See that small pot? That's all that remains. It never had any real feeder roots in the first place and quickly and substantially deteriorated within a few days. I started trimming the dead bits to relieve stress on it, and what would you know--the stalk that was doing the worst and that I had trimmed nearly to the ground started to put out new growth.

Just got the two big ones. They have nice feeder roots so we'll see how they do--they've been out of the ground for just a couple days. They're about 8', which is half their original height.

well, good luck

I'd like to get some real potting soil--nothing but clay here. Of course, if I do that, I can't claim to have spent $0 on this little endeavor so I'm seeing how long I can hold out on that.

Couldn't you just, I don't know, find a place with good soil and grab some? I can't imagine anyone* getting mad over a few bucketfuls of dirt unless they're using it.

* I can totally imagine someone getting mad about taking unused dirt, but not anyone that's reasonable most of the time

See that small pot? That's all that remains. It never had any real feeder roots in the first place and quickly and substantially deteriorated within a few days. I started trimming the dead bits to relieve stress on it, and what would you know--the stalk that was doing the worst and that I had trimmed nearly to the ground started to put out new growth.

Just got the two big ones. They have nice feeder roots so we'll see how they do--they've been out of the ground for just a couple days. They're about 8', which is half their original height.

I'd like to get some real potting soil--nothing but clay here. Of course, if I do that, I can't claim to have spent $0 on this little endeavor so I'm seeing how long I can hold out on that.

yes roots are important, but so is soil. Bamboo is a large plant, and it looks like you only had a pint of soil in the 'alpha' build.

Also, if you do end up with an infestation of pandas, that might solve the squirrel problem!

The pre-alpha was a completely uninformed, failed experiment that I don't want to discuss.

This was the alpha, has about 2" of roots that had extended over a parking lot. It is about 2 weeks old and has been dying a slow death:

It was also uninformed. Watching it die, I did some research and found out, hey, roots are important. So I went to gather a larger specimen that would have a greater chance of survival. I present, the beta: