On the black, is there any signs of blackening at all? If not, then you may have Phy. nigra 'Henon', which is the true species and stays green. There's no reason that castor plant roots would discourage bamboo rhizomes or deflect them or anything. It may be that the rhizomes are just not going in that direction. It could also be that they *are* in that direction, but they just didn't shoot. Rhizomes typically don't shoot toward their ends. That means that if you have a shoot coming up 10 feet from the main grove, the rhizome probably extends 20 feet out.

I think you're right. I read through this lengthy post yesterday and a few people were talking about how the depth of most bamboo rhizomes/roots are between 4 and 12 inches deep... that would cause them to dry up quickly in our heat, strong sun and mostly sand here in South Florida. I need to spray every other day I think. Thanks. Joss

Matt, When I'm referring to cedar trees I am referring to Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) which is horribly invasive...if you let it spread, it will reseed vigorously and won't stop until it has covered every inch of bare ground. It is a huge water guzzler and here in our part of the state, the pastures that are full of cedar trees never produce hay or forage nearly as well as pastures where the cedar is kept out by the vigilant work of the landowner. There are many reasons to hate cedars. We had them all over our open land (most of our land is heavily wooded) when we purchased it, and we have spent that last 12 years removing it and trying to keep it from coming back on the 2 acres nearest the house. Diane already listed her reasons, and ours are pretty much the same. I don't even attempt to grow apples here because cedar apple rust is going to get them. It is inevitable when the acreage near you has anywhere from dozens to hundreds of cedars per acre. I don't think Diane mentioned ticks either. There are these little tiny ticks that sit on/in the cedar trees and jump onto you or drop down onto you everytime you're near a tree. You cannot get rid of the ticks until you get rid of the cedars. Since we got rid of the cedars, we almost never have a single tick anywhere around the house. Fire. For us, fire is a huge issue and cedar trees are immensely dangerous in fire situations. They burn like mad, and they literally explode sending their burning sap or resin or whatever you call it through the air. That burning sap or resin sticks to other trees, the ground, the walls and roofs of houses and barns, etc., and sets them on fire. If you're in an area prone to wildfires, cedars are a disaster waiting to happen. I've seen wind-driven cedar-fueled fires roll right over the top of a firefighting brushtruck with firefighters, including my DH, inside the truck. These fires can be almost unstoppable as long as there's more cedar and tall prairie grasses to fuel them. Generally, if there is any sort of wind over about 35-40 miles per hour, we cannot stop wind-driven cedar-fed fires except by starting carefully managed and strategically-placed backfires (not always possible in a high-wind situation) or by getting far enough ahead of the fire that you can plow/bulldoze a really wide firebreak. Let's not even mention the pollen. Our cars, porch railings, patio furniture, etc. have been coated in pollen for weeks, although the cedar here are through pollinating now. I'm allergic to cedar pollen so moving here probably was a mistake in terms of allergies. There's a famous ranch in Texas where the millionaire owner bought very dry, yucky, nonproductive land that everyone thought wasn't worth much. He then spent enormous amounts of time and money removing the cedar and other invasive non-natives. Guess what happened? Springs began oozing water, streams began running, ponds and lakes began to fill up with water. Without the junipers sucking up all the moisture, it became an entirely different place. People come from all over the country, and the world, to study what he did and how he did it. On the back part of our property, we have an area of cedar trees that are in excess of 50' or 60' in height. It probably starts about 600 or 700' west of our house and runs to the fence line. (A fenceline we've never actually seen since the cedar just covers it up.) Between their tendency to guzzle water (easily 30 gallons per tree per day, and larger trees guzzle more) and the heavy shade they provide, nothing much grows underneath them except maybe some poison ivy and greenbrier. By contrast, in areas where we don't have cedar trees, there is a beautiful healthy ecosystem growing in the shade of the broadleaf deciduous trees and that ecosystem consists of dozens of types of plants and supports all sorts of wildlife. That area occupied by the very large cedar trees mainly supports copperheads and ticks. There is a deer/coyote/wild pig trail that runs through there. If a tornado ever hits our property, I hope it hits the backwoods cedar area. The next time you drive up/down I-35 through the Davis/Turner Falls area, look at the hillsides. Many are covered in cedar. A few are not. Those few areas that are more cedar-free were burned in massive wildfires several years ago. The first was earlier in the 2000s....maybe 2003 or 04, and there were smaller ones in 2005, and maybe in 2006, 07 and 09 as well. Those fires burned for days and days despite the valiant efforts of firefighters from all over the state and country who fought them as hard as they possibly could. Cedar trees are taking over many parts of Oklahoma precisely because we don't let the lightning-fueled wildfires clear them out every few years. (We can't let that happen because too many people live in the midst of great numbers of cedar trees, and the trees often surround entire towns.) I found and linked an article from the Oklahoma that discusses the threat cedar poses to our state. By the way, some friends of ours have leased a ranch for several years that is covered in cedar. With leased land, it isn't cost-effective to remove the cedar because the land isn't yours. A few months ago I noticed they were clearing out some of their cedar trees (yea!) and I instantly knew they'd purchased the place. Now that it belongs to them, I expect they'll spend the next few years removing cedar. It is hard to remove cedar because, under normal conditions, when clearing land, you pile up the trees, let them dry and burn them. With the cedars, burning them as a means of disposal is inherently risky, and a landowner can be held legally liable for damage done to other folks' property if a brushpile rages out of control and turns into a wildfire. People still do it here, but they work a lot harder from the start to keep their pile of burning cedar contained, including plowing a large firebreak around each pile, having a water truck standing by, having a bulldozer or tractor standing by, burning only in low wind conditions, etc. So, you see, even removing it is very dangerous. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Cedar Trees In Oklahoma

Hard to get hold of: Bambusa forbesii-from the Bloomfield River north-but mainly Iron Range etc. Schizostachyum sp "Murray Island"- from an island in the northeastern Torres Strait. Bambusa moreheadiana- climbing one from the Wet Tropics Bambusa arnhemica- NT. All grow well in my garden near Murwillumbah- B. arnhemica goes a little yellow on the plants down the slope which is a little colder. I have massive changes in success rates depending on the distance planted from the cold air down the slope and the amount of exposure to full sun and cold wind. B. forbesii grows well and has massive leaves- All are clumpers. S. sp Murray Island forms tight compact clumps and is most attractive- they do amazingly well considering their equatorial habitat on an island!!!! I noticed that our dry wet season this year (only 300mm over the Jan-March period) made them look thirsty-but the cold doesnt worry them -we get down to 3 degrees everywinter-except this winter in which 3.8 has been the coldest-which is up on the norm. From Kris http://www.bambooworld.com.au/pages/contents.htm maybe able to help. I will have sufficient propagation material of both species soon.