Herself's Houseplants

paperwhites

I noticed this about a year ago and I really liked the effect. Instead of staking your orchid flowers with bamboo sticks many were using twigs and branches they had cut from trees. The twig blends into the flower much better and it all looks more natural.

Sticks can be dollar stretchers

Golden Hawaiian bamboo

I have this dining room – living room – front entry way that all connect and have 18′ ceilings. I’ve been trying to figure out what to plant in the entry way that would not get totally lost and decided to try bamboo.

This plant is a new acquisition, so I may re-write some information here over time. Right now I’m relying on book and internet sources.

I chose this bamboo because it was cheap. My experience has been that when plants are cheap it is because they are easy to grow and fast growing. So I hoped that would mean it would adapt to indoor living easily. Many bamboo sellers say it will do well potted indoors.

I should also have checked light conditions. This bamboo likes lots of light so may not do well inside. If you have not yet chosen a bamboo for indoors pick one that is both cheap ( easy to grow and fast growing ) and shade loving.

Outdoors in the sun it will grow 55′ tall with 4″ culms. In a pot ( 25 gallon is the recommended size ) indoors it should max out at 15′ or so if it gets lots of sun. If it gets too tall you can just top it off.

This bamboo wants to be in a sunny window, and watered frequently. While you can not over water a bamboo, do not leave it sitting in water. It prefers acidic water so add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon of water for watering.

When you first bring bamboo home it will drop about half its leaves. Do not panic. This is normal.

Bamboo will want to be re-potted once a year or so. Otherwise should require little care.

As a general rule the larger the leaves are on a bamboo the less light it needs and the better it will do as an indoor plant.

In general bamboo drops its leaves when too wet indoors, and the leaves curl when too dry.

See also:
Choosing plants for decoration

I love this stuff. I just place it in a container, toss a couple of rocks at the bottom to keep the bamboo upright and keep the bottom couple of inches under water.

Indirect light is best. It doesn’t need to be near a window, and should not be in a south facing window.

Fertilizer rarely, every few months or so and use the fertilizer at half strength, if that.

If your leaves are turning yellow, either your plant is getting too much light or it doesn’t like your tap water. Try using bottled water occasionally.

Lucky bamboo is really not bamboo, but a member of the dracaena family.

If your lucky bamboo is not doing well in water, if the stalk is wrinkling and the leaves yellowing then take it out and plant it in regular house plant soil and a well draining pot. You can cover the soil with rocks to keep the oriental effect.

Another fix for wrinkled and yellowing lucky bamboo is to give it more light. I left one that was wrinkling and yellowing in the water but moved it next to a fluorescent table lamp and it is now thriving.

See also:
Dracaena

More information:
Plant’s rare bloom has scent of success for restaurant ( I didn’t even know they flowered. Now I’ll have to work on getting mine to flower. )