Curly bamboo - can you cut the leaves or will it die?

[Lennypops]

I bought a small arrangement of curly bamboo from Sainsburys back in April - three shoots to be exact. I have a few questions on how I can maintain it, as it came in a small vase with no instructions. It is doing really well at the minute but I want to tame it!

1) Can I cut the green shoots and leaves off at the base of the curls? I prefer the neat look of just the curls. If I cut them off, will it kill the bamboo altogether?

2) To keep the whole thing short and neat and in the same vase it came in, am I able to cut the stalks from the bottom?

I don't want to kill it off as it seems to like living in my bathroom!

Thanks for any advice!

[skylight]

Hi Lennypops Have a look at this - http://www.ciao.co.uk/Bamboo__Review_5546832 hope this helps. cheers skylight

[Thunderbird+]

Hi Lennypops, I've been scratching my head for an answere to this but I dont know how to maintain the curly stems, I guess they are trained aroung wire or something, all I can say is though, I bouhgt my mother some of these from a garden centre about three years ago and they are still going strong (but no curls) She has them in narrow vases of just water!
As far as I can remember from the brief instructions is- They can be kept in water or when rooted, can be potted up into compost and I think they were called 'Lucky Thai plants' Good Luck Tbird+
Skylight, Nice to see you back. Hope you had a good holiday!

[Lennypops]

Thanks for both your replies.

I guess the main thing I am concerned about is not killing the bamboo by cutting off the leaves that have grown. I am not too worries about the curliness as I keep rotating the bamboo so different parts of it catch the light.

So, the elusive question still remains, will I kill it if I cut off the leaves? (?!)

[skylight]

Hi again Lennypops, If it was mine I would gently pull each leaf off. Dont worry you wont kill it. I'll buy you a new one if it does!!! cheers skylight

[Lennypops]

Thanks!

I'll give it a go. I think I will talk nicely to it whilst I'm doing it, just to take it's mind off any pain!