Germination temperature
Warm: about 30 °C (86 °F) is best; 20 °C (68 °F) is slow and 40 °C (104 °F) harmful.
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Bamboo seed is rare because clumps flower only once in decades, and it stays alive for a short time. Sow it fresh, shallowly and warm, keep it moist but not wet, and grow the seedlings on in shade before planting out in the rains.
Warm: about 30 °C (86 °F) is best; 20 °C (68 °F) is slow and 40 °C (104 °F) harmful.
About 5 mm (0.2 in), covered with sand.
Fresh seed starts in 5-10 days; a seedbed keeps emerging for 25-30 days.
Partial shade under a shade net for seedbeds and young seedlings.
None essential. An overnight soak helps you remove empty, floating seed.
Sow in a nursery bed or tray, prick out into bags, plant out at the start of the rains.
Sow as soon as you receive the seed. Bamboo seed is short-lived: kept at room temperature and room humidity it can lose most of its viability within a few months, while seed kept dry and cool (about 4-5 °C, 39-41 °F) in a sealed container lasts much longer. If you must wait, keep the packet sealed in the refrigerator; damp seed loses its germination quickly.
Not needed. The seed is a grain (caryopsis) like rice or wheat, with no hard coat.
Not needed. Bambusa bambos and Dendrocalamus strictus are tropical bamboos and germinate without cold treatment.
Optional. Soak overnight in water and discard the seeds that float; they are usually empty. Indian nursery guidance also protects the seed against fungi with a fungicide seed dressing or a one-hour soak in neem leaf extract, then air-drying before sowing.
Germination is highest and fastest near 30 °C (86 °F); at 20 °C (68 °F) it is slow and 40 °C (104 °F) damages the seed. These figures come from Dendrocalamus strictus; Bambusa bambos behaves as a typical warm-climate grass. In India sow during the warm months; in cool climates use a heated propagator.
Sow in shallow drills or holes about 5 mm (0.2 in) deep and cover lightly with sand.
Nursery beds: soil, sand and compost or well-rotted farmyard manure, 3:1:1. Trays: vermiculite or clean sand, which gave clearly higher germination than plain soil in Indian bamboo trials.
Keep the medium evenly moist with a fine sprinkler, never waterlogged. In trials a waterlogged substrate killed the seed at every temperature, and too little water left it unable to swell.
Seed does not need to be exposed. Keep beds in partial shade, for example under a shade net, so the surface does not dry out.
Fresh Bambusa bambos seed germinates in 5-10 days, with up to 80% germination. In nursery beds emergence starts after 5-7 days and continues for 25-30 days.
When seedlings have 4-6 leaves, move them into polybags about 15 × 20 cm (6 × 8 in) filled with soil, sand and manure 1:1:1. If they will stay in the nursery for a year or more, use larger bags (TNAU: 16 × 30 cm; 30 × 45 cm lets the rhizome develop better).
Keep bagged seedlings under 50-75% shade for one to two months and water them daily, then move them gradually into full sun.
Plant at the onset of the rainy season. Seedlings of 3-4 months can go out; older seedlings (1-1.5 years) raised in large bags establish well. Give each plant 5-10 kg of compost or farmyard manure in the planting pit. PROSEA suggests about 6 × 6 m (20 × 20 ft) between clumps of this large bamboo.
Cause: old or damp-stored seed, or a soggy seedbed. Fix: sow fresh seed immediately, store it dry and cool if you must wait, and keep the medium moist but drained.
Cause: damping-off fungi (Rhizoctonia, Fusarium). Fix: use clean sand or vermiculite, do not overwater, give air movement, and dress seed with a fungicide or neem extract before sowing.
Cause: full sun too early or drying bags. Fix: keep them under shade net for one to two months and water daily until hardened.
Cause: bamboo leaf roller caterpillars and bamboo aphids, recorded on this species in India. Fix: check seedlings regularly and remove affected leaves; damage is usually local.
A Bambusa bambos clump reaches about 5 m (16 ft) in 7 years and full size after about 20 years, when culms can be up to 30 m (100 ft) tall. Seedlings spend their first years producing many thin shoots.
This is a very large, thorny, clumping bamboo of moist tropical valleys. Plant it well away from buildings and paths, and water young plants in long dry spells.
Organic manure at planting and nitrogen fertilizer in later seasons speed up clump growth.
A whole population flowers together only once in decades (PROSEA: about 16-45 years), the flowering clumps die, and the seed must then be sown within months. Keep every seedling you raise; it is not a quick crop.
Sow bamboo seed as soon as it arrives, shallowly in warm, moist sand.
Not long. At room temperature many bamboo seeds lose viability within months; kept dry in a sealed container in the refrigerator they last much longer. Sow them as soon as possible.
Germination is quick, often within one to two weeks, but the clump builds slowly: Bambusa bambos reaches about 5 m in 7 years and needs about 20 years to reach full size.
It will be the same species, but seedlings vary a little from plant to plant. Unlike a division, a seedling starts as a small plant and takes many years to reach the size of the parent clump.
Bambusa bambos is a tropical bamboo for humid, frost-free areas. In cool climates it can be germinated indoors but will not survive outdoors in winter.