Why Is My Bamboo Turning Yellow?

  • By: Mike Hale
  • Date: July 17, 2022
  • Time to read: 5 min.

Here’s the thing, bamboo is actually a pretty hardy plant, but despite this, bamboo can actually suffer a lot of damage and disease – just like any plant. When you notice that your bamboo plant’s leaves are turning yellow, you will be pretty confident that there has to be a reason for this.

This reason could be a specific plant illness, or this could be a nutrient deficiency. You might be wondering if there is any kind of way that you can save your bamboo, and you might ask yourself the question: is there any way that I can rescue my bamboo leaves once they have turned yellow?

Why Is My Bamboo Turning Yellow?

Here, we are going to look at all things bamboo and whether your bamboo can be saved if it has reached the yellow side.

There can actually be a pretty wide range of reasons as to why your bamboo is turning yellow, and you will be pleased to know that a whole lot of these can be remedied. Result! So, read on to find out what these reasons are – and what you can do to help your bamboo.

Your bamboo leaves can turn yellow because they have been exposed to too much sunlight. If you are growing your bamboo in a pot then you can just move this pot to a better location.

What we mean by a better location is somewhere where your bamboo will not be in direct sunlight. If your bamboo is growing in the ground then this is a slightly more difficult problem to resolve.

This is because it will be harder to reduce the sunlight that your bamboo is exposed to. What you can do to help your bamboo plant is that you can rig up a shade or you can grow a tall plant beside it so that you can reduce the amount of light that your bamboo is exposed to.

Your bamboo leaves can turn yellow because of fluoridated water. In terms of water, if it is heavily fluoridated then it can cause your bamboo leaves to turn yellow. You need to make sure that you water your bamboo with filtered water, or you should just leave them to be watered by rain water.

Another great thing to note when it comes to watering your bamboo is that you should not water them from the top. You should water your bamboo plant just from the soil around it, and you should do this just by using a watering can or a hose pipe.

Additionally, age and natural decay can also cause your bamboo plant leaves to become yellow. If you notice quite a lot of yellow leaves then you can trim them off just so that they can then be replaced with new growth.

It is especially important to remove the old, dead leaves so that they do not spread decay to any other parts of your bamboo plant.

The last thing that you want is to leave your bamboo plant for too long, and not paying any kind of attention to it or dismissing the yellow leaves could lead to your bamboo plant totally withering away which would not just be a shame, but it would be a really big waste of your time.

Bamboo Leaves Turning Yellow

Bamboo leaves can become yellow because, well, you might have just put your plant in the wrong position. That is right, a plant that is in the wrong position can actually turn really unsightly, and it can become yellow due to this.

The thing is, bamboo cannot thrive at all if it is stuck amidst heavy winds, or if it is constantly being pummelled with heavy rain. You need to make sure that your bamboo can be in a place where it is completely safe from strong winds and unforgiving weather conditions.

Another thing that can make your bamboo leaves turn yellow is if it has an excess of nutrients. The thing is, that we can all appreciate how much you want to protect and look after your bamboo plant – but you can be too protective and caring about your bamboo plant.

This can lead to you exposing your bamboo plant to too many nutrients. In all honesty, too much good compost can actually have a highly detrimental effect on your bamboo plant.

When it comes to adding compost to your bamboo plant, you only really need to do this once a year. This will make sure that you avoid giving your bamboo an excessive amount of nutrients.

Even though we have just spoken about what an excessive amount of nutrients can do to your bamboo plant, we must stress that this is all about balance. Too many nutrients can have a detrimental effect on your bamboo leaves, but also, a lack of nutrients can also cause your bamboo leaves to turn yellow.

This might sound like you can’t win, but the thing is, plants are not so different from us humans. We need to find balance in our lives in order to survive, and this is just like our bamboo plants.

They need adequate balance in order to survive. Again, you can combat this by making sure that you supply your bamboo plant with a yearly application of compost that is well rotted, or fertilizer. This will just ensure that your bamboo soil can support any kind of new growth.

Overall, you can prevent your bamboo leaves from turning yellow before you even get to a point where you have to start resolving this issue. If you are wanting to prevent your bamboo leaves from turning yellow then you should try to keep your bamboo away from the weather.

This is a bold statement, you do not need to keep your bamboo away from all weather, you should just keep your bamboo away from weather that will cause it stress. Just ensure that your bamboo is away from harsh storm conditions that can cause your bamboo plant damage.

Additionally, you need to make sure that you avoid overwatering your plant – and that you do not use water that your bamboo plant won’t like. You should just let your plant have access to rainwater or filtered water.