Please help! Bamboo issues (i think...)

I'm trying to get our back garden looking half decent but i really don't know much about gardening. I can take care of plants when they come with instructions or finding out how to keep them alive if i know what they are. But none of the plants in our garden have a name tag (obviously) so i'm lost.

The plant in the attached image looks to me like clumping bamboo that's dying. Is there anything i can do to get it back into good health? It's mostly yellow, though there are some green parts. However some of the green shoots look like they're rotting or something, they've got black parts and it feels fairly soft in those areas.

Please help if you can, i'll take any advice i can get.
Thanks for your time..

 

Welcome Nee 354, one of our tropical experts will be along soon.

 

Hi, ad welcome to the Forum

Could you get a closer photo of the canes?

I agree with Loofa, it lookes like there is some sort of barrier in the ground. To me, it looks like a very congested Phyllostachus.
Dig around the the base and see if there is some sort of plastic lining.

What I would do it remove the barrier (if you don't mind it spreading a bit)
Thin out the culms (canes). Cut the older, tired ones looking down at the base.
Then mulch heavily with well rotted manure. At least a 2 inch layer.

The remaining, healthier culms should sprout leaves again in the spring.
And the new culms should look better too.
In the summer, have a look again at what is going on. If there is no improvement, it could be there is something else going on.

Defoliation of Bamboo happens for a number of reasons.
The main one being cold. Where in the country are you?
Any idea of your minimum temps this winter?

The other is poor growing/soil conditions which I think my above suggestion should help.

 

Nee

Actually, having another look, I am not convinced it is a bamboo.
Could be a sick Arundo.

Can you take a close up of the canes?
Is there still a leaf attached somewhere?
Could you get a shot of where it joins the the cane?

 

Thanks guys! That was a much quicker response than i was expecting.

I'll have a dig around tomorrow morning to see if there's a lining or barrier and get a close up of the canes. There are a couple of leaves but they're pretty dead. I'll try and get a picture of them tomorrow morning.

I don't know if it's visible in the picture but the top layer of our back garden is rocks and pebbles. We're only renting the place so i can't make huge changes but it's not the only plant that's dying and i'm sure the landlord would rather have healthy plants.

 

Nee,
The more I look at it, the less I think it is a bamboo, and more an Arundo.
If it was a bamboo, even defoliated, there should still be quite a few branches, particularly near the top.

Never grown Arundo, so not sure how best to deal with a specimen that looks like this. But if you say that it is growing on rubble, then it is probably suffering from nutrient defficiency, and the cold was the final straw.
A good thick mulch of manure will help.

If it was your own garden, I would suggest you pull it up and replace with a decent bamboo. There are plenty to chose from.

 

Hi Nee ,
Like Sirius I think it`s an arundo or a giant miscanthus and not a bamboo ...
and if so ...it`s actually doing really good and not bad as you think .
get some close up and also check the base for new shoots , as usually it the time of the year that it should be cut down to the base .

 

Thanks guys! That was a much quicker response than i was expecting.

That`s what makes G.C. so great, good advice and proper answers to your questions, we have our mad times, just read the threads from the last 2/3 months, but we all love our gardens, and share in the joy of a problem solved and the pleasure of a healthy plant.