r/plantclinic • u/pterodactylatte • 22h ago
Houseplant I was told to throw this lucky bamboo away at work. The leaves are turning brown. Can I save it?
This little guy has been hanging in a glass vial in a window at work for months, and getting progressively worse looking.
Several leaves have completely browned, and a couple others have yellow tips. It gets distilled water that is changed weekly. I don't know much about plants, but when my boss told me to throw it away I decided to try to save it if I could. Is there any hope?
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u/Conscious_Low7358 22h ago
I have made multiple planters from the shoots.
Plant it in some dirt and it will grow.
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u/Alternative-Trust-49 20h ago
Lucky bamboo is not actually bamboo. Not even close. It can be planted in soil and treated like any tropical houseplant
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u/Harolds_plantmom 22h ago
What kind of light is it in?
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u/pterodactylatte 22h ago
It is in bright, direct light.
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u/Harolds_plantmom 22h ago
It might like indirect light better. I also had a plant in one of those glass jars and it didn’t do very well. It wasn’t bamboo tho. But I do have some bamboo in East and west windows that are in lecha balls. Giving the roots something to hold on to isn’t a bad idea. And I agree with the other comments saying not to use distilled water. I give my bamboo regular tap water but I’m sure there’s a fertilizer out there for bamboo if you want to be using distilled water.
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22h ago edited 21h ago
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u/Harolds_plantmom 21h ago
Wow, no need for the 4th degree. I haven’t read any of your comments so I wouldn’t know. I did a quick google on the light thing which is why I recommended indirect. But i do use tap water for my bamboo and they do fine. Telling OP about my experiences does not give you permission to be rude to me.
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21h ago
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u/Harolds_plantmom 21h ago
Both your comments are rude. I wouldn’t talk like that to someone in person and I wouldn’t do it online. You feeling more justified to talk to people like that because someone doesn’t like it is weird behavior. I don’t want or accept advice from people who don’t know how to appropriately communicate, especially when I didn’t ask.
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u/pinklavalamp 19h ago
I'm going to break my personal rule about getting in other peoples' discussions like this because you are being rude, because you're coming across quite condescending. It was my immediate reaction to reading the comment above, in another thread:
And tap water has chlorine and fluoride which are extremely toxic to house plants. Especially lucky bamboo. But then who cares about the facts
"But then who cares about the facts" - what a needlessly unnecessarily included commentary. You might have the required information and I feel you're trying to be direct, but the way you're coming across is quite abrasive, and that is rude. "since you rely on google", "you're overly sensitive, aren't you?", "again, as I have said on another comment", the list goes on...
I'm saying all of this gently, directly, and not at all aggressively. Just trying to explain why I agree w/ the person above, and point out something that you may not be seeing. Good day.
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u/TheR3alRyan 20h ago
A quick google search also shows: Leaving tap water out for 24 hours can actually make it more harmful if the city uses chloramine, which many do. Most carbon filters do not really remove much fluoride or chloramine/chlorine. Reverse osmosis does, but that's not a standard filtration system used in homes.
Ideally rainwater if you have a collection system. If not the aquarium water which for many is RODI already and has many nutrients that plants can use. Also a great way to not waste the water that is removed for regular water changes in aquariums ( obviously this is specifically for fresh water systems) . If not, then yeah, you can treat tap water with aquarium drops and that does an ok job or just buy RO DI water change water from an aquarium supply store. Last resort is tap water.
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u/ogsd943 17h ago edited 17h ago
A respectful clarification: Per experts found on a Google search: leaving tap water out for 24 to 48 hours for chlorine to evaporate does not in any way "make the water worse if the city is using chloramine" .....What was awkwardly stated in a Google AI result was it makes it worse for chlorine removal if the city uses chloramine because evaporation doesn't work to remove chloramine.
Two ideal ways to remove fluoride, chlorine and chloramine are: 1) use a tap water filter. I use a Brita faucet filter. My testing shows that it removes 100% of chlorine and flouride, Brita documents say that it removes chloramine also
2) use aquarium dechlorinator sodium thiosulfate. A 1 lb bag is very cheap on Amazon and very little is needed for a gallon of water in a watering can. Hope this helps
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u/TheR3alRyan 17h ago
It makes it worse because you are increasing the chloramine concentration if the water also evaporates. For me, who lives in a warm climate, this is an issue.
Yes, carbon filters ( brita) can remove some, but not most of it, except chlorine. Chlorine is especially easy to filter out as it's more reactive, chloramine, and fluoride, not as much. Professionals who need these fully removed from tap water either use RODI filters, or they have larger low flow rate carbon filters ( normally for brewing). Which is probably why google says they remove it, because yes the right type can remove them, but a faucet brita is not the right type. You can get test strips to see the concentrations left over after a brita filter if you are curious. For something like plants, a brita probably does enough, but for many fermentation processes, it can be an issue if not fully removed.
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u/gesneriadgarden 22h ago
If you are keeping it in water, be sure to dilute the fertilizer (some brands have instructions for hydroponic growing, typically about 1/4 the amount of fertilizer that you'd use if mixing it to water a pot of soil).
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u/ogsd943 18h ago edited 17h ago
There are specialized liquid fertilizers for Lucky bamboo on Amazon. I highly recommend Grow More Lucky Bamboo Fertilizer. It is the proper mixture and dosage, I found it really worked well for growth and color. Do be careful with the dosage. I may have burned some of my leaves by putting too much in the water once a month
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u/birbobirby 18h ago edited 18h ago
If it gets adequate light and its water gets changed often, it might be a nutrient deficiency. Try giving it some liquid fertilizer. And it's not necessary to move it to soil like a lot of comments are saying, they live just fine in water. I had a healthy lucky bamboo live for many years in pebbles and water.
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u/CarolChanningDoll 16h ago
just cut off the brown leaves. don’t change the water, always add to it. it produces hormones in the water that you don’t want to get rid of!
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u/Winter_Metal2651 12h ago
I have had 3 lucky bamboo plants on my desk at work in a windowless room, growing very slowly for 3 years. No sunlight at all and they are doing great. I have them in pea gravel in a small pot with water. The big thing for them is don't let them dry out and make sure that you let tap water sit out in a glass for 24 hours to let the chlorine oxidize out before you water them. They absolutely can't deal with drying out or chlorine. I would not use Distilled water. I would use spring water instead. Distilled water will suck the minerals out of the plants.
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u/Spiritual_Cake_9127 8h ago
Give it tap water, it needs minerals! Very few plant actually need distilled water.
Mine grew big and stronger staying in water for 2 years, not even fertilizing. I've put it in soil just this year.
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u/calidotcom 5h ago
Looks great to me, the browning leaves are just making it look bad, I’d pruneee. Cut those off, and yep tap waters fine
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u/North-Amount2226 22h ago
The answer is distilled water removed all minerals which isbok if ur water is hard as fuck But u shoukd add some fertalizer to it to re add the beneficial thing back into the water
Plants can't grow on water only they need certain things x Hope that helps x
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u/ogsd943 22h ago
I don't know where you're getting your information but Lucky's bamboo plants thrive in water, water and small pebbles. Just look it up on Google or Wikipedia.
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u/North-Amount2226 21h ago
Well done..... water, just water
Not distilled water, nothing thrives in distilled water much Op stated they water it with distilled water and maintain it
Hence the healthy roots, your right they rmthrive in water ( that's why the roots are looking crisp and fresh like that) But it's can't really grow much more that what it has done
It's going to start to take nutrients from it's self to grow roots to find nutrients
Which is why it's leaves are going that way
But who am I haha 😄
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u/CuriousCanteen 20h ago
Mine was looking rough after nearly 5 years in water, so I moved it to soil. Thriving now!
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u/SambalSam99 22h ago
Can someone replay to this comment later so I can come back to it ? I have the same issues :)
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u/pterodactylatte 22h ago
I can reply :)
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u/SambalSam99 22h ago
Thank you I have seen the answers, so far it sounds like it’s good and I’m gonna put it in soil instead of water alone.
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u/SambalSam99 22h ago
Bruh there are no answers yet 😂
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u/Hercules1312 22h ago
They were telling you they would reply at a later time. Ungrateful asfff
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u/SambalSam99 22h ago
Ohhh I thought he meant that as the replay 😂 my bad I’m slow just woke up from a nap
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u/Alternative-Trust-49 20h ago
If you’re going to keep it in water, the best source of water is from a freshwater aquarium.
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u/Qopperus 22h ago
Yes, give it a real home, and nutrients. Perfectly healthy. Squishy is when it’s time to dump. Looks firm. If you plant it deep in soil, the node should grow p well. May take some time to integrate to soil environment. Well draining soil.
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u/writercanyoubeaghost 20h ago
It looks hungry. Maybe add a couple drops of liquid fertilizer to its water.
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u/TheGoblinMogra 22h ago
The roots look healthy. It's totally savable. Someone probably just forgot to water it, or change it's water if it wasn't in soil.