Understand & Prevent Common Bamboo Diseases

Hi! This is Yolanda Vanveen on behalf of Expert Village. In this series, we're talking about bamboo. In this next segment, we'll talk about the diseases that affect bamboo. Bamboo is really a grass, so pretty much any diseases that affect grasses can affect the bamboo as well. If they're too wet, they can start to rot. They get leaf rot. What happens is the roots and the leaves will start turning brown. Then they can get all kinds of diseases and molds. They can attack them because they're too wet. If they're too dry, a lot of times you can lose them because they're not getting enough water and the leaves will turn brown. If they get too cold in the winter, they will actually die back, and a lot of times they'll come back in the spring. Right now, there's a big problem in India with culm disease. The culm is actually the main stem of the plant. What is happening is there's a disease. It's a virus just like the flu virus here that's attacking up to 20% of the bamboo forest and killing them. There's really not a lot that they can do about it. Apparently, they're trying some copper type sulfates and they're putting some powders on the bamboo. It seems to help. Apparently, it's working. Diseases just like with humans and other plans, are going to continue to be a problem. Most of the time, plants only get the diseases when they're stressed. Either they're too dry or they're too wet. As long as you keep your bamboo healthy by giving it enough light and water, letting it dry out, and have good drainage, you really don't have to worry about a lot of diseases. In the next segment, we'll talk about how to use bamboo in landscaping.