I coddled my F. nitida through 4 winters just to have it start flowering on me. I somehow believed that the stress of Eastern Ontario winters would put it right off reproduction...fat chance! I will give the seeds a try but does anyone know any mail order places selling larger (#3 or #5 containers) of new generation F. nitida?
I don't know about the new nitida's but there are a *lot* of people that would love to get their hands on some of those seeds so if you get a lot and harvest them at the right time and don't know what to do with them I'll gladly take some off your hands! :) All hope is not necessarily lost though, some make it through. I've seen so many different recommendations for how to save a flowering bamboo I hesitate to suggest any of them but you can find all manner of suggestions with a Google search on the subject and try one if you feel lucky.
Yup, been happening for several years now, I'm afraid. On the plus side, once you sow the seeds you're now getting, your grandkids aren't even likley to have to worry about it flowering again in their lifetimes, and probably not even your great-grandkids... ;-)
If you've got to replace your nitida, you might take the opportunity to try F. robusta -- it totally kicks *** here in Maine (zone 5). More vigorous, bigger and less finicky than nitida, in my experience, though the look is different: the leaves are paler green, and it tends to arch somewhat, though not as much as murielae.
Just so you know, there are bamboo sellers that have the new generation of Nitida from that same flowering raised and ready for sale. Those ones will not flower for many years on their own. (Unless you burn them or smoke them or stress them heavily in some way which some say induces flowering)
Good point -- and I'd say that by now most sellers are in this category. I bought a seedling nitida a couple of years ago from Bamboo Sourcery, and I think Burt Associates also sells them (and these are just two dealers I happen to buy from).