Bamboo is a fantastic and hardy low-maintenance plant that is gaining popularity worldwide. It is a rapidly renewable resource and most importantly an excellent plant capable of sequestering carbon and preventing soil erosion with the hopeful goal of becoming carbon-negative.
That said, bamboo isn't just a plant meant for business, propagating bamboo in your home is an entirely different kind of fun. Learn the best practices to regenerate and grow bamboo from cuttings in this comprehensive guide:
How To Propagate Bamboo: Step-By-Step
The first thing that you need to know when learning how to propagate bamboo plants is that there are two different types of bamboo and the same method won't work for all of them. First, you have the clustering bamboo which needs to be cut at the culms (stems) for propagating.
Second, you have the running bamboo which grows from off-shoots of rhizomes underground, they need to be propagated from their rhizomes instead. Lastly, we have bamboo propagation by water which is a high-risk high-reward venture as it's quicker but there's a possibility of bamboo rotting from water.
Also, make sure to do your research regarding whether your true bamboo is a 'clumper' or a 'runner' before getting started.
The simplest way to propagate bamboo is by cutting and rooting their canes or culms, which is a fairly simple process. You can just trim them off a parent plant with a gardening shear or a saw depending on the age and culm thickness of that particular species.
You should be making the cuttings in the late spring or early summer when it's bamboo growing season but before their main growth season where they shoot with intense vigor in May. Make sure to choose a year-old plant that's not too young but also not too old and dry.
Materials Required
Knife or Handsaw
Rubbing Alcohol or Diluted Bleach
Water Container
Pruning Shears
Rooting Hormone (Optional)
Soft Wax (Optional)
Nursery Pot or Small Container With Drainage Holes
You need to pick the correct tool to make your cut, make sure to sharpen it and clear it of any rust and debris before disinfecting it with bleach or rubbing alcohol. The choice of tool will depend on the heft of your bamboo, with thin bamboo you can get away with using a knife but with heartier bamboo, you need to use a handsaw.
Either way, disinfecting before using the tool will prevent the risk of disease and rot which maximizes your chances of success. If you are using bleach, make sure to dilute it in water first with 1 part bleach for 32 parts of water, i.e. 4 ounces of bleach per gallon of water.
2. Cut Bamboo
Now that you have your tool all prepared and at hand, cut a well-grown and hearty 1-inch thick bamboo cane near the base above a node. Nodes are the hardened rings that wrap around the stalk.
Make sure to use a small saw with as small teeth as possible to prevent the stringing of the outer wood to further reduce the chances of rot, once they're cut cleanly make sure to soak the base in a container of water for some time.
Get the bamboo out of the water container and start cutting it into smaller pieces between the two nodes with each small bamboo cutting containing at least 3 or 4 nodes which should make it about 10 inches long.
If it's not 10 inches long then add more nodes as bamboo cuttings that are at least 10 inches long and 1 inch thick have the best chances of success at propagation. Afterward, trim the branches of the bottom-most node which will become your new roots, and keep them submerged until you are ready to plant.
4. Apply Rooting Hormone
Get the 10-inch bamboo cuttings and apply a rooting hormone to the base end of the cutting with the trimmed branches. This is actually an optional step but it will help the roots develop much faster once you plant the bamboo.
Shake off the excess root growth hormone as going over the top with it isn't good either. You can buy root growth hormone from your local arborist or the gardening store, make sure to read all the instructions on the label.
Once you've applied the rooting hormone, apply 1/8 of an inch of soft wax around the rim of the exposed end of the bamboo cutting base but do not cover the hole. This is yet another optional step but it will help prevent the stalk from drying up due to loss of moisture as well as the possibility of rot maximizing your chances of success.
6. Bury Cutting Into Soil Mix
Now regardless of whether you have applied rooting hormone or soft wax, the only thing left to do is to bury the cuttings 1 node deep into the soil of a small nursery pot or a container filled with potting soil. The bamboo can't grow in real soil just yet.
Although straight compost will also do, we recommend using sphagnum peat moss and perlite for the soil mix. After you push the bamboo into the potting soil 1 node deep, make sure to press the soil firmly around the bamboo to eliminate any air pockets.
7. Water Cuttings Regularly
Make sure to mist the soil thoroughly with a spray bottle to make the soil wet and damp to the touch but not muddy. To check, you can stick your finger into the soil until the first knuckle to make sure the soil is wet before misting.
While the roots develop in moist soil, you will also need to fill the center of the cutting with water to give the stalk extra water to use as needed. Make sure to check the water level every 2 days and keep the center of the stalk mostly filled with water as it grows for the time being.
Make sure to keep the pots in a warm area but out of direct sunlight. A little light throughout the day is okay but they should mostly be in a shaded location as you water them daily.
Also, although the soil needs to be moist, the mix needs to be well draining so don't water too excessively or allow water to sit on the top of the soil as it will put the developing roots at risk of rotting.
9. Transplant The Cutting
Once 4 months have passed while following this routine, you should transplant your bamboo cuttings into a more permanent location. Although bamboo is hard and capable of tolerating most soils without a fuss, a location with moderately acidic, well-draining, loamy soil would be the most suitable for them.
Make sure to loosen the potting soil gently for transplanting with a hand shovel to avoid damaging the newly grown roots. Transplant the cutting into a hole slightly larger than the root system and replace the soil around the bamboo.
Growing the bamboo from rhizomes isn't as straightforward or intuitive as growing them from bamboo culm cuttings but what choice do you have? After all, if it's a running bamboo then just attempting to propagate them via cutting their culms will have a very low chance of success if they even work at all.
This is mainly because all the energy of the bamboo is stored in the rhizome roots so the plant can't bring energy to repair and regrow itself from anywhere else. Like with the other bamboo, it would be best for you to get started in mid-spring just before their intense growth spurt period.
Materials Required
Shovel
Gardening Knife or Handsaw
Rubbing Alcohol or Diluted Bleach
Nursery Pot or Small Container With Drainage Holes
Using your trusty shovel, dig up the soil around the base of the bamboo to expose the running rhizome roots. You don't have to be as delicate as with digging up a recently potted bamboo cutting as these old bamboos are very sturdy and difficult to damage, in fact, they are even considered invasive due to how hard they are to control.
Once you've exposed the roots it's time to get cutting so make sure to clean, sharpen and sterilize your cutting tools.
2. Cut Off Rhizomes
Depending on how hard the rhizomes are, you will need to cut off a portion of the rhizome with 2-3 growth buds using a gardening knife, or if that doesn't work, a handsaw. The running rhizomes are basically underground stems anyway plus you should be collecting rhizomes from an established bamboo or you put the existing bamboo at risk.
After cutting off the rhizome, remove all the dirt away from the roots of your bamboo cutting carefully. Do not use any rhizomes that have a dark or patchy appearance as it indicates the presence of pests or disease and they will not do well for propagation.
Once you've successfully extracted the rhizome, take a nursery pot and fill it with a layer of any starting soil mix such as organic compost or a mixture made of sphagnum peat moss and perlite.
Then lay the rhizome horizontally in a pot with all the growth buds facing up, you know, the spots from where new stem stalks will grow. I mean after all, you shouldn't have cut the rhizome if there were no growth buds on it.
4. Cover With Soil
After placing the rhizome in the nursery pot filled with a starting soil mix, cover the rhizome with at least 3 inches of the potting soil mix and press on the soil firmly to facilitate complete contact between the soil and the rhizome so it can start to develop and grow properly.
If your rhizome already had some baby bambo stalks growing out of the soil before you cut it then make sure to keep those ends above the soil in the pot.
Make sure to water the soil regularly every other day to prevent oversaturating the roots with the water which has the potential of developing rot. Also, the starting soil mix should be well draining so check whether the soil is draining properly and if there is any muddy water on the surface.
Check whether the soil is getting dampened properly by sticking your finger down into the soil until the second knuckle before watering. If feels dry, water the rhizome but do not drench the soil.
6. Keep In Shade
The pots should be kept out of direct sunlight and in the shade for about 4 to 6 weeks while it is still trying to develop their roots. However, they shouldn't be kept inside the house, if you don't know where to keep them, your best choices are to keep them next to the shady exterior wall or just under the shady cover of a large tree.
Once 4 to 6 weeks have passed the bamboo shoots have grown enough to have broken through the soil and sprouted. You can dig them up gently with a trowel and transplant them permanently into the soil as long as the night soil temperatures are above 55°F.
With the steps on how to propagate bamboo by cutting its stems and their rhizome roots, now learn how to propagate bamboo in water. You can still use the previous methods, but it will be hard to know whether your plants' roots are developing or not; all you can do is just wait for months until they grow or don't grow.
Not only is this method quicker, but you can also see whether the plant is developing or not as you will be able to see small developing juvenile roots sprout out of the base of the bamboo.
First, take a cutting implement of your choice such as a gardening knife or a handsaw with the smallest teeth possible, clear it of any rust and sharpen it. Once it's been sharpened, sterilize it with household disinfectants.
Take a 10-inch cutting off a new bamboo growth near the top of the bamboo stalk which is at least 1 year old for the best chances of success. Make sure to have the cut be as clean as possible just below the nodes to reduce the chances of rot as the bamboo with stringing or jagged caps are highly likely to rot in water.
2. Trim Bamboo Cutting
One of the most common bamboo water propagation mistakes that a lot of novice gardeners have made includes not removing lower foliage sitting in the water. To do this, simply snip off the branches using a pruner in order to remove the leaves of the part of the cutting that is to sit under water.
Forgetting to remove the leaves not only leads to the leaves rotting which hinders the overall health of the cutting, but the energy that went into preserving the leaves could have been redirected to developing the new roots instead. Thus, this greatly improves your chances of success.
Now that you've made bamboo cuttings, you need to dip the bottom of your bamboo cutting in a rooting hormone. Although this is optional yet again since being submerged in water is a harsher environment and has a high likelihood of rotting roots, the quicker you can get it over it higher the chances of success are.
Thus, we highly recommend you dip your bamboo cutting in a rooting hormone to supercharge it. You can either buy a ready-made one from a gardening store or make your own rooting hormone by gathering willow tree branches and blending them into slurry and straining it to make a DIY rooting hormone.
4. Submerge In Glass Pot
Once you've dipped the base of the cuttings in rooting hormone, submerge the base of the bamboo cutting completely in a pot filled with water. It is important to use a transparent material for your pot such as glass to be able to see the development of roots as well as allow the plant to get light.
It is also important to ensure that the pot is placed in a well-lit area to photosynthesize but not in direct sunlight as it can encourage the growth of algae in the pot. The plant should get reflected indirect sunlight or use grow lights for 6 hours at a time with the temperatures being above 55°F at all times.
Make sure to change the water in the pot periodically every 2 days as still-standing water will lose oxygen quickly especially since bamboo needs a lot of oxygen to support its rapid growth and development. Bamboo shoots have an 'oxygen sink' that will continue to absorb oxygen to meet their needs during growth.
A cutting that is deprived of oxygen could wither off instead of growing again, thus changing the water will ensure that your plant continues to get all the necessary nutrients required to keep growing.
6. Transplant Cutting
Keep repeating this routine for a few weeks until the roots in your pot are 2 inches long after which you can transplant the water-grown rooted bamboo cutting into a pot or the ground to continue growing.
Make sure to do it within the 4 months before their runners take root, however, make sure to take all the proper measures to stop bamboo from spreading uncontrollably.
Best Time To Propagate Bamboo
The best time for propagating bamboo plants is in early to mid-spring, just before May, when it is the growing season for bamboo. By May, the bamboos enter a massive growth spurt where the shoots reach newer heights and show you why it is known as the fastest-growing tree in the world.
Hence, the idea for propagating bamboo during this time is to do so when they are the most active and growing which improves the chances of them growing new roots successfully. Trying to propagate bamboo at any other time won't guarantee successful rooting.
Temperature: Some bamboos originate from the mountainous regions of Asia where winter temperatures can drop as low as -22°F so they can handle the cold without a fuss while others originating from Australia, Africa, and tropical parts of Asia are best protected from the cold dry winds.
Soil: The bamboos are not fussy hence they can tolerate most soil types but they grow the best in moderately acidic, quick draining, and loamy soil.
Water: Although bamboos require a lot of water during its growing season, it will not tolerate wet soil during the monsoon season. Thus, if you have very clay-heavy soil then you should incorporate gravel, grit, or perlite when planting.
Sunlight: Juvelile bamboo shorter than 50 inches will not tolerate harsh sunlight and will generally be required to be kept in the shade. However, once the bamboo is hardened off properly, it requires 6 hours of direct sunlight daily.
Yes, it is possible to propagate bamboo plants from seeds, however, growing bamboo from seeds is trickier than growing some other plants from seeds because bamboo flowers occasionally so their seeds are neither common nor very easy to acquire.
Even then, since the climate of our western hemisphere is not its native region, there have to be many challenges that need to be met in order for the seeds to sprout, such as having to soak them for 24 hours prior to planting them in compost. Bamboo seeds need a temperature of 75°F and high humidity to have a high chance of germinating.
However, if you are growing bamboo from seeds then it is especially important for you to contain and remove bamboo to prevent it from going out of control before it damages your property.
No, although they look like bamboo, the small mini-bamboo that you often see in glass vases and jars in office scapes is 'Lucky Bamboo', which is a false bamboo. What do I mean by that? 'Lucky Bamboo' is a dracaena, particularly Dracaena Sanderiana, and is a part of the Liliaceae family, thus having no relation to the 1,200 species of true bamboo.
Hence, the techniques, procedures, and tips mentioned in this guide aren't relevant for the lucky bamboo species and should only be used for propagating the true species of bamboo belonging to the Bambuseae family.
Trivia
It is believed that 7,000 years ago in the jungles of Vietnam when the bamboo trees entered their May growth shoot season, they released a lot of seeds that provided a bounty of food for the red junglefowl which eventually evolved the ability to reproduce very quickly when food was plenty.
Thus, the bamboo inadvertently influenced and fostered the evolution of the modern-day fowl that we come to know of as chickens. Humans eventually noticed and domesticated the red junglefowl to take advantage of their quick reproductive rate to provide a quick reliable source of meat and eggs.
