If you’ve got a lucky bamboo plant, it probably only has one stalk.
That’s how these plants usually grow.
However, you might be wondering if there’s any way to make it branch off into lovely, lush stalks, rather than just growing it as a single stem.
These plants are very pretty, and being able to make them bush out makes them even more appealing.
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Can You Make A Lucky Bamboo Stalk Branch?
Yes, you can make a lucky bamboo stalk branch.
Whether you want to encourage stalks to branch so you can propagate the plant and get new ones to grow or you want your plant to bush up and thicken, you can make your lucky bamboo stalk by pruning it.
Cutting the top off the lucky bamboo is the best way to make it stalk and produce extra stems and grow faster.
How To Propagate Lucky Bamboo
If you want new plants from your lucky bamboo, this is fortunately fairly easy to do!
Choose A Large, Healthy Stem
You should start by choosing a big, healthy stock – one that feels plump and not too soft.
Usually, the biggest is best, and the faster it will root.
Trim the top, and allow it to produce leaf joints – preferably more than one so you are starting with some good, strong growth.
Next, cut one of these newly shooting stalks off below the leaf joints, near the main stalk.
Use a sharp knife or some secateurs to cut so that you don’t damage the parent plant or the new cutting.
Related Article: Why Is My Bamboo Turning Yellow From The Top Down? (Explained)
Remove Leaves
Remove the cutting’s leaves so that you can see the growth node.
You can remove all but the top set of leaves, or just take off the ones covering the very bottom of the stem.
If you remove leaves too high up you can end up leaving the inner growth exposed, and this can end up killing your cutting.
Removing the leaves encourages the plant to put more energy into its roots and will also help to prevent the leaves from rotting when you put it in water.
Once this is done, your new plant is ready to root.
There are a few different options when it comes to rooting them.
You can use rooting hormone, but you probably won’t need to because lucky bamboo is easy to root and a quick grower.
If one cutting fails, you can always take another.
However, if you’re struggling, the rooting hormone may help.
Rooting Lucky Bamboo In Distilled Water
The easiest way to root bamboo is to put the trimmed ends into distilled water.
You should soon see some new roots creeping out.
These are usually red.
Change the water regularly so that it doesn’t stagnate or form algae, and let the bamboo establish some good roots.
You can either keep the bamboo in water or transplant it into the soil when you are ready.
As long as it’s fed, it will grow happily in the water, so whichever you prefer should be fine.
Rooting Lucky Bamboo In Soil
If you would rather root it straight into the soil, you can do that too.
Get some fresh, clean compost and gently push the bamboo’s stalk into the surface, until at least one of the nodes has been covered up (preferably more).
The bamboo cutting should take, and you’ll soon have a healthy new plant to enjoy!
How Do I Make My Lucky Bamboo Bushier?
If you just want your plant to grow some more branches and fill out a little, it’s even simpler.
You can encourage it to grow by trimming it, counter-intuitive as that sounds.
Cutting off the top growth encourages it to grow new leaves more quickly, and you should soon observe it spreading out.
You can trim off any growth that seems unbalanced or unhealthy, and leave the main plant to grow.
It is easy to get a crown of leaves this way.
Because lucky bamboo is such a hardy plant, you aren’t really at risk of damaging it when you cut it back; you are likely to just see lots of new, young leaves springing up.
Remember that lucky bamboo grown from cuttings or sprouted from the parent won’t be trained to follow any specific shape the way that a purchased and trained plant may do – but they will still be beautiful!
Final Thoughts
Lucky bamboo plants can easily be encouraged to branch out simply by trimming off old growth to encourage new.
Lucky bamboo is a very hardy plant and will readily root.
It is fast-growing, so it’s very easy to propagate; you could soon be giving plants to all your friends!
