3 Dec 2013

Houseplant tips: How to take care of lucky indoor bamboo plants

Here’s how to take care of your lucky bamboo plants so it stays healthy and happy.
Lucky bamboo, so attractively exotic in appearance, is also attractively exotic in its needs. It doesn’t need direct sunlight; it doesn’t want fertilizer; it doesn’t even have a use for soil. All it wants is water. It’s one step above the pet rock.
Care instructions like this drive indoor gardeners mad. Water and a little indirect sun? That’s all? Are you sure there isn’t something else?
Yes and no. If you want to keep your lucky bamboo alive, give it water and sun. If you want to see it flourish, pay attention to a few extra (but remarkably simple) details.

First, the water. Water is twice as important to lucky bamboo as it is to ordinary houseplants because water is both hydration and growing medium. The wrong kind of water–water containing fluoride or chlorine, both of which the plant is sensitive to–can cause the tips of the plant’s leaves to brown. Since fluoride and chlorine are routinely added to municipal water supplies, distill your tap water or water your bamboo plant with unfluoridated bottled water instead. (Some brands of bottled water have fluoride added, in which case the label will say that the water is fluoridated.) If you can’t distill your water or get a hold of bottled water, leave tap water in an open bowl for a day to allow the chlorine to evaporate.

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