Those Japanese good luck bamboo plants. How do you keep them from dying?

The plant that you speak of is not bamboo at all. Bamboo is a grass, believe it or not. Anyway, the plant is a type of dracaena... like another plant that is often sold at department store green areas. They can do fine in water for a long time, maybe indefinitely in the right situation, but they are meant to grow in potting soil or potting medium. I suppose a bit of fertilizer in the water would help...very dilute... but really, they grow best in a potting medium of some sort.

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Hi Employment Guy, This is Ricks Picks. I work in the Garden Department forThe Home Depot. Thank you for your question. The biggest issue I have come across regarding Luck Bamboo has been the water. Many people do not realize that the water in the Luck Bamboo needs to be changed weekly! If you have pebbles in the vase, the pebbles and the vase should be washed out to remove any build up of salts that naturally occur in the water. As the water evaporates and is used up by the plant, the salts will start to concentrate. Changing the water weekly will also help avoid the accumulation of chlorine and flouride in addition to the salts. It is best to leave an open container of water on the counter for 24 hrs to help dissipate the latter two additives before adding the water to the bamboo plant. Since water has no nutrients, you will want to add a mild water soluble fertilizer such as an African Violet fertilizer. When the Lucky Bamboo is in water, it does not have the soil to buffer any of the salts from the fertilizer. It is a good idea to use the fertilizer gently and sparingly. Better to use too little than too much fertilizer! Be sure to wash the pebbles and the container out as well. Both of these can accumulate the salts, fluoride and chlorine. Since this process is important, I have mentioned it twice. Your local Home Depot or other garden supply center should have the Shultz African Violet Fertilizer on hand. The bamboo is a very prolific plant under the right conditions. It is actually more tropical which is why it will grow in water as well as soil and thrives under a limited light setting. The actual botanical name is a Dracaena sanderiana and it is not a bamboo at all, but a member of the lily family, which grows in the dark tropical rain forests of Southeast Asia and Africa. You may have to discard the parts that have turned yellow. Gently wash the roots of the plant out as well with temped water. Any part of the plant that has a “squishy” feel to it has probably started to rot and will have to be discarded as well. It you are in doubt, give it the sniff test. If it has begun to rot, you will experience an unpleasant odor similar to that of water that has set too long in a bucket and has become stagnant. If you can find an area above the "yellow" area where is no sign of rot, cut that area away. Be careful not to touch ay part of the yellowing part of the plant with the knife or with your hands. Wash your hands and the knife with a light beach solution to kill off any of the bacteria, then cut above the bad part into the green part to avoid any of the rotted part of the plant. I hope these suggestions will help you bring your Lucky Bamboo back to its prior state of healthiness. Be sure to take some pictures of your plant before and after so that you can share its progress with all of us. This has been another of, Ricks Picks

Mine started out in a very small pot (about 1/4 the size of my hand), with just kitty litter and water. It grew and grew.

Finally I transplanted it in to a MUCH bigger pot (about the size of a cantaloupe), full of potting soil, with plant food already in it. I keep the pot full with water, too. Right up to the rim.

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I went to the local garden center and got potting soil for houseplants. The kind I liked had plant food (fertilizer) already in it.

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When the soil is not saturated with water, the tips of the leaves do get brown. I always keep the soil SOAKED.

Everybody said putting it in soil would kill it. NOT SO. It is now MUCH bigger than it was before I transplanted it, and is thriving!

This plant lives on my desk at work, where it gets fluorescent light about 12 hours a day. I've heard that these plants prefer shade, but mine is fine with the lighting it has.

The temperature in the office is probably in about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. How warm do you keep yours?

Hope this helps.

Bamboo are the only plants I don't kill, I even kill cacti. As long as they are in water they'll survive. I keep one on the end table and most of the time it's in the dark unless the lamp is on. The other one sits in the kitchen with low sunlight. So I think light isn't as important, it just needs water and the tips will brown very quickly once the water dries up. Also make sure you aren't burying them too tightly, just use the rocks/pebbles to keep it in place but have room in between the roots.

bamboo is not an aquatic plant. If you submerge it completely under water it will die. Make sure to keep it mostly out of water and it should survive.

they love transparent red glass, keep them in a vase of transparent red glass with just enough water to cover the roots. Clean the roots and leaves in running water once a week and put fresh water in the vase keep them in moderate sunlight on the North side of your home

not too much water! just enough to cover up to the top of the first two segments (about up to where the roots are.) enough sunlight (but not too much). if the heat from the sun is too much, put it in a shady place in your room or house. but it needs light and heat to maintain the nice green color. again, not too much water!

they need like a certain kind of soil because they're teally sensitive plants for some reason.