Feeding bamboo: when, with what and how?

The exotic bamboo is now also native to our country. We show when, how and with what to properly fertilise and provide nutrients for bamboo.

Bamboo (Bambusoideae) is known for its rapid growth. Even without any action, bamboo grows like a weed towards the sky. However, if the Asian sweet grass (Poaceae) is to grow to its full height and lush green beauty, additional nitrogen fertilisation is essential. This is due to the fact that bamboo is a heavy feeder and has a special need for this chemical element. The plants need a lot of nutrients and minerals to provide enough energy for the enormous sprouting.

To ensure that your garden shines in a sea of green leaves, it is important to provide your bamboo with the optimum amount of nutrients and minerals, even in winter. That is, it is necessary to pay attention to the correct fertilisation. But which fertiliser is particularly suitable for bamboo and when and how much should you fertilise?

When to fertilise bamboo

Bamboo can be supplied with nutrients for the first time when planting. For this purpose, the planting soil is mixed with well-matured compost. Special bamboo soil also exists, which is designed to promote growth through an adapted composition. If you plant your bamboo in special soil, you will not need to fertilise again for the first three months. The nutrients within the substrate, whether compost mixture or special soil, should normally be sufficient for as long as possible and provide the plant with optimal nutrition.

After this time, fertilise – in older plants from mid-April – just before the culms shoot. You should use fertiliser a total of two to three times at intervals of about four weeks. To ensure that your bamboo survives the winter as unscathed as possible, fertilise it for the last time no later than the end of August. This gives the new culms enough time to mature before frost appears. When fertilising with a slow-release fertiliser, a single application of fertiliser in the spring is also sufficient. This promotes the new sprouting of culms. If you choose an ecological fertiliser in organic quality, you will be doing a small favour not only to your garden but to all gardens on this planet.

Summary: when is the best time to fertilise bamboo?

• When planting, compost or another organic slow-release fertiliser can be mixed into the planting soil
• The first fertilisation is done after 3 months or for existing plants from the middle of April
• Fertilise with an organic fertiliser three to four times at intervals of 4 weeks
• The last fertilisation takes place no later than the end of August

Bamboo fertiliser: how and with what to fertilise?

Bamboo has a decent appetite, focusing especially on the supply of nitrogen but also potassium. A nitrogen-heavy NPK fertiliser is therefore ideal for taking care of your plant. There is also a special fertiliser for bamboo. This provides the new shoots with a high nitrogen content. Silicon strengthens the leaf structure and makes the plant as a whole more resistant. An extra dose of potassium will then make your bamboo even more fit for the winter.

However, when buying fertilisers you should pay attention not only to the composition of substances, since there is more to each product than its basic purpose. When buying, it is best to look for organic fertiliser varieties. These contain nutrients in a form that can be released in the soil at the right dose over a long period of time. This not only saves you from constant re-fertilising but also minimises the risk for over-fertilisation. After all, not only too little but also too many nutrients harm a plant.

Instead of special bamboo fertiliser, you can also use lawn fertiliser such as our Plantura Lawn Feed. Like bamboo, turf also needs an NPK fertiliser with a high nitrogen content. Our Plantura Lawn Feed offers an optimal supply of primarily organic nutrients without resorting to animal products. In this way, you promote soil life in a biological way and reduce the risk of overfertilisation by slowly releasing nutrients.

Expert tip: especially in gardens with potassium-poor soils, additional fertilisation with potassium-rich autumn lawn feed in August helps bamboo become more frost-hardy and robust. Our Plantura Autumn Lawn Feed provides this extra potassium while maintaining a high and animal-free quality. The potassium helps with winter water supply, allowing your bamboo to get through the winter more safely.

Summary: how and with what to fertilise bamboo?

• Use nitrogen-heavy NPK fertilisers; primarily organic fertilisers such as our Plantura Lawn Feed offer the advantage of slow nutrient release and vital soil life.
• Special bamboo fertiliser contains silicon for strengthened leaf structure and increased resistance along with potassium to increase frost tolerance.
• Do not remove browning and fallen leaves (more on this in the following section).
• Fertilising with our Plantura Autumn Lawn Feed will support the frost hardiness of your bamboo.

Feeding bamboo naturally

Bamboo needs decent strength to grow to full size. Organic variants, of course, also ensure a balanced nutrient ratio in the soil in the right quantity. You can resort to plant-based liquid fertilisers and granules such as our Plantura Lawn Feed, but also the following products:

• Guano
• Mature manure with a high nitrogen content (cattle or horse)
• Mature compost
• Bone meal

Silicic acid, or the silicon it contains, is also important for bamboo as it ensures strong culms. Therefore, the falling bamboo leaves should not be removed. Conveniently, in fact, the leaves contain the required silicon. If not enough foliage has accumulated, or if you prefer to remove unsightly brown leaves right away, you can fertilise with horsetail broth or stone meal – such as bentonite or Lucian stone meal. The whole product is then applied widely and to the surface of the root area.

Expert tip: an additional thin layer of bark mulch stores extra moisture, reducing the need for watering. Weeds also only penetrate the mulch layer sparsely.

Slow-release fertiliser: instructions and dosage amounts

To ensure that your garden resembles an Asian place of tranquillity and not a feral panda reservoir, it is important to supply the right nutrients at the appropriate levels. Below, we have prepared a step-by-step guide to bamboo happiness with our Plantura Lawn Feed:

1. Before planting, work 100 g/m² (0.2-liter jar) of our Plantura Lawn Feed into the top soil layer
2. Water the soil and freshly planted bamboo abundantly so that the granules can dissolve well
3. For maintenance fertilisation from mid-April, you should again fertilise 40 – 60 g/m² (at least 10 teaspoons) three to four times at an interval of 4 weeks.

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Feeding bamboo with mineral fertiliser

If you keep your bamboo in a pot or container, you can also apply a mineral liquid fertiliser during watering. However, you should only use blue grain and others carefully and in a weak dose. It is best to avoid mineral fertilisers for bamboo because of the high salt content. Instead, use an organic fertiliser to save yourself some fertilising or even losses due to overfertilisation and salinisation when growing in pots. It makes sense to get a quick energy boost from mineral fertilisers if your bamboo is getting yellow or brown leaves due to a magnesium, silicon or nitrogen deficiency. Here you can also resort to a mineral fertiliser for quick help. Rapid nutrient release is beneficial in an emergency but really only then. It is better to act preventively and use a slow-release fertiliser as early as spring.

Fertilising bamboo with home remedies

You can also apply a manure of nettles or comfrey to care for your bamboo. In this process, the plant residues are soaked in rainwater for two weeks. The slurry is finally ready when it stops bubbling. Everything is diluted with water in a ratio of one to ten and the plant watered with it. Other home remedies such as coffee grounds also provide untold amounts of nitrogen. It is simply distributed in the root area or added to the watering water. A mix of coffee grounds and bone meal provides all-around care. This power mixture is worked into the soil surface around the root zone. After that, another layer of grass cuttings is applied. However, coffee grounds lower the soil pH, which can because acidification. If the soil pH is acidic, crushed eggshells can be incorporated into the soil once a year as an auxiliary measure. These provide lime and thus increase the pH value.