bamboos in the house

[Jerry Hamilton]

I am bringing into the house some potted boos and putting them under grow lights. What problems do I need to look out for?

[foxd]

I am bringing into the house some potted boos and putting them under grow lights. What problems do I need to look out for?

Insect population explosions. In my experience this includes millipedes and aphids. Watch soil moisture closely.

What is your grow light setup like?

[Jerry Hamilton]

4 foot grow lights that I bought this weekend. What are the best to use on them for the insect problems?

[Alan_L]

My problem is always fungus gnats. Yellow sticky cards, Bt for the soil, and patience.

When I brought a division inside earlier this year, I had *termites* coming out of the pot. Don't know if there's anything worse I'd rather see coming out of a pot than that... I guess scorpions would be worse.

[stevelau1911]

1. Bugs(centepides, <they layed eggs on one of my plants last year and it was a mess.>, gnats)

2. Mold, Mushrooms growing on top of the soil.

3. Water levels, I ended up killing a ZZ plant and epiphyllum by over-watering last year, don't know if bamboos are as picky.

4. Type of lighting. I thought bamboos appreciated only high spectrum light 5500K, so I bought a cool spectrum cfl. The result was only leafy growth and the lack of shooting, despite also having east side window light.

5. Hardening them back up in the spring time. I've ended up completely dessicating some of my plants since I got them used to very low light and was unable to harden them up, even in partial shade.

I don't think the bugs, or mold do any harm, but the water level and light are pretty important.

[foxd]

1: The bugs can definitely do harm when they reach the size and population density that they run out of their prefered food and start eating your plants. This is what I found with millipedes, aphids and recently snails. I suggest systemic poison.

2: I too have gotten mushrooms in with the plants. Not much of a problem.

3: Watch out if the plant is root bound, it can quickly suck the soil completely bone dry and then die from lack of water.

4: I prefer the GroLux bulbs. As far as shooting, that always seemed to me to be more a function of temperature. Once the temperature hits a certain value, the bamboo starts trying to produce shoots. Hmmm...perhaps some experimentation is in order.

[spiros]

I've had problems with indoor bamboos twice and I live in an apartment. Maybe because they never went through winter dormancy and experienced cold OR it could have been over-watering? The first was Golden Bamboo and it lived for almost 3 years and then died - maybe over-watering. Next was Moso put it in a large pot so it had plenty of space - it just died no sign of rot or anything - there is just one culm of it left now, it was shooting like crazy during the winter but I cut them all since the culms stay too soft. I did take that one outdoors for 2 summers in a row (at a friends house). Both the Golden and Moso just stopped growing and promptly died after the same amount of time 2.5 - 3 years.
Now I'm on Guadua angustifolia (gift from Florida) I'm hoping that since its tropical its doesn't need cold temperatures for dormancy. Its gotten big and bushy like the Moso was before it died. I have other plants that have never been outdoors and they do fine.

[Alan_L]

Did you fertilize them regularly? If the Moso has a culm left, it's not dead yet, right?

(From what I've read, the number one cause of death of houseplants is over-watering.)

[stevelau1911]

it was shooting like crazy during the winter but I cut them all since the culms stay too soft.

What kind of lighting did you give it?

I haven't had any new bamboo shoots including moso since I brought them indoors. They just all seem to be branching out and growing more leaves. My guess is that bamboo requires low spectrum light to shoot, or they must be going dormant despite the room temperature.

[spiros]

Alan: I fertilized often, watered down Miracle Grow every 2 weeks or so. I also suspect overwatering (suspect #1) but the Moso was shooting like crazy over the winter (all culled by me - winter growth is too weak) and just died come spring. There is still one culm alive (a quarter of a pencil width) but it used to be big and bushy plant. I can tell it apart from the Guadua because it has a fuzzy culm.

stevelau1911: My apartment is south facing plenty of light in the winter.

I'll post a pic soon.

[stevelau1911]

The bugs can definitely do harm when they reach the size and population density that they run out of their prefered food and start eating your plants. This is what I found with millipedes, aphids and recently snails. I suggest systemic poison.

I hope that centipedes don't eat bamboo. I find them in all my pots especially after I water them, lots of very tiny ones too that look like they were just born. Hopefully they eat the gnats and bugs that might harm the bamboo.

[foxd]

I hope that centipedes don't eat bamboo. I find them in all my pots especially after I water them, lots of very tiny ones too that look like they were just born. Hopefully they eat the gnats and bugs that might harm the bamboo.

Are you sure they are centipedes and not millipedes?