Yellowing Leaves after 1 Week - Keeping Bamboo Alive & Well

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jethrodesign
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Yellowing Leaves after 1 Week - Keeping Bamboo Alive & Well

Post by jethrodesign »

Hi, first time post here. Please let me know if this is the appropriate forum for questions like mine, or if this is more geared towards professional landscapers or those with larger clumps of in-ground bamboo. I'm just desperate to find some expert advice at keeping my bamboo plant alive & healthy, as I've had many over the years and they all tend to only last about a year or two at most, then go steadily downhill. I've tried watering more, watering less, different fertilizer/food, etc. I think I just need good guidance.

I purchased my latest Golden Bamboo plant from a local L.A. nursery on July 11. It was incredibly hot that day, and the plant had almost all leaves curled lengthwise. The nursery admitted to not watering them much, but said a little water would quickly bring it back to life. It was at least mostly green. I couldn't get much more advice from them due to language barriers and a lack of specific knowledge.

I transferred the bamboo when I got home to a 15" x 15" x 15" plastic container, with 5 or 6 small holes in the bottom. I then added a bit of fertilizer (All Purpose Growing and Planting Food 10-10-10) and filled with potting soil I had. This container sits in a wooden planter that has large gaps in the bottom slats. So water 'should' be able to drain properly. The whole thing sits on my artificial grass, so it's hard to see how the water is draining.

This sits on a small balcony that faces South, but it does have a wall and reed fencing. So the bamboo should get a decent amount of at least filtered sunlight throughout the day, I would imagine.

I water this with a pitcher filled with about 80 oz of tap water. I try to leave the full pitcher out at least a day so that chlorine can evaporate off.

I first gave it a couple pitchers of water on the first night. Then repeated with a pitcher or two for each of the next couple days, as the leaves still hadn't fully uncurled.

But after less than a week, I noticed a lot of yellow leaves. They all appear to be mostly stemming from a single stalk, which is also yellowed (though it is Golden Bamboo, and this stalk is the only one looking that way).

- Did I water too much, resulting in the yellow leaves?

- Should I just cut this entire stalk out at the base or something, or is there a chance it would ever recover?

- I also see what I'm guessing may be some new stalks without any leaves yet. Wondering what to do with these (i'm at attachment limit, so can try to post a photo in a reply)?

I'm pretty green (and not in a good 'green-thumb' kind way) when it comes to proper care. So hoping this would be a good place for me to get advice on keeping a bamboo plant alive & green. If not, please let me know if there are more appropriate resources for someone like me.

I've tried to post some pictures showing examples of the issues & my setup in case it's helpful.

THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP HERE!!!
Attachments
Example of placement & typical sunlight.
Example of placement & typical sunlight.
Day 6 - Leaves turning yellow II.
Day 6 - Leaves turning yellow II.
Day 1 - Leaves curled up.
Day 1 - Leaves curled up.
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needmore
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Re: Yellowing Leaves after 1 Week - Keeping Bamboo Alive & W

Post by needmore »

Greetings! Bamboo is quite unforgiving if allowed to become too dry just one time and it sounds like yours might have a history of neglect at the nursery. If it got too dry just one time the leaves will yellow and fall off no matter how much you try to revive it. So if yours was dried out when you got it the die was cast and your day1 photo shows curled leaves while shaded and that is not a happy bamboo.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
jethrodesign
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Location: Southern California

Re: Yellowing Leaves after 1 Week - Keeping Bamboo Alive & W

Post by jethrodesign »

Hi, thanks so much for the reply! And that's a bummer about the nature of bamboo (I thought I'd heard it was fairly robust, but maybe that's not the case).

- It looks like the yellowing is still fairly contained to one or two stalks. Am I safe chopping those off, and should I cut near the base?

- And are the new photo I posted here NEW shoots with a possibility of producing leaves? Should I leave these alone?

Since I spent $100 on it, and the majority of it is still pretty green, I'd like to try to do my best to keep it alive and learn some good care techniques for the future if possible.

THANKS!
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Possible new stalk?
Possible new stalk?
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needmore
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Re: Yellowing Leaves after 1 Week - Keeping Bamboo Alive & W

Post by needmore »

Don't cut anything out unless the canes turn a very obviously dead color, yellow leaves do not mean you should cut as that cane might produce new ones to replace it but tan or discolored canes can be culled.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
jethrodesign
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 8:21 am
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Location: Southern California

Re: Yellowing Leaves after 1 Week - Keeping Bamboo Alive & W

Post by jethrodesign »

Thanks again for any help here! As it seems to take a while for posts to go live, the condition has changed since last post a bit. It doesn't seem like it's doing super well, so want to keep learning as much as possible to try to save this beautiful plant before it's too late!

PRUNING

I really have no idea if or how much I should prune what appear to be dead or dying leaves. I've posted a couple example photos here showing some conditions of fully brown leaves and ones where the tips are turning brown.

- Any tips on if/how I should trim these types of leaves off?

- Once the leaf tips start turning brown, as seen in the 2nd photo, they never seem to recover, just get progressively worse. What is this generally indicating, and should I trim?

WATERING

Over the years I've tried so many different frequencies of watering, but still have pretty much no clue if I'm under-watering or over-watering. So ANY tips here would be greatly appreciated.

I've heard I should wait for leaves to start curling in to water. But some of the leaves, especially towards the top, seem to be curling a lot of the time. And it appears to happen more at night than during the day (see the night shot of the top of the plant). I'm in LA, so it's not really 'cold' at night this time of year. And has been VERY hot the last week or so.

- Should I water when 'some' of the leaves are curling, or when they appear to be curling at night?

- Is one full 80oz pitcher of water for my planter, which is roughly 14.6 gal or 2 cu. ft (15in x 15in x 15in), a good amount of water for a session? Too much? Too little? I really have no clue.

- Should tap water that's left out for a day or two for chlorine to evaporate off safe to use for watering? Authorities 'say' that LA water is clean, but nobody drinks it (mostly flavor). Would 'Britta' filtered water be preferable?


Thanks again for any tips or help here. I'm so desperate to learn how to properly care for a bamboo plant, as it replacing them every year or two is such a hassle and gets expensive.

One GOOD bit of news is that the couple new stalks appear to be 'trying' to sprout some leaves. Hopefully those will continue and I can nurture them along.
Attachments
Leave tips turning brown.
Leave tips turning brown.
Brown leaves.
Brown leaves.
How upper leaves look at night.
How upper leaves look at night.
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needmore
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Re: Yellowing Leaves after 1 Week - Keeping Bamboo Alive & W

Post by needmore »

Sorry about the delay on your post, for some reason the system did not flag to to me.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
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