Hello ladies, long story short, I left my bamboo plant at work for about 3 months - hence, no water. A co-worker noticed right before I came back and started giving it Miracle Grow. I think that may not of helped. It is the cutest plant in my office and small sentimental reasons to keep it. Any advise?? A co-worker mentioned it may be root-bound and should break the vase to get it out. I will only do if my last option. Thank you!
I had a friend in a very similar situation who saved the plant by putting it in a bigger vase. I'd at least consider it. Her vase was broken accidently. Is there some way to get it out without breaking the vase so you could still keep both?
I love plants, my job at home is to spritz them; because I am a very inconsistant about taking care of them.
Consequently I have had a many rebounds and a few losses.
When you are taking care of a plant you should know what it is first of all- our lucky bamboo wasn't doing to well and after a little research, I found out that "lucky bamboo" isn't even bamboo at all, it's a plant native to Cameroon, in west Africa.
While bamboo likes relativly dry soil- what it was planted in, lucky bamboo likes to be in sand (lots of people use glass beads or polished rocks, we used fish tank sand) with water (fresh water)- the tag on the plant says to change the water weekly. Many people over-fertilize their houseplants because fertilizer is salts and salts are only good for plants at very low levels: potted plants, especially those in vases, never get to seep their extra nutrients out with extra water. The only water loss is evaporation, which will concentrate contaminants.
I would clean the roots with fresh water (I believe they recommend distilled) by pouring-out its water and putting dechlorinated (at the least) water in, let it sit for a few hours to a day, then repeat throughout a week, keep it in indirect sunlight and start changing the water once a week. If it's condition doesn't start to improve in 3wks-1mo you may be forced to take more extensive measures. The Asian stores also sell a lucky bamboo fertilizer called "green..." but I would stop the miracle grow.
Good luck to you and your little green friend:)
p.s. dechlorinate tap water by filling a jug that will have a large surface area and leaving it out overnight, I put hot water in to speed-up the process.
I would recommend that you try a ph balanced water. I personally have kangen water. This may sound stupid but I also have a bamboo plant which is very preciouse to me and I water this all the time with ph balanced water and it is lively and at one point before I was just using tap water (very bad) and then I brought it back to life. Just look up on the internet any type of ph balanced water and it will help, there are not so many toxins and poisons in this water it is very filtered.
B.,
I did some research for a friend of mine and I found that bamboo likes a little new water every few days aqnd completely new water every month or two. I think that you can avoid the Miracle Grow too. Also try to move it to a new location; sometimes they just need different sunlight. This same friend would bring her bamboo over to my office every 6 months if it was looking bad and it perked right up.
Best of luck:)
you might need to cut the roots back. Bamboo does not like water straight from the facet. I keep a old plastic milk carton with filtered water to use on the bamboo. A friend of mine suggested putting a nail in the water for the iron. I did not do that. Mine grow so fast and beautiful just with the filtered water and no fertilizer.
R.
My husband almost killed our Bamboo plant by fertilizing it. Remove all the water and replace with fresh. Do not fertilize! It does fine on water alone. I have three and they are all very healthy on just plain old tap water. Good luck.
