Umbrella bamboo is very popular with many gardeners because it produces so many shoots that it provides a perfect privacy screen. But an umbrella bamboo, which can grow up to six meters high in its native China, also cuts a fine figure as a single plant. Tips for proper care.
How do I properly care for umbrella bamboo?
Umbrella bamboo care includes regular watering, especially in summer, fertilizing with slow-release fertilizer in spring, if necessary cutting diseased or too tall shoots and protection from pests. Umbrella bamboo is hardy and generally does not require any root barrier.
What should you consider when watering umbrella bamboo?
Umbrella bamboo likes it moist. Therefore, water often, because it loses a lot of moisture through the leaves, especially in summer.
Umbrella bamboo thrives particularly well in high humidity. The ideal location is next to a garden pond.
How is umbrella bamboo fertilized?
Fertilize the umbrella bamboo in spring with a slow-release fertilizer (€8.00 at Amazon). That is usually enough. You need to fertilize bamboo in a pot more often.
Leave fallen leaves and cut branches under the umbrella bamboo. They retain moisture in the soil and at the same time serve as a natural fertilizer.
Is cutting the umbrella bamboo necessary?
In principle, cutting umbrella bamboo is not necessary. However, it is recommended to trim the bamboo if it gets too tall. Alternatively, you should choose low varieties.
Sick, dry or frozen branches are also cut. However, it is a matter of luck whether the umbrella bamboo sprouts again in that location.
Can the shrub be transplanted?
Umbrella bamboo can be transplanted. The best time for this is spring.
- Dig up the root ball generously
- Improve new planting hole with compost or horn shavings
- Insert umbrella bamboo
- Fill up the earth and compete
- Water the plant well
What pests and diseases can occur?
If many leaves turn brown at once, this is usually a sign of a nutrient deficiency and not a disease.
Umbrella bamboo is often attacked by pests such as aphids, spider mites and whiteflies. Voles like to attack the roots. Pests should be combated as quickly as possible with appropriate measures, as they can cause significant damage to the umbrella bamboo.
Is umbrella bamboo hardy?
Umbrella bamboo, like all types of bamboo, is hardy and does not need winter protection. However, in very cold weather, individual shoots can freeze off. If the brown branches bother you in spring, you should cover the umbrella bamboo with reed mats to protect it from frost.
Tip
Umbrella bamboo has a big advantage over other types of bamboo. The evergreen shrub does not form rhizomes and therefore does not need a root barrier.
