Bamboo plants in pot and container planters are great for instant privacy screens. Besides, you do not have to worry about the bamboos’ invasiveness because the planters are barriers.
They also provide the benefit of moving them around to optimise on space available, perfect for small and narrow spaces.
Bamboo plants come in different sizes and shapes. The options are endless. Some tall and slender bamboo varieties are perfect for privacy screening the porches, patios, decks and balconies.
Check out best ways to grow healthy bamboo in pots, or see our sales page where you can find the renowned UK Home & Garden retailers for bamboo plants and supplies.
Ensuring healthy bamboo plants
There are more benefits to using the plants. However, growing bamboo in pot and container planters requires extra care and attention, unlike the garden hedging bamboo screens.
In this article, you will find out about how to:
- choose the best bamboo for small outdoor spaces,
- select the best planters to grow bamboo and
- provide long-term care for the bamboo plants.
How to select the best pots and containers?
There are a lot of recommendations for larger and bigger bamboo planters, but these are not often the best recommendations for narrow outdoor areas like the deck, patio, balcony or porch.
Unless, of course, use a bigger planter if the outdoor area has enough space for a bigger plant.
When choosing a pot or container for growing bamboo, size, weight and stability matter!
That begs the question what is the best pot or container for planting bamboo plants?
The three-pointers will help you to identify the bamboo planter that suits you.
- A strong and durable frost resistant pot or container planter will act as a root barrier and protect the plant against the cold. Avoid the thin plastic pots because they do not stand a chance against the bamboo rhizomes and clumps in compacted space.
- Avoid growing bamboo in containers that have small openings and heavy tops. If you use these planters, it will be hard to remove the bamboo plants for repotting, or the tall plants will topple to the ground.
- Choose a container or pot that is stable, well insulated and has holes underneath. Here are options for stable square and rectangular pots and container planters and boxes that you should consider when growing bamboo for an apartment balcony, home or office.
Space matters when growing bamboo plants
Perhaps the important point to consider when selecting a pot or container for growing bamboo is the space available on your porch, patio, deck or balcony. Most of these spaces are usually narrow.
Ideally, the narrow rectangular heavy-duty containers are best for this kind of space. For the corners, you may want to choose a heavy-duty square container planter.
Some DIY wooden and metal containers are great for other plants, but not ideal for bamboo plants.
Furthermore, the metals pots do not have good insulations as they either absorb or lose heat pretty quickly in Summer and Winter, respectively.
If you still wish to use DIY wooden containers to grow bamboo, the best thing to do is to use the treated timbers that can last longer than 5 years.
As for the metal containers, ensure that they are well insulated from heat and cold.
Above all, ensure that the pot and container planters for growing bamboo are strong and stable, are well insulated, and have good drainage.
Choose large pots or container planters
You can move the bamboo into a larger pot or container planters. It is going to be a tedious operation getting the bamboo out.
However, if you are using the square and rectangular container box, you’ll find it easier to uproot the plant and repot it while saving the old container box.
In a case where it is difficult to remove the plant from the container planter, you will have to decide whether to keep the plant or keep the planter box. That means that you will have to destroy one and save the other.
The best time for repotting a bamboo plant into the container planters is early Spring when the new growths are prominent.
Avoid environmental stress in confined areas
Like other potted plants, bamboos in pots require attention if they were to thrive in the confined space.
One of the main reasons why bamboo leaves turn yellow (more info here) is the lack of moisture and nutrient in the soil.
Undoubtedly, bamboo in pots and container boxes will grow well where there is good moisture and nutrient in the soil.
Many pot and container planter boxes have a hollow bottom where the water drains out pretty quickly.
Bamboo plants tend to lose more water through transpiration through the thin and slender leaves compared to other thick leaves plants.
Poor drainage and a high rate of transpiration are often the main reasons why the soil in pot planters becomes devoid of nutrients and moisture. This is the main cause of the yellowing of bamboo leaves and browning culms.
How to improve soil condition in pots?
There are two things you can do to improve the soil moisture and soil nutrients in pot and container planters.
Firstly, fill the base of the pot and container planters with pebbles, gravel or a porous pot filler to stop it from losing water.
Do not block the hole at the bottom of the planters completely because the bamboo plants dislike waterlogged containers.
In addition, leave a spacing of about 10cm to 15 cm at the top of the pot and container planters after you’ve planted the bamboo. This space is very important for mulching and fertilising the plants later.
Secondly, use nutrient-rich loam soil and or potting compost when potting bamboo plants into containers to give them the best start.
Here is the right mixture of clay to sand to silt to create an ideal loam for growing bamboo.
Alternatively, a 50/50 mix potting compost contains the right nutrient and moisture for new bamboo plants to thrive in the pots.
If you need more information on how to grow bamboo, check out the Instructional Guides from YouGarden.
How to stop tall bamboo in pots from falling down?
Ominously, the tall bamboo plants will sway in the wind and topple to the ground if the pots are unstable. When this happens, you are likely to have a damaged plant, or pot, or both.
To avoid bamboo in pots falling to the ground, choose a pot or container planter with good stability.
A regular occurrence is when the tall bamboo culms lean out of the bamboo cluster or grove. In this case, use the garden ropes to tie them back.
Protect potted bamboo roots and rhizomes from cold and frost
The bamboos in pots and container planters require insulation in Winter when the temperature falls to negative values.
Although the bamboo plants are tough and hardy, the roots and rhizomes are above ground level and are directly exposed to the weather, unlike the plants on the ground.
The bamboo plants in the planter pots are prone to frost, frozen soil and, even, the Winter’s chill.
The best way to protect the bamboo in the planters is to add mulch and cover the base of the pots with an insulating blanket, bubble wrap or special plant insulation fleece.
Do these when bamboo in pot and container planters grow big
The running and clumping bamboo plants will reach full growth in the pots and containers within 2 – 5 years. That is the period when the plants are at their peak.
They’ll display evergreen foliage, shiny culms and beautiful leaves – an ideal time to enjoy the beauty of your bamboo plants.
The plants will thrive for more than 5 to 10 years in large pot planters under the right conditions and care mentioned in this article.
To continue to enjoy them, there are a couple of things you can do to keep the plants in the pot longer.
How to maintain bamboo plants in pots and containers?
Bamboo plants are relatively hardy bamboo and can withstand air temperatures as low as – 20 degrees Celsius in normal growing conditions.
However, bamboo plants in pots and containers without the right insulations will struggle to survive at such very low temperatures.
So the first thing to do before planting them is to insulate the containers by using styrofoam which is light and great for extra insulation.
In addition, the new bamboo plants are prone to slugs damage. Add Slugs and Snail Killer to protect new shoots and rhizome tips.
Here are some general protection measures to apply when planting bamboo in pot and container planters;
- Apply Slug and Snail Killer around your new bamboo.
- Add organic mulch.
- Tie the long culms to bamboo sticks or poles.
- Add insulation inside the pot and containers.
- Cover the pots and containers with additional insulation fleece or blanket when the temperature drops to negative degrees Celsius.
‘Thinning’ bamboo in pot and container planters
Remove the old unhealthy culms (canes) to give the new shoots a chance to reach full height. In fact, the new shoots will be stronger and taller than previous bamboos, so encourage new growth if you want taller and healthier plants.
After 5 – 10 years, you will have to carry out ‘thinning’. Remove the older bamboo culms and rhizomes from the pots and containers, and separate the culms into segments for repotting. This activity is best done in Spring.
At this juncture, we provided insight into how to select and grow the perfect bamboo plants in pots for the small outdoor space at home, the office or the rental place.
If you are undecided, do not worry. Check out the Award Winning bamboo plants.
We hope this article helps you. Let us know what you think in the comment below.
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