•   Choose a location with drainage which suits the light level requirements of the bamboo.
•   Dig a hole at least twice as wide as the pot and a bit deeper than the pot.
•   If the soil is good, use it as part of what you put back into the hole. If the soil is poor, get a good garden soil or potting soil to replace it. Either way, you want a soil mix of about 50% compost or composted manure. Add some of this to the bottom of the hole.
•   Remove the plant from the pot. Try not to disturb the soil around the roots.
•   If you are planting a clumping bamboo and discover a solid mass of tangled roots covering the bottom of the dirt ball, cut off that solid mass of roots before planting the bamboo.
•   Put the plant in the hole. Be sure there is enough soil below the plant so that when you fill in the hole the dirt level on the bamboo will be about the same as it was in the pot.
•   If you have a running bamboo, and there are rhizomes curling around the outside of the dirt, go ahead and loosen them carefully and spread them out in the hole so that they are no longer growing in a circular fashion.
•   Fill in the hole half way with your soil mixture. Tamp the soil firmly; don't pack it hard.
•   Fill the hole with water and let it soak in.
•   Fill in the rest of the hole with soil and soak it with water again.
•   Add more soil if needed after the water soaks in; water again.
•   Add mulch, up to several inches high, over the entire hole.
•   Stake the plant if necessary.
•   Remove any damaged or unsightly leaves.
•   Remove  20-50% of the remaining leaves.
•   (Optional, but recommended if the plant is small enough) If the plant is in full sun, cover it with burlap or something cotton (an old bed sheet, etc.) and keep the covering wet (mist it) for several days, then remove the covering.
•   For a week or two, water the plant every two or three days. Don't let the soil become soggy; if you do, leaves will turn yellow or orange and fall off.
•   Watch the leaves. If they roll up or fold up, the plant needs water; remove more leaves and water the plant. If the leaves dry up and become crispy, remove them. If the leaves turn yellow the soil is too wet.
•   Remember that bamboo leaves will grow back, but cut branches or canes will not grow back. Yes, this is very different from what trees and shrubs do!
•   Water the plant well for the entire first year to help it become established.
•   Fertilize with compost, composted manure, or slow-release fertilizer; high nitrogen fertilizer before and during the growing season; use low nitrogen fertilizer at other times. Bamboo is a grass, so lawn fertilizer works also.
•   Contact us if you have questions!

Last updated by Webmaster April 4, 2005