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Hi there! I was looking for some advice on how to help my lucky… | Pests, diseases and problems | Communauté Planta

Nix Nox

Hi there! I was looking for some advice on how to help my lucky bamboo. He is my only plant and I love him so much, I got him from Pride-fest a few years ago and he’s stayed pretty much the same size with barely any growth… but he’s not dying, just rather content I hope to think. He lives in a small water jar that he came in with crystals at the bottom (I’m too fearful of killing him to try and remove them) near a window for sun. Today I noticed he very badly needed water and had a brown tip on his leaf. I took to Reddit and trimmed the tip just below the brown tip, watered him (purified drinking water) and wiped each of his leaves with a wet paper towel. Does anyone have any advice or tips for how to help him? Here’s a picture of before I trimmed but after I watered and one of where he usually sits afterward.

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16 commentaires

  1. GreenLeaf

    Have you ever added fertilizer to the water? While plants can live in water, in order to do well they do need added nutrients. Seeing as its your only plant I would look for a hydro specific fertilizer and then dilute a little more then the directions. I change my plants out every 10-14 days ish (or when the water gets gross). And I always add a very diluted fertilizer. Also, make sure it doesn’t run out of water. Hydro plants really don’t like that lol

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    • Nix Nox

      I have not, I live in a small town in WI so plant shops nearby are are rather uncommon, and I have only ever had bad luck going and asking for advice for kinds from places like Menards or such. Are there any brands of hydro specific fertilizer? And would that add dirt or such to the jar? The roots are rather entwined in the stones at the bottom, and as there’s barely any opening I’m scared by the concept of having to fully replace the contents of the jar…

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    • GreenLeaf

      Amazon is your best bet then if it’s an option where you are. I use AeroGarden brand (but only because it came free with the unit lol). You CAN use regular liquid fert, but you reeeeeeaaalllyy have to dilute it well and be careful because it’s much easier to burn your roots with that. I’m going to give you this opinion if it was my plant, so take it with a grain of salt….. I would gently remove the plant and all the rocks, then put it back in without the rocks and change out the water. The jar that its in already supports it upright, so the rocks are just kinda ‘there’. I also like to be able to rinse my roots, this removes any algae that might have grown and I can cut away any dead roots (which is common on a small scale with hydro plants). But again, thats just me! Maybe see what others suggest and pick what sounds good to you :)

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    • Nix Nox

      Thank you! I will take that advice and think on it - my issue with removing the plant to take out the rocks is that the roots are very thin and seemed to have entwined itself in them (I can see a bunch of roots all at the bottom under the rocks and wrapped around them) so I worry about breaking any, especially when many of them looks like the healthiest ones

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  2. Wolfen 🐺

    I agree a fertilizer is needed. Get something simple. And dilute it like 1/4 to 1/6 strength. And change the water 3-4 days later. Honestly even if you asked the pets store for some fish water, it'd be helpful and mild fertilizer. Maxsea is the gentle one i use for not only Tissue culture, but carnivorous plants. So it's really mild and a 16-16-16 NPK

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    • Nix Nox

      Thank you! I’ll look into aerogarden and maxsea then… Do you mind explaining the ‘tissue culture’ and ‘NPK’ thing? I don’t know those terms 😅

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    • Wolfen 🐺

      Tissue culture is asexual multiplication of plants.... basically you take a leaf or node from a plant, but instead of putting it in moss or perlite to propogate. You sterilize it, and put it on an agar agar plate with multiplication hormones. Until instead of just one plant, you have 100s. Then you add rooting hormones. And sell them in vitro. The buyer then acclimates the tiny plantlet(s). It's a way to get more rare plants cheaper, and in bulk. These are In-vitro... which means "in glass", bit theyre usually sold in shipping baggies 😆.

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    • Wolfen 🐺

      NPK refers to Nitrogen- Phosphorus- Potassium. The initials are their Chemical names from the periodic table. All fertilizer will have an NPK on it. Certain types of plants like certain ratios of NPK. You can generally just look for a balanced one.. aka all numbers are the same. The higher the numbers the higher the concentration. But like citrus trees prefer a certain ratio, or cacti prefer a certain ratio, etc.

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    • Wolfen 🐺

      Here is a basic explanation of NPK s uses

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    • Nix Nox

      Ah!!!! I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand the science behind everything (I’m horrid at science for the most part) but this is all very interesting! And the NPK thing (especially the image) is very helpful, thank you!!

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  3. Sunny

    Fertilizer and frequent water changes are the best, don’t be scared to remove him from the jar, if u notice some roots coming off its normal for his survival, and only fill the water up to cover the roots to prevent root rot

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    • Nix Nox

      Does root rot look the same in all kinds of plants? Or are there certain colors I should watch for?

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  4. Bravo

    My bamboo is also in water and I haven't had to use fertilizer ever. And I've had it like that for at least a month. But I DO use rain water for it so that may change things.

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    • Wolfen 🐺

      Rain water would not change the need for fertilizer. Nutrients.

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  5. KJM

    I haven't read all of the other posts so maybe some of this is redundant. This is a lucky bamboo which is actually a variety of dracenea. They definitely need filtered, distilled, or rainwater. They do not like tap water. As far as fertilizer is concerned they have low needs. You might consider a drop or two of fish emulsion in the water occasionally. These can be planted in soil but, The Roots they have as a hydroponic plant are different from the roots they would have in the soil so if they survive, they will go through a definite downtime as they change roots. I found this a very odd fact but apparently it is true. I guess I would stick with the water. You could also put some rocks or colored glass in your container to support the stem and add a little color. Not really necessary but just a thought.

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