Bamboo Care
Water - Needed in the driest times of the year, mostly summer.
Fertilizing - If you want your bamboo to grow really fast, otherwise not necessary.
Mulch - A top layer of new soil to add nutrients and cold tolerance and stop weeds from seeding as easily.
Water is the most important key to bamboo care. Knowing when to water is easy. Usually the hottest and driest part
of summer or sometimes oddly enough a dry winter. Checking the soil with your fingers will tell you right away if its hard
or soft, wet or dry. Bamboo likes the soil moist. Not too wet and not dry. Another indicator- chapped lips (your lips).
Funny as its sounds but when this happens to you, it probably is happening to the plants too. A late notice, or
indication of the bamboo "gasping" for a drink is when the bamboo will roll up its leaves to become skinny
little elongated tubes. In this event it is really dry and you should have watered the bamboo before
it comes to this point in time. Bamboo does this in order to conserve water and to stop transpiration
of water from the leaves. So pay attention to your outside friends especially in times of need.
When
first planting bamboo or any other plants for that matter, there is a period of "healing in". During
this time it important to watch the plants condition so it doen't dry out. Once the plant becomes "established"
it is able to handle drier conditions better. At this time the plant has grown roots into the surrounding soil
and now has more access to water in the soil. Think of the soil as a "sponge".
Feeding bamboo is not always necessary. Unless of course you want it to grow faster and you have lots of space. If you do feed it, give it a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen. A lawn type fertilizer works great. Bamboo is really a grass or the family of Poaceae. I prefer organic methods of fertilizing. Such as chicken manure or other manures. also your kitchen compost is excellent as well. timing of feeding should be done in the growing season except when the plant is shooting (spring). So early spring and summer and fall works fine for feeding times.
The photo on the left was taken on August 11th 2006, when first planted
The photo on the right was taken on July 23rd 2007, one year later
(courtesy of ubertallman Jesse)