2/3 up from node. Put in pot at an angle, cut off most of the branches. Stabilize in a pot out of the sun. You don’t need to top if keep stable and out of sun & wind and water well and they need high humidity. If you can’t keep in full shade, you should top it or wrap the top for about the 1st month. One option is you can use heavy poly bag blown up and tied then attached to something, either string tied between poles or stake to hold it up. Keep them in the shade. Tools for dividing from large clumps were also discussed: Slammers, and the Peacemaker (can be ordered from Jim Phillips) work well. They have a rod inside a metal tub that works like a hammer and is very sharp. A good source for tools is also amleo.com – the website for A.M. Leonard in Piqua, Ohio. You can do 2 node cuttings also, laid flat with hole in center of 1 node filled with root stimulant or Root Tone F which has fungicide & root stimulant in it. You can’t do runners, only clumpers and the thicker walled the better. After Steve was finished there was a raffle for some Mexican Weeping Bamboo the lucky winners were: Bill Kimbrough, Becky Carter, Mike McGrath, Gracie Allen, Bruce Dewalt and Quaug Phaiu. Everybody then went out and Linda graciously allowed a piece of Bambusa pervariabilis viridistriata from the courtyard to be cut both as an example of how to and also to be used to make cutting from. Then everybody went to the potting shed for a hands on workshop in the propagation of clumpers from single node cuttings, where Steve Carter and Allen Alshire shared their knowledge and advice. Everybody ended up with at least one piece of that beautiful plant. Allen recommended cutting 3 fingers below the node and 6” above the node. Plant at a 45 degree angle and trim most of the branches, but leave one with leaves to face up. The top third of the plant works better than the bottom but can do with the all. Soak cuttings in a bucket with water and root stimulant for 20 to 30 minutes then into the pots. Heat and humidity are very important. Heavy sandy soil is good to keep the moisture in. After the workshop there was a short tour of the bamboo at Mercer to see how it had survived the cold and snow. February 26, 2005 Location: Mercer Arboretum & Botanical Gardens Attendees: Linda Gay, Kinder Chambers, Steve Carter, Bob Clune, Carol Goetz, Bruce & Marilyn DeWalt, Selby Clark, Tom Cotttongim, Rick Ryals, Pete & Sally Canovas, Jim & Judith Bussey, Jim & Christine Cavminati, Raj Natarajan, Wayne Dupont, Nadia Khan, Grady Mangume, Steve Otwell, Catherine Hanchett, Mike Burnett Secretary’s note: If I have spelled any names incorrectly, please accept my apologies. The list of attendees is taken from a copy of the sign-in sheet and unfortunately some names are difficult to make out. The February meeting of the TBS was a little different than usual, but also both informative and enjoyable. One order of business this month was to get out the newsletter and with the help of all the attendees, both regulars and newcomers, that was accomplished. While everybody was assisting in the folding and taping of newsletters, Raj Natarajan showed us several bamboo flutes that he made. He had burned one lightly to get a rich dark color and waxed it to keep it from cracking. He also had one from India with string wrapped in a pattern around the ends to keep it from cracking and explained that the moisture from playing could cause the cracking. The flutes were made from a thin walled bamboo with unusually long distances between nodes. He gave a brief demonstration on them – they sounded great. Steve Carter talked about needing plants for the festivals and that plants can be stored at Mercer until then, He brought some plants both for that reason and to show that even with winter damage they still do well. Plants should be labeled if possible, but if you don’t know what they are and nobody else can figure it out either, they can be sold as unidentified. Early March is a good time to start doing cuttings because the plants are about ready to start shooting. Kinder is going to be soliciting for the ABS Plant Sale. If you have any plants that are rare or unusual he would be more than happy to hear from you. The list will be posted on the website under “What’s Hot” and will then be added to the ABS newsletter. The plants don’t have to be rare, anything will be accepted and appreciated. Linda added that plant donations are also welcome at Mercer to be planted, traded or sold at March Mart. At this point an open question and answer session began with a good variety of topics discussed. The following is a recap of the lively discussion where everybody joined in. The soil in the pots that Steve brought came fro a local nursery down by Steve’s house, Pom Pom. They are getting if from somewhere on the south side of Houston. The dirt is heavier with humus, compost and sand so that it drains well but holds moisture. Cost is about $12 a yard. This is also a good place to get containers.If propagating from pots, can do all year round and the smaller the culms the more shoots you will get. What about pests? Main pests are fire ants and mealy bugs. Merit works well to treat and Bayer is supposed to have something better and that is easier to apply, although what it is we don’t know at this time. Also a little scale, especially if plants are from Florida, but it goes away on its own. Die off? Can have a whole group of runners flower, seed and die but not very often. Clumpers will do it occasionally but also not very often. They will flower and seed before dying, but they don’t usually just die. Fertilizer? 21-0-0 is good for in the ground plants, they will love it but it is not really necessary. Keeping moisture constant is more important. Texan Composted Peat is good to use. If you do fertilize, be careful – can burn out very easily. Don’t get heavy handed. What is the most important thing to know/do when planting bamboo? Make sure you think far enough in advance about where you plant!!! Also know the growing habits of what you are going to plant. Barrier? Some places to get: Horticulture Consultants or from Jim Phillips. 2 feet deep if at an angle but should be 2 -3 feet if straight down and have 4” above ground. If at an angle then when the bamboo hits the angle it goes up and over and can then be cut. Drought hardiness? For a runner, P. Fastiousa is very drought hardy and for a clumper B. Ventracosa does well. Bamboo like a lot of moisture but need to be well drained, runners don’t like “wet feet” while clumpers will tolerate it better. What about eating? Most shoots when still young are tender enough to eat, with the larger diameter ones being better and are best before they hit the sunlight and toughen up, but there is somebody down in Australia that grows the to about 5 feet before cutting to sell as food. Fire ant treatment – Texas Tee: The ants eat because it is sweet, but can’t digest so they die in 24 – 48 hours. To treat a small area for ants: fill gallon container half way with water then mix in 2 tablespoons of horticulture molasses. Finish filling gallon container with water and stir. The solution will look like ice tea. To drench a large area, mix ½ gallon of horticulture molasses with 4 ½ gallons of water. This makes 80 gallons when using a hose siphon. For filling ants of all kinds, drench the area thoroughly. This solution also provides a sugar boost to plants and activates beneficial organisms. Horticulture molasses can be purchased at feed & grain stores and some nurseries. There was no hands on garden time this month due to the rain and because the meeting was continued after a break to discuss the ABS conference in October. Rio Grande Valley January 15th, 2005 - The Rio Grande Valley region of the Texas Bamboo Society met at Dr. Romeo Montalvo's house. There were several new members that joined the group at Dr. Montalvo's house. J.T. Mayo, Jaime & Monica Arriaga, Dr. Roberto Robles, and Thad Magyar joined the growing group. All joined TBS. After introductions, Dr. Montalvo and Dr. Robles gave the group an update on the Brownsville Botanical Gardens. This is an exciting venture for Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley. In addition to the Botanical Gardens, the site will have an educational campus for impaired individuals. Allen Aleshire updated the group on TBS happenings. Allen also discussed a trip to Mayaguez, Puerto Rico April 22,23, 2005. A trip to Bamboo plantations near Veracruz, Mexico was also discussed with possible dates of June/July, 2005. Each member talked about how the recent freeze damaged tropical fruit trees and bamboo in the Rio Grande Valley. This discussion helped the group better understand what works and what doesn't. Each member was given membership information for the Rio Grande Valley. Everyone was in agreement that we want to continue the RGV region. Thad Magyar offered to host the next meeting. Dr. Montalvo and his wife Linda were wonderful hosts.  |