Every time The Mr. and I go to Ikea, we pick up one or two of those little bamboo plants – the kind that come with a water container like the one florists use. They look very much alive when we buy them. We bring the little bamboos home, put them in a vase with enough water to cover the roots, and they die within two weeks.
Clearly, we’re doing something wrong. What is it?
Is this the lucky bamboo stuff? Those aren’t really bamboo…they’re Dracaena species, which are a completely different plant family.
Here are care instructions for lucky bamboo. Does your city water have a lot of fluoride? Fluoride is apparently toxic to Dracaena.
Oh, yep, that’s what it is! Weird, I use filtered water and I don’t put it in direct sunlight.
Not all water filters remove fluoride. You should check your filter specs to see if it does.
Wow, I didn’t know that. I’ll have to check the box next time I buy a refill. Thanks!
Fluoride is lethal to most plants over long periods of time, I would be more worried about the process that is used to filtrate the water you are buying, I know for a fact that some forms of purification can actually increase salts, which, will also kill your plants.