Bamboo is a contrast of strength and flexibility. It can be a decorative piece for use in your garden or right inside your house. Because full grown bamboo can spread really fast, maintaining your bamboo population can be a challenge.
For growing bamboo indoors, the first thing you will need to select is a pot. In the first years of its growth, bamboo will only stretch a few feet so you can safely use a medium sized pot as a temporary container.
The soil requirements of bamboo are not that onerous to achieve. As long as the soil drains well and the PH levels are slightly acidic, your bamboo plant will survive. You can check soil PH levels by buying a soil testing kit. Loam and a smattering of clay will make up the composition of your potting soil perfectly. Add some mulch to about 2 inches in depth above the soil. Add some earthworms to help the decomposition of the mulch. The sooner they decompose, the sooner the soil gets added nutrients.
You can also use shed bamboo leaves as a mulching agent. They will help with moisture retention in the soil. Bamboo is native to places with high humidity so some bit of extra moisture in the soil will make your bamboo more comfortable.
You can opt to use some sort of fertilizing agent to add to the nutrients contained in the soil. Bamboo prefers high silica and nitrogen supplements so that it can maintain itself in good health. Traditionally, chicken manure is used for this purpose, but you really don't want the inside of your house to smell like a chicken coop.
There are no ideal planting times for bamboo. As long as it isn't too cold, bamboo will grow. If your area is prone to snow during winter season, the best time to plant a bamboo is midway thru spring. This will allow the bamboo to grow strong enough to withstand extreme weather. You might want to mulch the bamboo pot again just so that the bamboo has some added warmth during winter season.
One thing about growing bamboos in pots is that you have to make sure that the bamboo does not go root bound. Using a large pot from the beginning would help up to a certain point. When that point comes, your bamboo would have grown and spread to an area that your pot can't handle it anymore. A brilliant idea would be to use long, rectangular plant boxes so that you can organize your bamboo into a single row as they grow.
Keeping your bamboo soil mulched is pretty much a good idea. Bamboo comes from places where the weather is very humid. Dry soil is unhealthy for bamboo plants. Proper moisture retention and drainage will add to a healthy environment where your bamboo can grow.
If you've just started growing bamboo indoors, you will need to give it water two times a week. If the bamboo is housed by a 5 gallon pot, a half gallon of water for watering your bamboo is ideal. You will know when you give your bamboo too much water. The bamboo leaves will start to drop when this happens. Don't confuse this with seasonal shedding. Bamboos drop their leaves in spring.
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