nonyaz-
Your bamboo looks perfectly normal...for a juvenile bamboo. When you start with a bamboo this small, it will take a number of years for it to start putting out culms the size you want. I would estimate at least 5 years before you start getting reasonable-size culms, and even longer for them to get as large as they can. The only way around that is to start with a larger plant. An additional difficulty you will have is your climate Zone. While Ph. atro is pretty hardy as bamboos go, Zone 5 is definitely a challenge to bamboo-growing: the plant may lose all of its leaves every winter, and possibly the culms as well. You will want to make sure you put a good layer of mulch at the base to better protect the roots in the winter.

One thing you need to understand is that any growth that comes up reaches its full size in a couple of months and will never get any taller; it's not like a tree or bush where the branches keep growing. As it gets established, it will put up bigger culms each year until it reaches it's maximum size. Also, if you start pruning away leaves and small culms, you will be removing leaf mass that contributes to growth of the root system. It's doing what it needs to do, so leave it alone to grow. The only positive things to do from now on are to keep it watered when it's hot and dry, to give it regular fertilizer in the spring, and some non-nitrogen fertilizer (like 0-10-10) in the fall. As for your damaged leaves, I'm not sure that that's insect damage; it might just be some minor physical damage that occurred to the leaves in the past.

I'm not trying to discourage you...just trying to give you a realistic view of what to expect in your situation.

When you say it dosent keep growing, does that apply year after year too? For example if I had a 4 foot culm come up one year, next year will it stay the same size? What will happen to it in a few years time, just die off? I read somewhere that it does growth spurts twice a year, is that true? If so when in the season do those occure?

Typically you will get bigger culms coming up each year in the spring, but they go through their full growth spurt in about two months, so if you have a culm that comes up in April, it will probably reach its height in May-June. After that it will never get taller or bigger in diameter. The next year you will have some more culms in spring and they will typically be bigger than the previous year's culms. This will go on until the bamboo reaches its maturity and puts out culms at its maximun height. This maximum height will vary from Zone to Zone. Under ideal conditions, Ph. atrovaginata can get as high as 35', but it will never do that in your Zone.

Do previous year culms still produce leaves year after year, or do they die off? Will a old culm ever make new branches if old ones break?

Lets talk about winter. So from your first post I assume bamboo is not supposed to loose its leaves in the winter, does that mean it is still trying to grow, or is it dormant? If it grows full hight in one shot, can it mowed down to the ground every winter? Or will it need those previous year culms in the spring?

I was planning on burying my plant in leaves for the winter, but if it keeps its leaves, I assume it still needs light during the winter, and my leave blanket idea will smother it out. If it is not dormant in the winter, does it still need water? Am I going to have to dig it out of the snow and and water it?

I live in a temperate area (Zone 8), and the bamboo retain their leaves all winter; they also occasionally will replace some leaves in the spring and summer. An individual culm will live about 7-8 years, and that culm won't grow or put out new branches after it first shoots up; it basically looks the same from year-to-year until it dies. In the winter the bamboo is fairly dormant, although there may be some rhizome growth below ground. In the spring or early summer it will put up the shoots that it's going to put up that year. Rarely there may be some additional shooting later in the year.

In your situation, it will be cold enough that you will have leaf loss and the culms may die back to the ground. If the cold doesn't kill the rhizomes, the plant will shoot in the spring and put up some bigger culms each subsequent year. The problem is that you may end up losing most or all of your culms each winter. If there are some culms that survive, they should re-leaf from the existing branches in the spring/summer. They won't grow new branches, so, if you cut off branches or they're broken off, that's that. You won't be watering in winter, because that will just be exposing the roots to more frozen water. Mulching the ground several inches deep is you best bet. You could also try enclosing the bamboo in a plastic teepee, but this won't be practical if the bamboo starts to size-up in several years.

Thanks kudzu, I'm really learning allot here. So what are the light requirements of bamboo in the winter? Does it need light at all? It would be really easy for me to make a chicken wire circle around my plant and fill it with leaves, but if needs light then I will have to do something like you said with the teepee.

I would be reluctant to cut off light...maybe if it lost all of its leaves first. But you're getting into unknown territory for me there as I've never had to deal with your weather issues. Good luck. Maybe you'll get some tips from someone here who deals with harsher climates.

I planted a P nigra a few years back and, in order to give it as much of a headstart as possible, covered the plant during the coldest weeks of its first winter. I had a stake, maybe 3-ft-high and taller than the plant, driven into the ground next to the root ball, and I put an old bed sheet over it, spread out to trap as much air as possible, weighted down at the edges with bricks. This was in addition to about eight inches of dead leaves under and around the plant.

Since cold damage is usually due to desiccation, I reckoned this would at least break the wind. During the coldest periods, I put a thick plastic tarp over the sheet and weighted that down, removing it when the cold snap had passed. As the temperatures warmed, I removed the sheet and had little if any damage.

I suspect the old sheet allowed enough light, while providing at least some protection. Damage isn't necessarily due to the cold as such, rather results from the plant being frozen and unable to replace the water that wind removes. Of course, if the temps are low enough, then even that won't help.

This is also my first year of growing bamboo in Upstate New York. I'm growing P Vivax, P Edulus, and P Aerosulcata. I am completely new to this forum. From my experience so far, the bamboos should do fine with no extra care in the winter. I know other people who grow it here, and most bamboos will leaf burn, but the culms won't die.