Lucky Bamboo Help - stalk turning yellow

[megm]

Hi! I have a lucky bamboo plant that i've had for 3 or 4 years now. It was only a few inches tall when I got it and has grown to 2 feet or so (see pic). A few months ago I moved it to a larger container as the roots were growing out of the container I had it in. I found a pot that I had laying around the house (not sure if material matters for these plants?) The plant has always been in stones, but I needed more since this is a bigger pot - I ordered some off Amazon and added. The two largest stalks are turning yellow from the bottom up, leaves are turning yellow as well. The plant is in the same spot it's been since I've brought it home. There are two newer stalks that have formed over the past 6 months, those are still nice and green.

Yesterday I washed out the pot the plant it is and washed off the rocks and completely changed out the water. Some of the roots are yellow while there's others that are really dark red. (I can take a pic of these if needed)

Any idea what I should do to help the plant? This is the longest I've ever kept a plant alive (i've even killed a spider plant, which are supposedly impossible to kill), so I'm hoping to save this guy! I can take additional pics if needed.

Thanks!

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forum @megm!

The answer is probably overwatering - which is really easy to do, and the most common killer of houseplants. Check out this post:

https://www.gardening-forums.com/threads/common-plant-issue-read-before-posting.8886/

 

[Beth_B]

Isn't lucky bamboo typically grown in water, though? I think water and rocks (or glass beads or whatever) is the growing medium.

Anyhow I have no clue @megm. Is it possible to slice the root mass in half, so you can at least save the healthy new shoots?

 

[Pablo]

Isn't lucky bamboo typically grown in water, though? I think water and rocks (or glass beads or whatever) is the growing medium.

Anyhow I have no clue @megm. Is it possible to slice the root mass in half, so you can at least save the healthy new shoots?

A similar thing happened to a rosemary plant of mine. I over watered it and the bottom leaves started to die. I replanted it and I think it's doing okay. Re-pot it and it should recover, but make sure the soil stays dry for about a few days, I don't think there is a need to cut off the roots that died. Just water it once a week or when the first inch of soil starts to feel dry. Also make sure your pot has good drainage

I have never understood plants that grow in water, the cause of root rot is when your plant's roots can't get oxygen when submerged in water for too long. It just seems impossible for a plant to grow in a pool of water without suffering from root rot. It could be that some plants that usually are grown in water, grow in flowing rivers or streams that contain large amounts of oxygen in the wild. Allot of times bamboo is grown with rocks and water, but I still don't see how that's possible even with the rocks. My best guess is that the rocks somehow give the plant oxygen, I have no idea how that's possible though lol, maybe the rocks make some kind of current that can push oxygen to the roots.

 

[megm]

Thank you all for the responses. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.

Yes, lucky bamboo is grown in water - there's a bigger concern for it not getting enough water than it getting to much (from my limited knowledge of the plant).

I could possibly try to slice the roots in half, but I'm scared I may kill the whole thing if I do that