Bamboo with dry, brown leaves

Ding Dong

I have a bamboo for about 4 years in a large pot by the side of the house and its largely done well, but now I notice for whatever reason alot of the leave are starting to turn light brown, brittle and dry even tho we have not had particluarly bad/dry weather. Is there anything I can do or should I just let them come back themselves?

joconnell

I put some down last season which are about 5 / 6 feet tall and they started the same thing - apparently they lose leaves in spring time but it's also been a very windy time - the horticulturist in homebase I spoke too had been watering their bamboo 2 / 3 times a day recently - I was told to shove your hand right down into the soil and see how moist it is below the surface and someone on here advised on putting some kind of mulch / gravel / covering over the soil to help prevent moisture loss - Hopefully some of it helps!

http://www.gardenplansireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9983#9983

tampopo

I bought one from an award winning garden centre just before christmas, put in the ground, along a fence, full sun. Same thing is happening too. Is it likely to recover?

The Sweeper

Do you guys know what variety of bamboo you have?

It's makes a big difference - some are hardy to minus temperatures, some are not. Some grow huge, some don't. Some are running, some are clumping. Some need sheltered spots, some don't. Bamboos grow in a variety of climates, so the variety you bought will have implications on where you've planted it and so on.

Saying "I bought a bamboo and planted it out" it sort of like saying "I bought some trees and planted them and they aren't doing great" - I'd need more info before I could give you any guidance on it...

joconnell

I'll jump at that. I've got 3 phyllostachys aurea. The bed they're in has broken slabs down the very bottom, smaller bits of and stone on that and about 8 inches of soil on top. They're put beside a shed and the garden is north east facing so they're in shade for the first half of the day. I got the recommendation that the wind might be getting at them and drying them out so after a spell away in which they deteriorated I've spent the last two weeks looking after them with daily watering, some miracle grow pellet feed and brown gold / moisture retaining compost on top - they seem to be coming back a bit with some new shoots but still very thin. I'm not sure if they're a fast growing breed but since trimming the tops of them they don't seem to have shot back up exactly.

Here's the bed they're in:



The leaves at the minute:



And their position in the garden:

The Sweeper

Also known as "golden bamboo", you got yourself a running bamboo there, capable of growing up to 7m tall. Originally it comes from Eastern China.

It *should* be hardy in very cold temperatures, but can suffer wind damage (though I can't see it getting cold and windy enough by your shed to do that to your plant).

The next thing to look at are soil type and moisture for your plant. A running bamboo shouldn't suffer from being potted - and indeed if they're not potted, your neighbour three doors down will eventually end up with running bamboo as well, and won't thank you for it.

Bamboo has a wide, shallow root system so a larger, shallow container is better than a narrow, deep container.

You need a good quality potting mix for bamboo. Recommended mixes here in Australia include potting in a mix that's mostly pine bark and sand, with a good quality fertiliser to feed the plant. The pine bark keeps the mix loose and airy, the sand helps it drain well, and of course the fertiliser meets its nutritional requirements. Otherwise use the best quality potting mix you can buy - one with a lot of slow-releaes fertiliser that has water retaining agents while remaining free-draining. Bamboo will also need watering more often when it's potted up in planters, so be sure the root zone is kept moist but not waterlogged. The moisture balance is probably the hardest part on a bamboo in a planter - especially in Ireland where you'd think the rain would be enough.

Your bamboo is a rapid grower, and thus needs fertilising regularly. Feed little and often rather than lot at once. Bamboo loves nitrogen, but don't use too strong a mix on young plants. Buy any nitrogen-rich liquid feed at your local garden shop, be sure to dilute it appropriately, and never apply liquid feed to a water-stressed plant.

The moisture and nutrition content are likely the two biggest issues for your bamboo. Given its position, I'd say that even in wet Irish weather, the plant isn't getting enough water. The shed means it's only getting the rain really from one side - and possibly not at all depending the way the wind's blowing. Plus the plant itself will be sheltering its own soil from the rain - so more water first (give it a damn good soaking for a few hours, then pour off any excess - monitor the soil's dampness for two or three days to get an idea yourself of whether it's staying moist, but not claggy - then start feeding when you have the water balance right).

The flip side is if you have it in claggy soil, and it gets a regular soaking because the wind blows the rain against the shed instead of the shed sheltering the bamboo - well in that case, change your potting mix to something that drains more freely and be prepared to water on dry days - but I'd say the stress is because the plant isn't getting enough moisture.

Finally, where there's green, there's still life. Have a go at your bamboo with the secateurs - remove dead tips and dead leaves and cut back from the top. Lopping the tops of golden bamboo helps it to grow bushy as a screen, instead of stretching upwards towards its 7m potential. Take it back a bit, sort the moisture out, start to feed, and hopefully you'll see it come around in a few months.

joconnell

Okay by claggy I take it you means sloppy soil holding pockets of water for long times? I normally soak the planter so there's a build up of water at the top which will take a while to drain down - I've never soaked it for hours though. Since I'm barely able to take care of myself I got a slow release pellet type feed for the plants which apparently lasts 6 months and I've gotten some tomato food too - as a rule if I've got a liquid food that's to be mixed in with a watering can for example what's the schedule - should I water one day, leave it time for the water to go through then on a separate day put the liquid feed through so I'm not washing away the good or further diluting it?

So my to do list is as follows:

Trim back the dead leaves (shoots too? Should I go back to the base of the shoot they came from if they're all unhealthy?)
Water the bejaysus out of the planter for a few hours one morning and see how the soil is once it's drained through to check for water clogging up.
More nitro food - something like a 2 gallon watering can worth each time? Would you do this weekly / monthly?

Sonnenblumen

Generally the common cause of severe set back (going brown/loss of leaf) or death of bamboo is :
1. lack of water
2. Persistent wind.

Drought usually kills more often than wind, especially plants in containers.

Bamboos when planted in good well prepared ground will take up to 3 months or more to settle in. During this critical stage the plant is vunerable to suffering from drying out. Larger specimens (> 4m ) are very vunerable.

Once established bamboos respond well to feeding (any general plant fertiliser will do).

Important to remember that bamboo root (especially Phyllostachys varieties) are extremely tough to be almost impervious. Simply throwing a bucket of water on top will hav elittle impact as the root ball will repel most of the water. Better instead to leave a garden hose trickling for 30 mins (during settling in period) almost everyday during hot spells or even mild windy days
(the latter can also cause considerable dehydration of plant).

The root ball of bamboo is extremely tough and is well capable of reaching 1 m in diameter and bursting most containers.

A very good alternative to Phyllostachys is Pseudosassa/Bamboo Metake especially if reduced height is preferred (< 3m). Pseudosassa with its broad leaf looks very striking as a specimen in planter/raised bed etc.

Sonnenblumen

Forgot to mention, bamboos in containers require considerable ongoing care eg watering/feeding.

The Sweeper

joconnell wrote: »

Okay by claggy I take it you means sloppy soil holding pockets of water for long times? I normally soak the planter so there's a build up of water at the top which will take a while to drain down - I've never soaked it for hours though. Since I'm barely able to take care of myself I got a slow release pellet type feed for the plants which apparently lasts 6 months and I've gotten some tomato food too - as a rule if I've got a liquid food that's to be mixed in with a watering can for example what's the schedule - should I water one day, leave it time for the water to go through then on a separate day put the liquid feed through so I'm not washing away the good or further diluting it?

So my to do list is as follows:

Trim back the dead leaves (shoots too? Should I go back to the base of the shoot they came from if they're all unhealthy?)
Water the bejaysus out of the planter for a few hours one morning and see how the soil is once it's drained through to check for water clogging up.
More nitro food - something like a 2 gallon watering can worth each time? Would you do this weekly / monthly?

Trimming back - where shoots are dead, trim off what's dead (you don't need to go back to the main shoot). Take off dead leaves by hand.

Yes, soak the planter one morning and allow to drain - other than the rocks at the bottom of the planter, do you have holes to allow water to drain out? After a good watering, wait 24 hours for the plant to perk up before fertilising (this is a good rule of thumb with all moisture-stressed plants - they'll usually perk up and look better over 24 hours).

Choose a seaweed or fish emulsion based liquid feed - the tomato liquid feed should be fine - and apply as per the bottle - for instance, with most fish or seaweed products, one nine-litre watering can usually does about a square metre, once a week, but the amount you'll add to a nine litre can will differ - maybe four capfuls, maybe two, maybe six, it'll be on the bottle - so one watering can, once a week, of fertiliser should be okay for your bamboo.

You WILL need to water it with plain water in between times though. Again, you're aiming for soil that is moist but not waterlogged.

joconnell

Perfect - thanks for that, I've got a hose running on it now, it'll get over an hour of water sprayed today and check it back again tomorrow. It seems like it drains down from the surface over the course of a few minutes from a flooded state - not sure if anything can be gauged from that. On the drainage holes the planter has some marine ply on the inside to stop the contents leaking out between the gaps in the planters boards to keep it nice and tidy. there's no bottom to the planter, its only got the four sides and a cap on it - no solid surface down the bottom.

Much appreciated for the advice!

joconnell

After about two and a half hours water yesterday I checked the soil - it seems evenly moist all the way down, no water logging at all. I'm going to give it some tomato feed today and keep an eye on it - there seems to be some new growth alright so hopefully I can pull it back from the brink!

joconnell

Just as an update I soaked the soil for about an hour every few days and fed it with more tomato food and we seem to have some new shoots on the stems - the old leaves which are maybe 80% brown aren't showing any signs of recovery - I'll pinch those off. As a side note there's a great run down of questions here which relate to the golden bamboo and apparently the last two winters have been very harsh on them - I'm noticing a lot of the same damage we've talked about here on most bamboo I see so it's nothing personal it seems!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/lancashire/content/articles/2008/01/08/bamboo_feature.shtml

The Sweeper

Yep with leaves in general, if it's brown and dry, it's dead and that won't rejuvenate Even the limpest, saddest looking plant in wilt can make a comeback in the right conditions if the leaves are still green. If you don't want to denude it entirely you can usually just snip off the dead pieces, leaving the green bits.

Good to hear it's coming back though!

Have you looked at the idea of installing a drip system, save you running a hose over them for hours every week?

joconnell

The drip sounds interesting - I toyed with the idea of having something kind of hose / guttering with sprinkler holes drilled as an even way of watering - one of my main issues is the irregular hours I work - the last stint had me away from my house for 6 weeks so a system that could act as a childminder of sorts would definitely be beneficial. Have you any links of such systems so I could do some local research? I'd love to take the time and mind them by hand but being realistic an automatic backup sounds sensible.

The Sweeper

No links pertinent to Ireland, but someone else might.

Have you an outdoor tap?

Home irrigation is, weirdly, really fun, but you need an outdoor tap.

The main idea of a home irrigation system is that you can buy either a manual or electronic timer valve that fits onto an outdoor tap and into which you can plug a hose. You leave the main water source tap on at all times, and the timer valve that's attached to it keeps the flow of water shut off. The manual clocks are countdown timers - you can turn the face to run for 45 minutes, for instance, and walk away, and it'll allow water from the tap into your hoses for 45 minutes and then count down until it shuts itself off.

The electronic ones have a 24 hour clock on them, so you can set them to open the valve and allow water through for a certain amount of time at a certain time each day.

(Hope that makes sense - there are a bunch of different kinds of tap timers.)

Setting up an irrigation system is all the world like playing with lego used to be. The best thing to do is set up a bunch of outdoor taps - so if you have one main outdoor water source tap, you link a permanent hose to that, run the hose to a number of spots where you'd like taps (you can use joins and hose splitters to achieve more than one destination). Then you sink a post into the ground and run the hose up the post. You can get outdoor taps that have holes designed so you can screw them to a post and run the hose into them. You can leave all of your hoses above ground until you're sure your taps are where you want them, then you can go about burying them (and remembering where they are!)

Hopefully I haven't lost you quite yet - but basically, if you have three or four taps set up around your garden, being fed from one always-on outdoor tap, you can either leave the scattered taps off all of the time, and when you turn them on there will be immediate water (because the main tap, being on always, is feeding water right up to each destination tap through your hoses) or leave the scattered taps on and attach manual or electronic timer valves to each of those taps.

You need to mind a few things - use plumbers tape around your fittings to make sure they're tight, and beware that if the water pressure is too high from the mains tap, it may blow the home-made fitting of your garden tap - meaning mains water streams into the air for a few soggy hours while you're not home.

You can literally change the amount of water sections of your garden gets to suit each section.

Hoses themselves come in any number of varieties - a good non-kinking garden hose is very useful, because you can cut it into pieces to suit your needs. Drip irrigation systems include distressed rubber hoses that leak water from their length (excellent against the ground, under a layer of mulch - very efficient). There are also spot systems where you lay a normal garden hose around the plants you want to water. When the hose has settled, use a sharp tool to put little holes in it and fit a dripper fitting (like a skinny, stiff plastic tube with a splitter on top of it that means the water comes out in three or four sprinkling streams).

If you can get it right, setting up "secondary" taps around the garden with submerged hoses is a useful and discreet way of getting water to the different sections of your garden. This could well be overkill on an Irish garden, with the amount of rain ye get, but it's vital down here. Still, a revised version could be useful for getting water into your planters without having hoses running all over the place.

You could also take it back a step, run a 'leaking hose' system around your bamboos, with a fitting on the end into which you plug a hose as and when you need to use it. Leave it on all the time while you're away, and go back to manual care when you're home.

Most of the big DIY stores should have a garden plumbing section with all the fixtures, fittings, hoses, and plenty of little objects that look cool but you have no idea what they're for - but it's not hard to figure it out if you spend a little time on it - think lego!

joconnell

Yep I getcha - I'd say something like the leaking hose job would suit me since there's only a small section where the watering is a major issue - that said I'm sure my phormiums / cordylines would benefit from the same - if I got a male to female receiver on a 2 / 3 metre length of hose and blocked the other end I could poke some holes in it to make a primitive sprinkler that could alternate between the bamboo and phormium bed on alternate days.

Eurorunner

Have had mine left in pots for the last couple of months and they went brown similar to how the OP described. Have just planted out so hopefully this will sort it. Hope its the water/not liking being potted issue rather than wind. If its the wind, then maybe they won't improve...

joconnell

It seems that it's the wind drying the soil as much as anything so yeah it's a constant watering process - My one is developing a lot of new shoots since I've started doing long waters on it - I'm going to look at the sprinkler system too similar to this thing - http://lifehacker.com/399798/grow-a-green-and-healthy-lawn-with-diy-automatic-sprinklers