Find Your Ask the Expert: height and re-potting?
My lucky bamboo has grown to about four feet tall, and I have two stalks in one vase/pot. Is there a size or height that makes it necessary to move the plant to a larger pot? KV
Reply:
The only height or size requirement for lucky bamboo is more of a stability requirement. If the lucky bamboo is causing a top heavy toppling problem, then you need a taller pot or you can to cut the top off your lucky bamboo. You can root these tops and create new plants. The only other consideration is root growth. If the roots have completely filled the container, you need to either trim the roots or get a bigger container.
My rule of thumb is happy and healthy lucky bamboo should be left alone.
If you want to trim the top out of your lucky bamboo read these posts:
Topping Lucky Bamboo
We are not always lucky with lucky bamboo – it has photos showing where to make the cut.
Good luck and keep me posted.
I am not really sure how tall would you want your bamboo to grow at home. But you can keep it smaller if you surround the plant or grove it with physical barrier. Concrete and specially-rolled HDPE plastic are the usual materials used. This is placed in a 60-90 cm (2-3 feet) deep ditch around the planting, and angled out at the top to direct the rhizomes to the surface. (This is only possible if the barrier is installed in a straight line.) Strong rhizomes and tools can penetrate plastic barriers with relative ease, so great care must be taken. Barriers usually fail sooner or later, or the bamboo within suffers greatly. Casual observation of many failed barriers has shown bursting of 60 mil HDPE in 5–6 years, and rhizomes diving underneath in as few as 3 years post install. In small areas regular maintenance is the only perfect method of controlling the spreading bamboos. Bamboo in barriers is much more difficult to remove than free-spreading bamboo. Barriers and edging are unnecessary for clump-forming bamboos. Clump-forming bamboos may eventually need to have portions removed if they get too large.
Bookmark,
Thank you for your comment on the lucky bamboo height requirement post. Lucky bamboo is a dracaena not a true bamboo. Your comment is directed towards true bamboo not lucky bamboo. Lucky bamboo is not an invasive plant and does not have the rhizome structure that true bamboo plants have. So your suggestions don’t really apply to lucky bamboo.
However for those who have true bamboo, these suggestions could be really beneficial.