Care Planting in pots
Pot your bamboo
click image to enlarge
The first concern is to keep the root zone sweet with good drainage*
Mulch on top allows roots to grow right up to the soil surface
300-350 mm, premium grade potting mix
100 mm clean, washed, river sand to filter out fine particles above the geo-textile cloth
Geo-textile cloth encases the sand and soil
Layer of drainage cell at the base
Food and Water
In containers, bamboo is your prisoner - have some humanity. Use slow release fertiliser including trace elements. In growing weather, liquid seaweed is a good tonic. Spring is when the fast growing, new shoots of Running Bamboo emerge. Summer is shooting time for Clumping Bamboo. Bamboo is a grass so, use a slow release fertilizer for foliage plants. 'Osmocote Plus' is good, the 'plus'stands for trace elements, these help a lot.
Feed a small amount often rather than a lot at once.
In fact never feed a lot, It burns the bamboo and leaches into the water-ways where lots from lots of people makes water bad
Because growth is rapid bamboo should be fed regularly. In pots bamboo needs watering more often than other plants. The root zone should be kept moist but not wet
What bamboo in pots?
Black
Blue
Giant Buddha Belly, Wamin
Golden
Slender Weavers
Temple Bamboo
Malay Pygmy
What about repotting your bamboo
When your pot is just full of roots and it takes forever to water and its never enough, it's probably re-potting time. You can divide the plant at this time. Just saw the root-ball with a hand saw.
The first concern is to keep the roots moist while work is underway.
1st. Soak the root-ball in water for a few hours. This will fully hydrate the bamboo.
- Saw off the bottom 10% of the root-ball. This will encourage new growth.
You can saw off some of the side roots if required to fit into the new pot.
- Ensure good drainage through the drainage holes in the new container.
- Use a premium grade potting mix. To buffer the bamboo against drying out you can include a 30 mm layer of hydrated, water crystals mixed with potting mix around 50 mm from the bottom of the pot.
Make sure you soak the crystals prior to use. Incorporate slow release fertiliser into the soil.
- Top dress with a little pelletised chicken manure and water well. Water well again after a few hours and on the following few days.
'Katsura' our pot for bamboo
For a large patio - At the top of a stairway - Beside a wide entrance
Shaped for bamboos' shallow growth and for ease of maintenance. Its beauty is accidental.
The wide, 820 mm (2'10") rim, makes a strong, horizontal line, just 255 mm (10"), above ground. Lots of growing medium, 75 litre (20 gallons), supports a 3 metre (10') tall bamboo.
High stability, lightweight, tough fibreglass.
* More on drainage
Deeper than 300 – 350 mm deep, the soil can become anaerobic in cold weather. No oxygen smells bad
Most professional growers understand this. It takes bright sparks like Humberto Uriolla at Atlantis Drainage, to think the problem all the way through to the solution.