I picked this up at the sale at Jerry’s Jungle about a month ago and it’s been growing like a weed ever since. It’s about 4 times bigger now than when I took this picture.
(Sugar cane is the grassy looking plant in the middle of the photo. )
Sugar cane has been adapted to grow in dry and boggy warm climates. Home growers say it loves lots of water, so I’d try it in a damp spot. I’m also told it can be invasive, plant it with care. It grows well with banana plants and they like water.
Other home growers report sugar cane reaching about 8 feet in height with 2″ canes. The canes have ridges horizontally and look very similar to bamboo. The leaves are long and thin and more grass like than bamboo. Be careful they are sharp and will inflict paper cut type wounds if you make the mistake of running one through your hand.
To start a sugar cane plant, obtain some sugar cane in the grocer’s. Cut it into one foot or so pieces and stick it in the soil. Plant them sideways not upright. I have not tried this yet but several sources report successfully starting sugar cane this way.
The sugar is in the syrup in the cane. The water is evaporated from the sap leaving the sugar behind. Or you can crush the stalk to release the sap.
Sugar cane is originally from Asia and was brought back to Europe by Alexander the Great.
3 responses so far ↓
1 admin // Jan 7, 2008 at 2:43 pm
This is growing and putting out new shoots, no problems here with sub-freezing temperatures.
2 admin // Jan 8, 2008 at 8:26 pm
Note: I was at a talk today and learned summer is an excellent time to plant sugar cane. One node up/ one node down. Or on your cutting one node above ground and one below.
If you just want the grass you can cut the stalks as they grow and the grass will be more upright in form. Myself I think the canes are the cool part.
3 ljmacphee // Aug 25, 2008 at 1:02 pm
If you want a tall grassy bamboo like plant this is a good choice.
When we had the rain storm it all tipped over so I cut it back ( be careful the leaves are like razors ) and new stalks started appearing about a week later.
Might need staking.
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