Golden Hawaiian Bamboo ( Bumbusa vulgaris "Vittata" )
I had purchased this as a house plant for the front hallway but there wasn’t enough light there to make it happy. It’s a cool bamboo, clumping and yellow culms with green vertical stripes.
It is supposed to be very easy to grow with 4″ culms that reach 50′ in height.
I’ve had him outside less than a week and already he’s perking back up.
Bamboo needs lots of water and wants lots of sun. I expect this guy will be impressive even in part shade and drier ground. It might help keep him tamed as well. This is a clumping bamboo not a running bamboo so it should not attack the neighbors.
Watch for mealy bugs ( I just clean them off with a garden hose) and mites. Mites will have webbing and leaves will yellow. Use orange oil for them. Aphids and scale also attack bamboo and can be controlled with orange oil.
See also Black Timor Bamboo entry for more information on growing bamboo here
This was purchased from Tropical Bamboo Nursery ( Sun Sentinel Story about the nursery ).
Oh - you are brave. Bamboo scares me…you know ..one of those plants that you plant and you wrestle with the rest of your life!!
I figure if it doesn’t work out I can just move.
( just kidding )
We shall see how things go. It’d be really cool to have it around it’s such a cool plant. If it looks like it is escaping I’ll yank it.
This plant hasn’t grown since the weather cooled. A few leaves are brown since the drop to about 27′F but it seems otherwise unaffected. It may be that the less water is slowing it down more than the cold?
Slow grower, probably because I have it planted in mostly shade and a pretty dry area. It did send up a new stalk a month or so ago that is still gaining height. Too soon to tell how tall it will become.