Fertilize bamboo properly

Contents

1.  Bamboo enjoys great popularity as an exotic giant grass. It can be kept both in the garden and in a tub on the balcony or terrace. Regular fertilization is important during cultivation. You should pay attention to this.
   1. The right fertilizer for bamboo
   2. The best time to fertilize
   3. Fertilize bamboo in a pot

 Bamboo enjoys great popularity as an exotic giant grass. It can be kept both in the garden and in a tub on the balcony or terrace. Regular fertilization is important during cultivation. You should pay attention to this.

bamboo regularly is essential if you want to enjoy the giant grass from the sweet grass family (Poaceae) for a long time. 

This is especially true for plants that are kept in tubs. But even if the bamboo is planted out as a screen, 

hedge or simply as a special eye-catcher in the garden, it needs consistent fertilization.

The right fertilizer for bamboo

Sweet grasses such as bamboo need sufficient potassium and nitrogen to thrive and maintain their fresh green appearance. 

Regular fertilization keeps the giant grass healthy and ensures lush and dense growth. 

You can use special bamboo fertilizers that are available in specialist shops or garden centres. 

Whether in liquid form or as granulate is up to you. 

However, you can also use lawn long-term fertilizer. The commercially available mixtures with nitrogen, 

phosphorus and potassium are ideal for fertilizing ornamental grasses such as bamboo. 

But be careful: The nitrogen content should not be too high. 

This reduces the frost resistance of the plants. 

If you like it more natural, you can also make a vegetable broth from nettles or comfrey to fertilize your bamboo. 

A mixture of horn meal/horn shavings and compost also provides the plants with very good nutrients.

MSG/Martin Staffler

An organic fertilizer for bamboo can be easily mixed from horn shavings and compost

If you have access to it, you can spread horse or cow dung on the beds towards the end of the winter. 

However, it should be stored for at least half a year. Horse and cow dung contains a lot of nitrogen and is therefore very healthy for bamboo plants. 

Important: Over-fertilisation leads to a too high salt concentration in the soil and causes the bamboo leaves to burn and become strawy. 

If this happens, do not cut off the dried leaves immediately, but wait until the plant has rejected them and new leaves have formed.

The best time to fertilize

It is best to apply a layer of compost and horn meal about five centimetres high as soon as you plant the plant. 

Otherwise, bamboo is fertilized in the period from about April to August. 

Especially in gardens with low-potassium soils, 

fertilization with lawn autumn fertilizer in August helps the bamboo to become frost harder and more robust, because it contains plenty of potassium. 

This way the bamboo gets through the winter better. However, do not apply the fertiliser later than in August, 

otherwise the new shoots will become soft and will generally withstand the winter temperatures less well.

Fertilize bamboo in a pot

Bamboo, which is cultivated in tubs, needs a particularly consistent supply of nutrients - otherwise it becomes susceptible to plant diseases. 

In addition to regular fertilization, also in the period from spring to summer, it has proven to be a good idea not to remove fallen leaves immediately, 

but to leave them on the substrate. 

They contain valuable ingredients such as silicon, which is beneficial to bamboo.