Hello, The first question to ask is "Is your bamboo a running bamboo, or a clumping bamboo?" If its a runner (leptomorph), it's very difficult and most times impossible to propagate from the cane, unless you're growing from tissue culture. If it's a clumping bambo, you might be in luck. There is only one clumping species of bamboo that I know of that could live in your zone. It's the Fargesia species and subspecies. I'm not sure of fargesia's culm propagation success rate is, but here's how I propagate mine. I cut part of the culm with 2-3 nodes intact. I like to use culms with buds that have not branched yet. I bury them in pot in a slightly off kilter vertical position leaving one bud just sticking out of the soil. Put it in the shade, or keep it in the house this time of year until spring. In one pot I usually put five cuttings in because with some species you may only have a twenty percent success rate, so it's a good chance you'll get at least one plant per pot. Also, any soil including sand will work, but the most important thing is that you not let the plants roots dry out for even one day. After a couple few months, you should have some leaves. You can then slowly introduce direct sunlight. Just shade the pot, but not the plant, because a potted plant does not have the same advantage of plants in the ground of staying cool. Now, having said all that, I sure hope your not talking about lucky bamboo. Here's a pic of the bamboo that I propagate from the culm and roots, and branches through air layering. These matured to five inches thick.

Read through the results of this google.com search and see if you can find the answer: Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Bamboo hydroponically

Misty,the culms are already getting the chalky look,you cant really tell by the pic sorry,they emerge chalky and can remain that way for a long time before fading to green with yellow stripes.I dont think bamboo is expensive when you consider the potential growth in relation to time.If you were to buy established trees you would be paying vastly more i'm sure.

I divide my larger Bambusas with an ax or one of those root cutting tools. I will find a culm that is a little more spaced, or distant from the others, and dig around it a few inches all the way around. Transplant immediately into a pot or in the ground, water well and keep it watered. In a few weeks to months, you will have new growth, depending on the time of the year you divide it and replant it. Oh, and on the taller bamboos, those that are over say 10 feet, I will cut them off about 3 to 4 foot above the ground, and don't worry if the culm has no limbs, it will still live. I do this with bamboo that is sometimes over 40 feet tall, and it does fine. Smaller clumpers, I will use the same root cutting tool and dig several culms and a good sized rootball and transplant. Try and not disturb the rootball, or the soil around the roots when dividing and transplanting, as this will help insure you get a live transplant.