Lucky Bamboo Plant Growing Instructions

From LoveToKnow Feng-Shui

Lucky bamboo plant growing instructions are easy to follow and will help you enjoy your plant for a long time.

Lucky bamboo grows in water or soil.

Not Really Bamboo

This plant is a feng shui symbol of great strength and fortitude. Lucky bamboo is a misnomer for this variety of dracaenas and is why it doesn’t grow like typical bamboo.

Once growers harvest the stalk of the plant in order to put them in arrangements, it stops growing. The sprouts or leaves, however continue to grow. Being part of the dracaenas family means this plant does best in dim or diffused light, making it a versatile office or house plant.

How Lucky Bamboo Is Harvested

Growers harvest Lucky bamboo from boggy wetlands found in China, Thailand and other western countries. When harvesting, they cut the cane in short lengths just above the ring (area where the leaves or shoots sprout).

Once cut, the farmer applies wax over the severed area to prevent disease such as fungus and mildew. Healthy green sprouts eventually grow through the wax barrier. Next, they apply a rooting hormone to the opposite end of the stalk. This hormone encourages the cane to develop roots. Farmers then place the stalk in a container of filtered or spring water which will be changed out weekly to prevent disease.

Great care must be taken when cutting stalk lengths. Once the stalk is cut, it’ll never grow beyond the harvested size. Green sprouts are what give shape and height to arrangements.

How Growers Sell Lucky Bamboo

As soon as the newly rooted stalks are ready, the grower sells them in bulk to suppliers and floral shops. They sell the bare-rooted stalks, wrapped in dampened peat moss or some form of polymer gel. The wrapping helps the roots retain water during the shipping process.

Lucky Bamboo Plant Growing Instructions

It may seem that this plant can grow on its own and some have thrived for years neglected in water. There are a few things you can do to ensure your plant remains healthy.

How Healthy Lucky Bamboo Appears

Before you begin working with your plant make sure you have purchased a healthy one. There are three things you need to look for to determine the health of your plant.

Healthy Plants:

Red roots - A healthy plant has varying hues of red roots.
- If your plant has brown or black roots, you need to cut these off so healthy new ones can replace them.
Healthy vibrant green sprouts.
- Yellow leaves are an indication of either too much water or too much sunlight. The remedy is to place your plant in very dim light and not water it for a couple of weeks. **Brown leaves are an indication of toxins. Spritz with water every other day until the color is corrected.

Watering

You need to be sure any water you use whether as a growing medium or simply watering is filtered water. Lucky bamboo doesn’t do well when fed modern tap water that is treated with chemicals. If you don’t use a water filter, then purchase distilled, spring or drinking water. For a container that’s water-based, you need to change the water every week.

A soil-based container needs to have moist soil. Be careful not to waterlog your plant. While this kind of plant can live in water, if it’s in a soil container, then the bamboo has been conditioned to a soil environment. Changing it to water could be a shock to the plant’s system and kill it.

Temperature and Good Health

Like most tropical plants, lucky bamboo does best when grown in an environment with a fairly constant temperature. The range of temperature tolerance is between sixty-five to ninety degrees Fahrenheit.

Feeding Your Plant

A water-grown plant is fed differently than a soil-grown plant. Your plant only requires nutrients every two months. Soil-based plants can use a full-strength high-nitrogen, liquid fertilizer. One drop is all you need. Dilute the same amount before applying to a water-based plant. You can opt for a special fertilizer created just for this kind of plant. Another option is a standard houseplant fertilizer or simply use ordinary aquarium plant food.

Keeping Up Appearances

You’ll need to trim your bamboo whenever the leaves age and die. If you purchased one of the basket-weave designs or a curled stalk plant, you’ll need to pay attention to the lighting source since light is the main tool used to train plants to grow into such amazing shapes and patterns.

Changing Shapes

If you wish to change the pattern or design of your plant and prefer a bushy plant, simply clip new offshoots at the first joint near the main stalk. This encourages more sprouts to emerge from the trimmed one.

If you don’t want more sprouts apply wax over the end you cut. This prevents oxygen and nutrients from feeding the cut sprout.

Sprouts Growing Too Tall

Sometimes water-based plants begin to grow too fast and too large. Transplanting the stalk into a soil container to slows down its growth rate.

Rooting Offshoots

You can increase your collection of lucky bamboo by taking any trimmings and applying a rooting hormone before placing in clean water. Once your offshoot develops roots, place it in a permanent container of either soil or water.

How Did They Do That?

You may have wondered how curled or woven arrangements are created. It’s a long tedious process that controls the direction and amount of light the plant receives while being rotated. This kind of arrangement is more expensive since it’s such a labor-intensive process.