Lucky bamboo plants are becoming more and more common now, and you’ll find plenty of people keeping them in their homes for luck. If you have recently started taking care of a lucky bamboo plant, you might be concerned if it doesn’t seem to be doing well.
Why would a lucky bamboo plant appear to be dying if you’re doing all of the normal things to take care of it? There could be many different things that are going on, and it’s going to be crucial to learn about all of them to determine what is wrong.
Read on to get information about lucky bamboo plants as well as what could cause them to die. Once you’ve read all of this information, it should be easier to make a determination about what is really going on with your plant.
1 – Watering Issues
It’s good to know that lucky bamboo plants are actually quite resilient, and this means that you definitely have a shot of saving yours. However, it’s possible that you will need to examine whether you’re watering the plant correctly.
People often kill plants by not watering them enough or by watering them way too much. These plants are going to need water to survive, and you might just not be doing things completely right.
Ideally, you need to avoid letting the soil of your lucky bamboo plant get too dry. Most people are probably going to keep them in soil, but not all of them will.
Check the soil to see if it has started to dry out a bit, and if it has, you should go ahead and water the plant. You want to water your lucky bamboo plant well, but you don’t want to go overboard since that could wind up being a bad thing.
Watering these plants too much has the potential to lead to issues such as root rot. Once your lucky bamboo plant has root rot, it might be tough to try to save it, and this makes it all the more important to water your plant properly.
Don’t water your lucky bamboo plant when the soil is still really moist. You don’t want to let the soil completely dry out, but you need to respect the dangers of watering plants too much.
Another potential issue that has to do with water is the type of water that you are using for your plant. Many households have tap water that contains chemicals such as chlorine, and these will not be good for your lucky bamboo plant at all.
You need to ensure that you aren’t using tap water that contains chemicals that will harm your plant. It should be possible to figure out what chemicals are in your water, but if you can’t, then it might be best to err on the side of caution and use other types of water.
Some people buy water specifically to water their plants, but you don’t really have to go that far. Letting tap water sit out overnight should make the chlorine evaporate so that you can use it on your lucky bamboo safely.
As long as you’re taking the right steps, it should be a lot easier to get good results when watering your plants. You might not have thought about the potential of chemicals being in your water, but it’s something that you can remedy now that you know about it.
2 – Temperature Problems
Temperature problems can wind up causing your plant to die as well if you don’t address them. Placing a lucky bamboo plant somewhere that has hot drafts or cold drafts will be too wild for the plant.
You want to find a nice safe spot where the temperature is going to be fairly consistent. This means that having it near air conditioning units, vents, radiators, or other things of that nature will be bad.
Lucky bamboo plants are pretty good at thriving in average conditions that you will find in most households. They like temperatures of 65 degrees Fahrenheit all the way up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
You really only encounter significant issues when you place your lucky bamboo near places that will have large temperature fluctuations. For instance, placing your plant near an air conditioner could cause the temperature to be lower than 65 degrees Fahrenheit in that specific spot.
Even leaving your plant too close to a windy or a drafty door could be bad during the winter months. When the outdoor temperatures are freezing, you’re going to have to be more careful about placing it away from areas that will experience drafts.
It shouldn’t be hard to find a reasonable spot for your lucky bamboo in your home. They don’t take up a lot of space, and you really just need to be logical about where you decide to place it.
3 – Lighting Issues
As you might expect, lighting issues can play a role in the overall health of your lucky bamboo plant. All plants need light to be able to survive, but you have to ensure that your lucky bamboo is getting just the right amount of light.
Both extreme light and too little light will present big problems for your plant. For these plants to thrive, they’re supposed to get moderate sunlight that is indirect.
Direct sunlight is something that will scorch leaves and make it harder for your plant to do well. This means that you can’t just leave the lucky bamboo plant in front of a bright window and expect that it will be okay.
If your lucky bamboo looks a bit worse for wear, it could be that it has been scorched by the sunlight. You can tell that this has happened by examining the leaves and seeing edges that are browned slightly almost like they have been burned by fire.
Thankfully, solving this issue is as simple as moving it to a better spot. Find a spot in your home that will be able to provide your plant with moderate indirect sunlight so that it can do better.
If your plant isn’t getting enough light, do what you can to give it more sun exposure than it is currently getting. You’ll have to examine places in your house to determine where the ideal spot for moderate indirect sunlight is located.
4 – Pests
Pests can potentially cause your lucky bamboo plant a fair number of problems, too. Mealybugs happen to be a common pest that will give these plants problems, and you’re going to want to keep an eye out for them.
Mealybugs will try to eat your plant, and this is certainly going to harm it. You should do what you can to remove the pest issues so that your plant can be healthy once again.
Mealybugs aren’t the only pests that you’ll have to worry about when growing lucky bamboo plants. You might also encounter issues with mites, and fungal infections can even become a problem under the right circumstances.
If you find fungus growing on your lucky bamboo, you’ll need to purchase a type of fungicide to take care of this. A bit of rubbing alcohol should be all that you need to eliminate mealybugs, and mites can be removed with plain water and dish detergent.
5 – Pets Eating the Plant
It’s good to briefly mention that some people have had issues with pets eating their lucky bamboo plants. You might have a curious dog that likes to chew things, and this dog could cause harm to your plant.
This is one reason why it is a good idea to keep your lucky bamboo in a spot that can’t be reached by your pets. It’s also worth noting that these plants are toxic to cats, and cats can get pretty sick if they try to eat them.
If you have a cat and it tries to eat your lucky bamboo, it could experience significant abdominal pain. It’s also known to cause dilated pupils, increased heart rate, and drooling issues.
Be sure to keep your pets away from your lucky bamboo plant for their safety and for the safety of the plant. So long as you’re placing it in a good spot, you’re not going to have many issues with this.
6 – Disease
Disease could be a reason why your plant is dying, and you’ll want to look out for signs of disease to be safe. Lucky bamboo plants are supposed to be completely green, but they might turn yellow in some spots if they are diseased.
When you notice that your lucky bamboo plant is turning yellow in specific spots, you’re going to need to cut the plant back to eliminate the yellow parts. This can prevent the disease from spreading further so that you can save the plant.
Removing yellow portions of the stem and leaves completely will be the right call to make. These plants can survive something like this, but they’re more likely to survive if you take action quickly.
Try to pay attention to your plant so that you can catch signs of disease early on. It’s important to look into any unusual signs that you’re seeing since there could be other plant diseases that might be impacting your plant as well.
7 – Your Lucky Bamboo Plant Could Need More Nutrients
Sometimes your lucky bamboo plant might require more nutrients so that it can get better. This is going to be a good time to consider giving the plant some fertilizer to see if it will help.
A little bit of liquid fertilizer could help to get your plant back to looking better again. You want to ensure that you follow the instructions that you were given when you bought the fertilizer, of course.
Never go overboard with fertilizer since too much of it could cause problems for your plant. This is just about giving the plant more fuel to fight and get better, so to speak.
It’s also good to note that fertilizer can be useful whether you’re growing lucky bamboo plants in water or if you’re using soil as most people do. It’s going to be pretty easy to use standard liquid fertilizer to get decent results so long as you’re using the instructions and being careful.
8 – Your Lucky Bamboo Plant Needs a Bigger Pot or Vase
It shouldn’t surprise you to hear that your plant can get to a point where it is too big for its pot. When a lucky bamboo stalk grows over time, it’s going to make it so that the roots will become tighter in the container.
If your lucky bamboo has been in a pot that is much too small for it, you might need to make changes soon. When roots become way too crowded, it can lead to an issue that people refer to as a plant being “rootbound.”
You’ll be glad to hear that repotting a lucky bamboo isn’t all that hard in the grand scheme of things. You just need to buy a pot that is appropriately sized for how big the plant is right now.
Go ahead and dampen the soil and then move it into a larger pot. It’s likely that you will need to add soil to the new pot as well to fill the space, but this will be easy to accomplish and shouldn’t really shock the plant.
Those who are growing lucky bamboo plants in water will simply need to move the stalk to a larger vase that has water in it. Of course, you also need to be sure that you’re using good water that doesn’t contain chemicals.
Growing up with a mom who filled her home (inside and out) with all sorts of plants, Lisa got her start in gardening at a young age. Living now on her own with a home and yard full of plants (including an indoor greenhouse), she shares all the gardening tips she’s gained over the years.