Lucky bamboo care: in water and in soil

Lucky bamboo care is simple: bright indirect light, roots and about an inch of stalk under water, and a full water change every week, using filtered, distilled or rainwater because chlorine and fluoride brown the leaf tips. It isn't a bamboo at all but Dracaena sanderiana, and a stalk that turns yellow and soft is rotting and has to come out.

What lucky bamboo is

Lucky bamboo is a slow-growing tropical perennial in the asparagus family. Missouri Botanical Garden gives its origin as tropical western Africa, a mature height of up to 5 feet, and lance-shaped leaves up to 7 inches long; the ring-like nodes on its slim stems are why it resembles bamboo. True bamboos are grasses, have hollow canes and grow fast. Lucky bamboo has solid stems and grows slowly.

In nurseries it's also labeled ribbon plant or ribbon dracaena. It is closely related to the corn plant and other dracaenas, and shares their sensitivity to fluoride.

Light

Clemson Extension HGIC recommends a room with bright, indirect light, such as one with east- or north-facing windows; direct sun damages and browns the leaves. Missouri Botanical Garden rates it for part to full shade but says it grows best in bright, indirect light.

A clear vase in bright light grows algae. It doesn't hurt the plant directly, but it makes the water go stale faster, so an opaque container is easier.

Growing lucky bamboo in water

Missouri Botanical Garden notes that water-grown plants need a substrate for the roots: pebbles, glass marbles or clay pebbles.

1. Choose a vase 1-2 inches taller than the pebble layer; opaque is best.
2. Add 2-3 inches of rinsed pebbles.
3. Set the stalks in, nestling their bases into the pebbles.
4. Add water to cover the roots plus about an inch of stalk. Deeper isn't better: permanently submerged stalk tissue rots.
5. Once a week, pour out the water, rinse the pebbles and glass, and refill. Clemson notes weekly changes also keep insects from breeding.
6. Every other month, add a liquid houseplant fertilizer at one-quarter strength, per Clemson. It survives without, just more slowly.
7. When roots fill the vase, move it to a larger vase or to soil.

More on soil-free growing in hydroponics.

Which water: chlorine, fluoride and salts

Dracaenas are well known for fluoride sensitivity, which shows as yellow then brown tips and margins. Missouri Botanical Garden links brown tips on lucky bamboo to chlorine and other tap-water chemicals and recommends filtered or rainwater.

Use room-temperature water. A white crust on pebbles or glass means salts are building up: scrub everything and change your water source. More in our watering guide.

Lucky bamboo in soil

In a pot, lucky bamboo grows faster and keeps leaves along more of the stalk. Clemson recommends well-drained soil, staking tall stalks until roots establish, watering when the top of the mix has dried, and never leaving water in the saucer.

1. In spring, choose a pot with drainage holes 1 inch wider than the root mass.
2. Fill with a well-drained indoor potting mix; a mix sold for palms, cacti or dracaenas works.
3. Plant stalks at the same depth they sat in the pebbles.
4. Water, then stake tall stalks.
5. Feed monthly in spring and summer, as Clemson suggests; skip winter.

Water-grown roots take a few weeks to adapt to soil; keep moisture moderate during that time. See repotting.

Water or soil: how to choose

Moving back from soil to water is harder than the other way: soil roots often rot when submerged, so if you switch, wash the roots gently and expect some to die back.

Temperature and humidity

Lucky bamboo is happiest at typical indoor temperatures of 65-75°F (18-24°C). Keep it above 50°F and away from cold drafts, AC vents and heat registers. If you set the vase outdoors in shade for summer, Clemson says to bring it back in before nights drop below 65°F. Normal room humidity is fine; misting is optional.

Why lucky bamboo turns yellow

The rule that matters: a yellow stalk never turns green again. Stalks in a vase touch, and rot spreads, so remove a bad one right away. More in yellow leaves and brown tips.

Propagating from a top cutting

Clemson describes the method: cut a shoot, strip the lower leaves and set it in water; roots usually appear in a few weeks.

1. With a clean, sharp knife, cut a top or side shoot 4-6 inches long just above a node.
2. Remove leaves from the bottom 1-1.5 inches.
3. Stand it in filtered water with 1-2 nodes submerged.
4. Keep it at 68-75°F in bright indirect light, changing water weekly.
5. When roots reach 1-2 inches, move it to a pebble vase or a pot.
6. Keep the mother stalk: Missouri Botanical Garden recommends cutting back older, lanky stems to encourage new growth, and a new shoot usually emerges from a node below the cut.

Spirals and shapes: how growers make them

The stalks aren't bent with wire. As Laidback Gardener explains, growers lay plants on their side or shade them so the tip bends toward the light, then rotate them every few weeks, over and over. You can repeat it at home with a box open on one side, turning the plant slowly, but it takes many months.

After purchase, new growth on a spiral grows straight. To keep the silhouette, cut the new shoot and root it; otherwise let it grow. Check ribbons and wires on tiered arrangements once a year so they don't girdle thickening stalks.

After you buy it or receive it as a gift

Lucky bamboo is a popular gift, especially around Lunar New Year, and often arrives cold or after a long trip. Tradition attaches meanings to stalk counts; see plants as gifts.

1. Lift out the stalks and check the bases: all should be firm and green. Remove any soft or yellow ones.
2. Rinse the vase and pebbles and add fresh room-temperature filtered water.
3. If it came in a tiny container with no support, move it to a vase with pebbles.
4. Loosen ribbons on tiered arrangements that are cutting in.
5. Place it in bright indirect light, away from a heat register or a cold door.

Pests

Lucky bamboo has few problems. In dry winter air, look for spider mites (fine speckling, webbing) and mealybugs (white cottony tufts in leaf joints). Rinse the plant, wipe leaves, dab mealybugs with rubbing alcohol, and use a labeled houseplant insecticide or miticide only for heavy infestations, following the label.

Toxicity

The ASPCA lists dracaenas, including the ribbon plant, as toxic to dogs and cats; the toxic principle is saponins, with vomiting (occasionally with blood), depression, anorexia and hypersalivation, plus dilated pupils in cats. Keep the vase out of reach, and remember cats sometimes drink vase water. If a pet chews it, call your vet or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435; for a child, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. See toxic plants for others to watch.