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indoor bamboo sp. help

13 years ago

I want to plant an indoor bamboo garden. I have an old fish tank that I want to convert into a bamboo garden.The Idea is to put down a layer of soil and plant 20-40 bamboo shoots to be a mini forest. Put some little ground cover and other tiny plants so the whole thing looks like a bamboo forest landscape.

Few technical questions. Species of bamboo would yall suggest? This would be an indoor project. Really cant get more than 12" tall, I know bamboo grows taller than that but I am ok with cutting it back.

Any advice would be great. I was just going to get 60 stalks of that 'lucky bamboo' plants for 20$ online, But i realized that they are not real bamboo plants. I would rather use real bamboo.

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Comments (3)

kentuck_8b
13 years ago
There are several things to consider. How large is your fish tank?

Amount of light will be a concern.

Also, being in a glass container could be a problem as the bamboo grows.

There are several small species that grow only up to three feet in height which would work for you.

Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa, Sasa, Sasaella, and Shibatea are some of the species to look at. Pleioblastus has several species that would work.

Kt
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alan_l
13 years ago
If you're going for the "leaves on top of stalks" look like large outdoor bamboo has, then go with the lucky bamboo (dracaena). None of the smaller bamboo species will give you that same look, as they're mainly lots of leaves with thin culms (stems).

Keep in mind that it will be hard to keep the dracaena small, although cramming dozens of plants together might help with that.

I planted a fishtank as a terrarium, and some of the plants in there quickly dominated all of the others. Now I've got it planted with cactus and other slow-growing succulents (photos in link below).

Here is a link that might be useful: my cactus terrarium
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gardener1
13 years ago
mr gourami Try the species Psuedosasa Japonica it will do well for you in the terrarium. But you will want to keep it on the dry side in other words let it dry out some before watering again. They like to be drier than most bamboo and do well in a pot inside my greenhouse. Good Luck.
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