Sand could cause problems down the road. If you want stability, switch to a much larger substrate, like pebbles or small stones. OR, plant your Dracaena into a good, porous potting soil...with a container that drains properly.

You might be able to grow your Dracaena in sand, but only with proper watering and fertilization. Sand and water is mucky, and your plant will not be able to properly access oxygen, an essential element for growth and development.

The sand should not be harmful unless it is treated with some kind of chemicals. For some reason LB not grown in soil is sensitive to chemical exposure.

Growing plants in dry sand which will be watered appropriately is entirely different than growing something in water that has been saturated with sand. This scenario will create a situation that is neither terrestrial nor aquatic; the plant will find it very difficult to adapt.

Water-borne root systems are quite different from those which are designed to be successful in soil. A sand saturated plant will find it difficult to access oxygen, to give off CO2.

Try something like fish tank gravel as the smallest particle. Then, the plant will react like an aquatic, and develop substantial water-borne roots, which are able to take dissolved oxygen out of water.

Interesting Rhizo. I am not sure I can follow you exactly though. Lucky bamboo is not a truly aquatic plant, it normally grows in soil. So when you you speak about water borne roots, do you mean the root develop with a different structure because of the medium it is planted in?

Exactly, evonne.

When rooted in water, plants have to develop roots that will be relatively efficient in getting dissolved oxygen out of the water. Oxygen becomes the limiting factor. When grown in a solid medium, roots will need to form that will be able to access water AND air in quite a different manner.

What the original poster proposed, I think, was to add sand to the jar of water....an aquatic experiment gone awry. If the particles were BB sized, rather than sand sized, it would be quite a different story.

Does that make sense?

It makes sense to a certain extent Rhizo. Thanks for responding.

With my experience in taking the plants from water to growing them in soil, I have done quite well. The plants seem to grow much better for me that way in a very short time.

I have not personally grown lucky bamboo in sand, but I have seen them potted up in decorative sand with water. But if roots are unable to access air and water when growing in sand, that would seem like nothing would grow in sand ever. Some plants do grow anchored in sand. In the aquatic environments (fish tanks), some people will use sand for the base although I hear it can be difficut on the filters.

I am still interested Rhizo! Where does your information come from? The aquarium forum might need to hear from you. :)

Well, after two years of growing my (thriving) Lucky Bamboo in water+fish gravel, I have just placed it into some quick draining soil. I sure hope the roots are up to the task!

My other lucky bamboo cutting has been growing in sand for two months now and is doing just fine. Even after leaving it out in the sun and mild burning the leaves it is still doing fine!

Likewise, anyone interested in lucky bamboo and sunburn will be happy to note my considerably larger bamboo took most of the sun damage while providing shade to the smaller cutting and reducing the damage done there. So despite the rather severe burn, I cut away the brown parts of my large lucky bamboo and it has been doing absolutely fine--this thing is nearly unkillable!

Thanks for the update! Check back in awhile and let us know how that sand grown LB is doing.

I just purchased 4 18in. stalks of lucky bamboo. My vase is a bit shorter. The shoots are near the top of stalks. I would like the roots anchored so I propose putting 6 inches of playground sand in the bottom of the vase and then filling it water. Will let u know how it turns out later.

How did it turn out? PLEASE tell me! I'm trying to do this as well.

Latoya, thanks for reviving this post; as it is a good discussion on root health and anchor materials. Good luck on your rooting efforts. If asking: root in plain water, then when rooted use pebbles not sand to anchor is my 2 cents.

Any update on the Sand idea?

3 years ago I bought a decorative planter that has 8-13inch side-by-side stalks. They each have a 15ish inch shoot off of them. I have had them suspended in water for the last year due to trying to rehab them.

2inches in water, 28ish inches above....

Was hoping to add something to stabilize them a bit better.

thought abut sand?

Trying sand from my fish tank let's see and black fishtank gravel.

how is it going?

TWELVE YEARS THIS THREAD HAS BEEN ACTIVE... and still the verdict is out on the sand. Amazing,