Starting bamboo from seed where/how

Can anyone give advice on how to get some P. nigra growing? I bought a bunch of seeds on Etsy and did not get germination from any of them. Any ideas on where to get the seeds?

I didn't know bamboo had seeds I thought it spreads by rhizome. dig a sprout in the wet season and it will grow and spread.

Dj, did you have any luck?

I have been told that bamboo seed, like many grasses, needs to be quite fresh and well cared for to germinate. A friend of a friend started a variety of bamboo years ago successfully, but he was a succulent grower and those seeds are frequently also a challenge to get started, so I suspect he had a lot of experience with difficult seeds.

Interesting that you're interested in P. nigra. It recently has been blooming in North America. I am told that once it blooms, it dies, however, I have both a patch and a pup and so far, both are surviving. A friend also has some and hers wasn't nearly as cared for as mine was and yet it also has not succumbed so far.

A possible explanation for this, is that neither my friend, nor I could find *any* seeds in the seed casings. There were "blossoms" all over my plants for 2 years in a row, but I could not find any seeds. My friend is a biologist and she suggested that either the plants require cross pollination, or require an insect pollinator that isn't available on my Island. I admit I haven't researched this further.

It would be interesting to know how many people's P nigra plants survived the blooming. In their native land, the adult plants bloom and then die, and the seeds sprout at their base supported by the decomposition of the parent plants.