I guess I should have started a new thread for my own bamboo problems so ignor my post on "bamboo troubles" thread...just need to get the hang of how things work on this forum. I posted the following: Hi, I am a "newby" to the forum and have some problems with a 3 yr old black bamboo that we transplanted last year to a bigger pot (about 14" deep and 18" in diameter). We did not remove the bottom but there are drainage holes. The pot is sunk into the ground The leaves look quite anemic light green/to yellow and the tips are grey and brittle. It is an a northwest location and receives direct sunlight and is near our pond which tempers the hot summer sun but it is still quite sheltered being on the inside of the "L" shape of our house. Has great composted soil from our horses (the soil being composted at least 2 years). It is sprouting new canes but the leaves on those also look to be the same as the parent...Help please?
You say "anemic" and you might be quite right! Try giving it a light feeding with a ballanced fertilizer that says "micro nutrients" on the package. Could be a lack of iron or some other mineral, but in any case, I think some micro nutrients could be the ticket.
thanks...that may do the trick, can't hurt anyway. The Horse compost does not necessarily have everything in it I guess....we have some good sea-soil so will dig some of that in. There seems to be a lot of new shoots so perhaps we need to put the main plant in a bigger container and cut the bottom out and split off some of the new ones and replant in new pots. The original plant may be "pooped" so to speak (no pun intended).....well...maybe I did intend it. Thanks for the advice. By the by, what do you think the grey dried up tips on the leaves might be from? T.I.A. Yellowpoint
The larger bamboos, including Phyllostachys nigra (I presume that's what you have) do not fare well in containers long term. 3 years is a long time for it to stay in an 18 inch pot. Most running bamboos, like the grass in your lawn, want to grow, and grow fast. It does not take long before an 18 inch pot gets overcrowded with rhizomes and roots, making it impossible to keep up with the watering and fertilising. Nutrients will leach out quickly. You need to report it into a much larger container, or else, grow it in the ground with appropriate rhizome barrier installed.
These are all recommendations based on assumptions, of course. You might like to have someone examine it in person. And fertilizing CAN hurt, by overloading the plant with a nutrient. Only one has to be over-applied to produce a toxicity.
Consider also that many phyllostachys look pretty ratty this time of year; dead tips from winter damage, etc. Check for new leaves emerging on established culms: do these show similar signs of damage/stress? You'd mentioned the new shoots also show these signs, which speaks to something more, but are you certain that these are new shoots, not late shoots from last season? Final thought/guess: overwatering through winter/early spring a possibility?
