posted
I was wondering if anyone could help me with a problem. I recently purchased a lucky bamboo plant, the kind with a bunch of short stalks stacked together in the same pot. I've been keeping it with lots of filtered water (not tapwater) and in indirect light. It's grown new leaves but now a couple of the stalks are getting a bunch of little black spots on them, and the one which had the most, one of the short stalks, went yellow and mushy and the leaves died.
Does anyone know what's wrong with my plant? Is there anything I can do to cure it?
From: Canada | Registered: Apr 2004
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Sorry to hear about your troubles; I own 2 of those Lucky "Bamboo" plants that are sold just about everywhere these days, and I hope I'll be able to help you a bit.
- First, they are not true bamboo, but a specie of Dracaena. As such they can live in water, but there's also no problem putting them into soil like any other plant. In fact mine started growing a lot more once they had been planted in soil.
- The second thing is that those things are extremely popular right now, and every store seems to be jumping on the bamboo bandwagon. I have seen plenty of stalks that were less than healthy, and even a few of those fancy arrangements where half the stalks were obviously dead.
The care you're giving your plant seems fine. What I would suggest is to simply remove the diseased stalks so that they won't pollute the water and harm the rest of the plant. Then you can take a look at the root system, and decide if you want to keep on growing it in water, or plant it in soil.
Good luck with your bamboo !
From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada | Registered: Jan 2004
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i second what crabby said, but... i would just go ahead and put the rest of the plant in good potting soil it will thank you by being a happier, healthier plant.
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From: Effingham County, GA USA Z 8b | Registered: Aug 2002
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I've been growing mine in the same small pot and in just water. Since I moved 7 months ago and the plant got a new window to live in it has been growing like a weed! I'm afraid to change mine over to soil. My question is how do I know if I need to transplant it into a bigger pot?
From: New Jersey | Registered: Aug 2003
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If you asked me I would have said the roots were really crowded a year ago. But then again what do I know, I'm the one with the black thumb slowly turning green. If the roots were to crowded then it wouldn't be growing so well would it? My Janet Craig Compacta just stopped growing and when I checked the bottom of the pot the roots were growing out of the bottom. I'm hoping now it will start to grow again and just as rapidly since I repotted it.
From: New Jersey | Registered: Aug 2003
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well, the idea is to catch it before it stops growing. but basically with plants in water, when there is almost no room for water because of the roots. or you can trim the roots (something i am not fond of). but you are right about your janet craig, it will take off as soon as the roots figure out there is room to grow.
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From: Effingham County, GA USA Z 8b | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
My bamboo just kinda stopped growing. Its weird, cuz every other plant i acquire tends to double in size before it stops doing stuff *shrugs* What it has done though, is the leaves on it have gone from pointing straight up, to opening up, kinda like a flower or something. But its still alive, and the root system seems to be growing fine. I put some blue fish sand in the water to decorate it ^.^ But i think the reason its leaves are spreading out is a lack of light. or something like that. I donno lol. It still looks healthy ^.^
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If the roots were to crowded then it wouldn't be growing so well would it? 
