Maintain bamboo plants: what you need to know about water, soil and mulch

Bamboo water uptake requirement differs slightly from plant to plant. An established bamboo plant requires less water than the new plants, not the other way around. 

How often should I water my bamboo plants?

Understandably, new bamboo plants will require moist and well-drained soil to establish themselves, whereas the old plants will tolerate dry soils. If your bamboo plants are growing in fertile and well-aerated soil, you do not have to worry about giving water regularly, unless (of course) it’s very dry. 

Here is a guide to the best soil for growing new bamboo plants.

Bamboo plants do not like dry, compacted soil

A well-established garden bamboo can thrive without water for months. Yet, bamboo plants that grow on compacted soils, such as the building sites, will require more water than those growing on loose soil.

Water any new plants and those growing on compacted soil regularly. Keep the soil moist but not waterlogged. 

Though the roots, called rhizomes, do not run deep into the soil, they will tolerate dry soil but do not like compacted soil. 

A combination of hard and compacted soil is not ideal for bamboo plants. The bamboo rhizomes will struggle to survive in compacted soil.

How often should I add mulch to my bamboo plants?

One of the important things that you can do when attending to bamboo is to add mulch to it. As mentioned, the bamboo plants are low maintenance, yet they’ll benefit from the water and mulch. Add mulch once a year. 

The best time to add mulch is at the end of autumn or the beginning of spring.

If you are expecting a very cold winter, then add it at the end of autumn. This is an ideal time because you can rake the fallen leaves onto the bamboo grove, which will keep the soil reasonable warm. 

Also, if you want new shoots to grow and give you a thick hedge or screen, add mulch to the bamboo late in spring. 

Take a look at this YouTube video of how we added mulch in spring. The results were stunning. We got lots of new shoots in summer, see the image below.

All in all, maintain your bamboo plants and enjoy them for many years. If bamboo plants turn yellow, attend to them immediately. It can be hard to revive them when the leaves turn yellow and start falling off the stems.