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Dracaena sanderiana
By now, if you haven't seen it in the florist or plant nurseries, you will. 'Lucky Bamboo' or 'Fortune Bamboo'. It's part of the Feng Shui way of life. 'Lucky Bamboo' isn't bamboo at all. It's botanically know as Dracaena Sanderiana: commonly known as the ribbon plant. It will grow in water like cut flowers. It grows in 1/2 inch to two inches of water. Change the water every couple of weeks. It is not necessary to fertilize the plant but a diluted water-soluble fertilizer can be used. This plant prefers bright light, but not direct sunlight. Does well in low and fluorescent light. Room temperature no lower than 55 degrees F. Place it away from air conditioning and heaters. When the Chinese New Year arrives, a special occasion, or the purchase of a new home, 'Lucky Bamboo' is given. New to you? It's fun and exciting to watch grow; and will last for years. It's interesting, fun and a great conversation piece. Enjoy it.
Q: Hi, I just bought my fourth Lucky Bamboo plant and was wondering if I could plant it in a metal container. My other three are in pottery containers with only water and stones. The new plant has 40 stalks....8 rows of 5 each, with them secured so that they criss-cross when the plant is stretched open to it full capacity. I have a great metal planter that is perfect for this type of bamboo plant. Can I use it or should I stick to a ceramic pot? A: I would hate to have my metal container leach some mineral into the water, which disagrees with the lucky bamboo. The lucky bamboo seems to do well, except when it decides not to. Every once in a while a stalk decides that it wants to turn yellow and that's it for the stalk. We've never figured out what causes this, but it would seem to revolve around something in the water. I would hate to experiment with such a large plant. Q: On the Garden Web under Pond and aquatic plants sub section Dividing water hyacinth, one person claims to have lucky bamboo growing in their pond. I have questioned how to do this but got no answer. It doesn’t seem possible to me. Do you know of a method? I have a large pond and would be interested in growing some. A: Lucky bamboo is just a tropical plant (Dracaena sanderiana) that has been cut and trained. We've never grown them in a pond, but if you can figure out how to hold them upright, say, in a pot with small stones all around one or more stalks, they would do ok. They also do well in very moist soil, so you could plant some in a pot with soil and then sink the entire pot in a pond, as you would with any other aquatic plant. This disregards zone issues, of course. If you are in a northern zone, the dracaena would die in the winter. Cannot hurt much to try.
A: Yellow leaves always mean too much water. Or, too little. (I hate it when gardener's say that). Lucky bamboo (Dracaena Sanderana) likes lots of water, so we'll bet that trimming the roots caused it not to be able to get as much water as it needs. Water it a lot until it can grow its roots back. This plant can live directly in water, so there is not much chance of hurting it with too much water. Q: I would like to ask how can I propagate fortune bamboo plants. I only have one fortune bamboo at the moment but I want to propagate them. A: 'Lucky Bamboo' isn't bamboo at all. It's botanically know as
Dracaena Sanderana: commonly known as the ribbon plant. It will grow in
water like cut flowers. Q: I have three pieces of lucky bamboo in a skinny vase with about 2" of water in it. One of them at the top has tuned yellow and is withering up. The rest of the stalk seems to be ok. I moved the plant away from a lamp that I had it by, thinking that the light was killing it. Can I cut the damaged part off or will it be ok. In addition, all three pieces have this white spider web sticky stuff on them. What can I do? I love my bamboo and do not want to lose it. A: You were right to take the bamboo away from the
intense source of light. It will do just fine in regular
light and even does ok in a less light. Q: I was wondering whether I could cut from the bottom of my twisting lucky bamboo to make it shorter. Mine is getting rather tall, and I live in a dorm room. Thank you for your help. A: If your lucky bamboo is getting too tall and top heavy for the container, cut right above a node. These are the rings that go around the bamboo. A growing center so to speak. Cut right above one of these. The take the top portion and start all over again and put in water. Roots should appear in time. The bottom (still in the original container) will sprout more growth from where you cut. Now you have two plants. The old one from where the cutting was taken and the new one (which is the top) in a new container waiting for roots. Q: I was searching the web to try to figure out what has made my lucky bamboo sick. Two stalks have already died. I think it is because I started using a different fertilizer. I only use a few drops a month. A few days after I fertilize I noticed these white/green crystals that accumulate on the stalk and the container. Is this fertilizer killing my bamboo? Two stalks have turned yellow /brown and is soft and mushy. I discarded them. A: Yes, the 'lucky bamboo' may start dying when it starts to turn yellow. Once that happens I am afraid it is a gonner. I do not suggest fertilizing and if you do, just use a much-diluted water-soluble Miracle Grow or Peters. Change the water every 2 weeks. This prevents bacteria from building up. Distilled water seems to work very well. Good bright light but not full sun. This is a plant that must be ignored. They tend to like being pot bound. I grew it 30 years ago as a Ribbon plant, in a dirt pot. It is a member of the corn plant family and although roots well and grows well in water it is not an aquatic plant. Good luck. Q: I was just wondering if it is possible to make another set of leaves grow off a stalk of lucky bamboo. I have a single stalk and a set of three, and in the set of three, two of the stalks have more than one set of leaves. A: That is a good question. I generally just cut about one inch below the node for more roots to form when dividing a piece. However, growing more leaves is the luck of the draw. They pop out by the nodes and I suspect being root bound and having some age or maturity to the plant will help. Q: I was just given three stalks of lucky bamboo. Two of the stalks are twisted, one is straight. How can I encourage the new growth to twist? A: Getting the 'lucky bamboo' to twist is done in a
very serious manner in nurseries before they are sold to
the public. [back to Articles / Article Archives]
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It's All the Rage!
Some questions from Emily's 
Q: Several years ago, I planted my "lucky
bamboo" in a pot with dirt. Since then, it has outgrown two pots. I cannot
increase the pot size, so I trimmed the roots. Now it does not seem to be
doing so well. The leaves on the plant are starting to yellow. Is there
any way to save my plant? It's my favorite.