Growing bamboos in containers

Most bamboos are suitable for growing in containers, and in a small garden it may be the best way to include these lovely plants.

The first thing is to choose your bamboo. All Fargesia species do well in containers. Many Phyllostachys species are also happy in containers, and as they are running bamboos, it is a good way to grow them without having to worry about them spreading. These two genera make up the majority of widely available bamboo species, so there’s plenty of choice. Less commonly encountered, Chusquea species hate being grown in pots and very invasive species of Sasa and Chimonobambusa will also not do well.

The next thing is to choose your container. It’s important to choose one which either has straight sides or slopes outwards, so that the bamboo can be removed for repotting when necessary. Containers which belly outwards or narrow towards the top are not suitable. People often buy tall and narrow pots for bamboo, but actually the best shape is shorter and wide. Bamboos are comparatively shallow rooted, and a wider base both gives them room to grow and helps with stability in windy conditions.

You can either pot a bamboo up every couple of years into progressively larger containers or pop it straight into the largest one. Bamboos are not generally bothered about being over potted. Once it has filled the pot, it should be taken out every two or three years, the rootball sawn in half, and each half repotted. It’s best not to cut it into more than two pieces. Bamboos aren’t keen on being divided and if you try to make too many you risk losing them.

The logical choice of growing medium would be half multipurpose compost and half John Innes no 3. I have only used peatfree compost for many years and my bamboos are perfectly happy in it, even in the old New Horizon which wasn’t a patch on the Sylvagrow I use now.

As far as feeding and watering go, remember bamboos are woody grasses, so essentially you have a 7ft lawn in a pot. A high nitrogen feed is ideal, but not too late in the year when it encourages vulnerable soft growth. Always keep the bamboo’s shed leaves in the top of the pot. As they break down they return essential nutrients, including the silica that makes bamboos flexible, to the plant.

Watering is really important. Bamboos in the ground are pretty drought resistant when established, but a bamboo in a pot will go brown and crispy like your lawn if it dries out, and it may well die. If you do have one that dries out (and it’s happened to me more than once) plunge it in a big bucket of water as soon as you notice. Lift it out when thoroughly soaked, and keep it well watered. If you’re lucky it will sprout new leaves, though it will take a while. It’s almost impossible to overwater a bamboo, so you won’t ever go wrong by being generous with water. I stand most of my potted bamboos in shallow trays of water all summer.