Nature and Gardening

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Prune bamboo with a lot of missing tips? (self.greenspace)

submitted 1 day ago by Lauchmelder to c/greenspace@beehaw.org

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Hello,

I recently bought two small bamboo plants and put them in two pots on my balcony. They're both doing well and have grown several new stalks that are already growing a lot. But I noticed that the existing stalks were not growing at all, and today I found out why: a lot of them are missing their tips.

To my understanding this means those stalks won't grow anymore. Should I cut the "broken" stalks off to make room for new ones? I'm worried that the plant won't have enough leaves to do photosynthesis, because I would have to cut away quite a bunch.

As to why the plants are missing the tips: I don't know. I assume the store I got them from did it to prevent them from outgrowing the tiny pots they came in

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[–] knightly@pawb.social 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

No need to cut the broken culms off, though you can cut away any dead portions as desired.

If it's a matter of aesthetics, then definitely let the new culms reach full size before you cut away the broken ones.

When the bamboo cluster gets too big for your pot, you can cut it into four pieces for repotting.

[–] Lauchmelder 4 points 1 day ago

Thanks for the advice! I think I'll just leave them be for now. There are still other "large" culms that are still growing so it should all be fine. I might cut them back next spring