Something is wrong with my plants...(lucky bamboo)

[EricB0584]

well i have this little container that had maybe a dozen or so small stalks of bamboo all together (smallest are maybe 3 inches long and the largest are maybe 6 inches long)

ive had them since about may 2008 and theyve been doing seemingly fine

tho initially i noticed some hard white stuff on the outside of them, which i assume is calcium from the very hard water here.. So i do my best to not use tap water for them if at all possible. Usually i will use water that i filter out of a dehumidifier which should be a lot 'cleaner' then the tap water here..

normally the hard white stuff would easily flake off by lightly running a finger nail over it and since i switched to the dehumidifier water it hasnt been nearly as bad..

but then today when i went to water this group (i have a few others around the house that seem to be doing fine too) i noticed one of the stalks.. the leaves on them were very dry and yellow.. apon closer inspection the group of leaves coming out, just fell right off the stalk.. and it appeared something was 'eating away' at the stalk as it was mushy to the touch and when i pulled it out of the grouping the outer 'skin' of the stalk just came off in complete mushyness

and the backside of the stalk is all black and almost rotten looking.
theres also all these tiny black specks all over the part of the stalk thats in really bad shape

so i started going thru all the stalks in the grouping.....

and the majority of them seem to have some of these little specks over them.. but arent nearly in the shape of that one 'disgusting' looking stalk

a few of them have one little leaf on them that is either really dry or partially yellow.. as well as the top of some of the stalks look mushy (but dont feel like it to the touch) and are darker, some with parts that are almost black or dark dark brown

some of the stalks also have spots that are quite a bit lighter then the rest


im not plant guru so im not really sure at all what is going on with them or what i could/should do

my mother is an avid gardener, but has no experience with bamboo.. but i described it a bit to her and she said i should take them all out of the grouping and wash them off and any that look bad either toss them in the trash or keep them seperate to see what happens with them.. I havent had a chance to actually show her them but i will be tomorrow

i showed them to my brother who is in town for the holidays and he said it looks like a mold that he had on his plants once and he just got some spray at home depot and it cleared up for him.. he also told me not to bother pulling each one out and rinsing them off or anything like that

tho to be honest i dont really see much harm in at least rinsing/wiping them each off a bit..

im also now worried about the other bamboo stalks i have around the house, they all 'appear' to be fine but im a little curious if maybe this is something other then a mold that just randomly appeared, as i did recently get some more stalks and perhaps something came into the house on them. Even tho they appear to be fine, i havent really inspected them *too* closely just yet (tho they definitly arent in the shape that one really bad stalk was in)


any ideas or suggestions? if theres something i can get to spray on them i would prefer it to be something natural as I definitly try to stay away from all those chemicals that are in everything these days.. But if i have no choice i'll deal with chemicals lol


also i could try and take some pictures of them but im not too sure how they will come out


any help at all is greatly appreciated :D

[CaroleMeckes]

Hello Eric,
It sounds like you have what is called "Lucky Bamboo" (which is not really a bamboo at all).

Check out this thread and see if you can relate to it:
http://www.bamboocraft.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1042

Carole

[EricB0584]

hmm yeah i guess i dont really have bamboo then haha, thanks for the link!

here's two pics of that really bad one:

picture 1 (http://www.ebrassard.com/images/bamboo/bamboo1.jpg)
picture 2 (http://www.ebrassard.com/images/bamboo/bamboo2.jpg)

[R e x]

Yep! I don't think real bamboo can grow in just water. Lucky Bamboo...hmmm. I think my mother ran into the same problem with her's not too long ago. Where is your plant located?

[EricB0584]

well i have them in several different places.. but the ones im having those issues with were on a coffee table in the middle of a room (only one window in that room and the sun is never directly on them)

i ended up seperating the ones that looked a bit 'funky' (tho i trashed the one from the pictures lol) and rinsed them off and gave them some new water, etc etc.. and moved them to a diff room for right now and they seem to be doing a little better. The ones that were a bit black on top of the stalks are now coming back to their normal color and seem to be starting to do a little bit better.. I'll have to see what happens over the next week or so with them :)

[stevelau1911]

You should try a few of them in dirt. They wont grow any faster since they do grow really slow, but will be greener and have thicker stems. I also had them out in full sun during the summer time and they seemed to like it.

Heres how they look like now.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/3153832171/



Also make sure you don't use tap water straight out of the faucet.

[R e x]

Yeah. To solve the problem, my mom removed the blackened plants, moved the rest of them next to a window, and started giving them bottled water instead of tap water.