Lucky Bamboo makes the perfect house or office plant. The popular "lucky bamboo" plant is actually "Dracaena Sanderana" not a true bamboo plant.
Why is it called Lucky Bamboo?Lucky Bamboo is considered a lucky plant in Feng Shui. In Chinese, the word for prayer and bamboo sounds alike and some believe that a lucky bamboo plant increases the power of prayer. Traditionally, it is best to select a plant with three or eight stalks; both are lucky numbers in Feng Shui. Some believe to increase the plants good luck, tie the stalks together with a red ribbon or a red thread.
Some Spiritual Meanings:
Career Advancement - climb up the ladder.
Prosperity - success in business ventures.
Longevity - good health, harmony and peaceful life.
Zen - religious, gracious, honorable.
Relationship - energize your love life.
Feng Shui - Chi - create positive energy in your environment.
Lucky Bamboo is considered extremely easy to take care of if you follow a few simple rules to provide the perfect conditions for a long, healthy life.
First, avoid too much sunlight and never in direct sunlight. Lucky Bamboo grows naturally under the canopy of wet tropical rain forests. It needs very little sunlight to thrive. In general, the more indirect, the better. Lucky Bamboo must be kept moist all the time. It prefers about 5 to 10 cm of fresh, or filtered water. Tap water is fine but put the water in a glass or a bowl and let it sit for 24 hours before adding it to your lucky bamboo. The chlorine and fluoride in tap water will evaporate or neutralize during that time, and your lucky bamboo will be much happier with this purer water.
It will also thrive in a soil mixture as long as this soil holds a lot of water. Since neither water nor soil contains the vitamins, minerals and hormones that are found in Lucky Bamboo's natural growing environment, supplementation is recommended. One drop of each added each time the water is refreshed, is all that is needed. With proper care lucky bamboo plants can grow two or three feet tall, and last for years.
A stalk that turns yellow has often been overfed with plant food. If your plant is yellow, change the water immediately, and do not give it plant food for a month. If you see burning or browning on the tips of the leaves, the location may receive too much sunlight. Once the stalk turns yellow, it is very difficult to reverse the damage; if it is clear that you can not save that stalk, remove it immediately to prevent any plant diseased from spreading to the other stalks.
