A How-To Guide on Growing Bamboo Indoors

by Rudden|Bobruska Team 03/06/2022

Despite its sheer beauty, bamboo has a bad rap as an outdoor plant because of its rapid growth and tendency to spread across the property. But those reasons are exactly why it makes for such an excellent indoor potted plant. Beyond that, it’s a low maintenance plant that is elegant and brightens up the room in an instant. If that’s exactly what you’re hoping for in a houseplant, this indoor bamboo guide is for you.

Select Your Preferred Variety

Your first step is choosing your preferred type of bamboo. Although there are many kinds in this plant family, not all will thrive indoors.

The most popular indoor bamboo varieties include:

  • Koi

  • Takemurai

  • Holochrysa

  • Flavenscens Inversa

  • Vittata

  • Albostriata

  • Sasa Tessellata

To decide between your options, examine their appearance and hardiness. If you’re a beginner, you might like the rather hardy Vittata, which turns a beautiful golden yellow color. Advanced indoor gardeners might want to try the Sasa Tessellata, which grows huge leaves up to four inches wide and two inches long.

Set Your Bamboo Up for Success

By choosing the right pot, soil and placement in your house, you can help your bamboo thrive starting from day one. When selecting a pot, go with one just slightly bigger than its original container. Beyond that, make sure that it has a wide mouth that will allow the root ball to come out in one piece when you need to repot it.

Fill the new pot with a high-quality potting soil and plant your bamboo inside. Then, completely moisten the soil with distilled water to help the roots get established. Never use tap water since even a small amount of chlorine can damage your plant.

Keep Temps Warm and Provide Lots of Light

With your bamboo in its new container, find a spot inside that gets full to partial sun. In that spot, your plant will grow strong stems and brilliant green leaves. Give your plant a quarter turn each week so all of it gets to enjoy the sunlight every month.

Bamboo plants appreciate a trip outside to directly soak in the sunshine when you can swing it. They like to sway in a gentle breeze, which helps to strengthen their stems and roots even more.

Although bamboo can tolerate cold snaps well, it is happiest when temperatures hover around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. They can tolerate up to 90 degrees without breaking a sweat though. Normal humidity levels are fine, so you don’t have to worry about making any adjustments there.

Apply Fertilizer Monthly and Gradually Upgrade Your Pots

Since bamboo plants can suck all the nutrients out of the soil over time, apply liquid fertilizer about once a month. Observe the growth of your bamboo and upgrade the size of your pot whenever it seems a bit cramped.

You can also cut back the extra bamboo shoots as you need to keep it happy in its container. Or gently separate them when repotting your plant and give them away to your loved ones, so they can grow some bamboo as well.

As you follow these steps, you will end up with a strong, healthy indoor bamboo plant. You can then use that knowledge to grow other varieties that catch your eye and end up with a houseful of beautiful bamboo.

About the Author
Author

Rudden|Bobruska Team

Gary Rudden, Lisa Rudden, and Nick Bobruska  

RUDDEN BOBRUSKA TEAM

What sets your team apart from other real estate teams?

There is no team out in the market that offers what we do. All of us are Realtors, but

we each have specialized roles, which make our team so unique!

After decades of living and selling real estate in the DMV, we have established

ourselves as one of the top real estate teams with our market expertise and

cutting-edge technology. Our savvy high-tech marketing is on every website

and social media source. We have a huge network with other top agents, which

helps to premarket homes and discover homes for buyers before they reach the

open market. Our services include professional in-house staging services, broker

expertise in negotiating and navigating contracts, and buyer representation in all

price ranges. Each client has different needs and we create a marketing plan based

on those needs.

Our most distinct feature is our in-house construction and renovation team. We

are literally a full-service, one-stop shop when selling or buying a home!

How does the in-house construction and renovation team work?

All work is managed and completed through our licensed and bonded construction

crew. No need to call outside contractors. We are like “HGTV,” but we just don’t

have a show! Whether it’s a small makeover or a major renovation, we do it all. Our

sellers love this aspect of our team because we make preparing your home for the

market so seamless. Our buyers love the advice and insight we can give for future

renovations and repairs.

Having a licensed Maryland Home Improvement contractor as part of our team

along with the knowledge, experience, commitment and services that we offer, truly

puts our team as a vanguard in the real estate industry.