Growing Black Bamboo

My order on Amazon

THE BASICS

• Black Bamboo Giant Timber Plant
• Brand: Old Oaks Garden and Nursery, LLC
• Cost: $69.00
• Item weight: 7 pounds

Instructions upon Plant Delivery

BAMBOO PLANT INSTRUCTIONS: FIRST THINGS FIRST!, WRITTEN BY SHERRY EDWARDS

• Your bamboo is thirsty. Please open quickly and provide water as soon as possible. If you are not going to plant right away, you can poke holes in the bag and soak in water for an hour or so and then let them drain. Do this every day until you plant.
• Your bamboo has been in total darkness for a few days. Due to this, some of the leaves may have yellowed. Do not be concerned; in fact, a few more leaves may yellow before the bamboo becomes acclimated to its new home. These leaves will drop in time and be replaced with the next growth spurt.

I ordered Black Bamboo (or red, or blue or yellow), but this bamboo is green, what gives?!!??

Most all colored (non-green) bamboo emerges green and then changes over the first few months of each cane/culms life to its characteristic coloring. Each bamboo has subtle ways of identifying itself to us and we can identify differing bamboo in their juvenile stage. Due to this, we seldom make a mistake and send you the wrong plant. So, yes, your green bamboo will turn black over the next few months.

If I could do one thing to help my bamboo live and grow into a large beautiful specimen, what would that be?

Enough water - water them often - overwatering is better than under watering. Did I tell you about watering enough???

Water deeply and often - daily or 2 to 3 times a week - whatever is required to keep the soil moist, remember overwatering is better than under watering. A short spray with the garden hose is not enough to help your bamboo establish quickly. Bamboo likes moisture so watch that the bamboo gets enough water, but don't let it stand in water. If you don't have an irrigation system, Lowe's Home Depot / Walmart have timers that you can place on your hose and adding a soaker hose to the end of the hose, that will take the worry out of ensuring your bamboo receives enough water the first year.

How do I know if I am watering enough?

• The first sign is if the leaves curl up in toward the center/top of the leaf stem, you need to water more or more often.
• A cane that has been cut will die back to the next lower node and this is natural if it dies back further, you need to water more or more often.
• If a cane that has not been cut dies back from the tip down, you need to water more or more often.
• If the leaves curl under, toward the bottom of the stem, you are watering too much (the exception to this rule is Dendrocalamus giganteus - Giant Bamboo = it is normal for this bamboo's leaves to curl under slightly).

Is there something that I simply should NOT do?

Bamboo becomes pot bound very quickly and as these are larger plants in small pots - your plant may very well be root bound. 1 know that the gardener in you will want to cut some of the circling roots that you may see on the root ball - DON'T! My experience has taught me that to cut these roots, puts the plant back about 6 months. Bamboo seems to know when it has new room to spread out and will quickly take advantage of its new home. I know that you are going to want to cut those circling roots, but please, do not cut them. If you leave the roots alone you will see new shoots along the outer edge of the root ball first and then the plant will expand from there.

My bamboo is just sitting there. It looks healthy, but not much is going on - when will it grow?

Bamboo can be slow to establish, so please be patient as it can take a couple of months for you to see new growth. AIl of the plants activities will be going into the roots - so even though you do not see any growth, know that the plant is establishing new roots and getting ready to grow.

Once it's roots are happy, stand back. Bamboo will go through 1 to 3 growth cycles a year, depending upon the variety. During these growth cycles, the canes will emerge and grow straight up, reaching the full height that the individual cane will reach in 30 to 40 days. This means that the cane will grow a number of inches a day! Once it has reached its full height, it will then begin to put on side growth.

OK, your bamboo has been growing nicely and you are now thinking about fertilization. What should you use?

• Once bamboo is established and has produced new growth, it is a good idea to fertilize your bamboo. It is hungry for both nitrogen and iron.
• During the growing season, it is a good plan to fertilize every 2 to 3 months with a good time release fertilizer.
• Look for a high nitrogen fertilizer (high first number = something like 22-4-8) on the package.
• If you can combine with iron at the same time that is good. Just be careful in that if you fertilize with nitrogen and a separate iron fertilizer, make sure that the iron fertilizer does not also contain nitrogen. If you fertilize with too much nitrogen, it can burn the plants.
• If you cannot find iron fertilizer, look for a trace mineral fertilizer. If the package has 4 to 5% iron, that is just right.