Tags
house plant, indoor plant, lucky bamboo, lucky bamboo maintenance, lucky bamboo propagation, plants for vases
Lucky Green Thumb?
My friends seem to think I have an indoor green thumb and often enlist my help with their new plants. While on holiday I helped my sister with her overgrown “lucky bamboo” plant that she had potted in soil. That fall I helped a good friend with her “lucky bamboo” that had been weaved in a beautiful pattern, yet overgrew it’s twist-tie binding. Both needed some basic maintenance, so I decided to share my tips.
Lucky Bamboo isn’t really bamboo at all, although it can multiply like it. My lucky bamboo stays nestled in a vase (shallow, deep, wide, narrow, it just depends on your ideal arrangement) with small river rocks to support the roots and stems. I change the water once a week and make sure that the water level stay about 1 inch above the bottom of the plant. If I leave my lucky bamboo in the window during the summer, the plant gets too much heat through my large glass windows. I need to remember to bring the plants in just out of the sun during the scorching summer weather.
In Need of TLC
Maintenance
Once every few months, I empty the vase and scrub the vase and rocks with a small brush. I remove extra roots from the plant and thin out the leaves on top. I allow each stem to have one side shoot; if I need to cut off any extra side shoots (whether too large, wrong place, etc.) I seal the cut with melted wax to prevent infection or rot. I trim off any faded leaves from the shoot, making sure only green is revealed. Then I arrange the original stems back into the vase, make sure the roots are tucked under some rocks and fill with water.
Thinning Out The Roots
Propagation
Those shoots you just cut off will grow roots and continue growing if you place them in water. Once they reach a certain height, I top them off (and seal with wax) and way for them to grow their ow side shoots to achieve that “lucky bamboo” look.
New Shoots to Propagate
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