Find Your Ask the Expert: Lucky Bamboo gas emission
This morning I heard a strange sound like a gas building up and leaned my head in near where the sound was coming from–it was the plant! The next thing was a pop and all this “gas” shot out of the plant! The smell is overwhelming; it is not a putrid odor, but an extremely strong star gazer-like smell–so much so that I have closed off that side of the house until it subsides. Have you ever heard of such a thing and is it unhealthy to breathe? Cathy
Reply:
I receive numerous lucky bamboo questions a month. But, I have to say this is the first time I have every received a question like this. Usually odor coming from a lucky bamboo is a problem with decaying material and coming from the water. This has me very perplexed. I can’t find any disease that has a symptom of gas release. Nor can I find anything on lucky bamboo having an odor that isn’t associated with decaying material. Does the plant show an open wound? Is the stalk still firm?
Thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. My daughter had not changed the water in a while and the information you have given on decay gives me the clue as to what may have happened. The plant is about 2yrs old and looks very healthy, but since it was my daughter’s plant, I really hadn’t looked at it that closely. A big lesson for us both!
Thanks again for your time and quick response!
Have a great day,
Cathy