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My Lucky Bamboo that is growing in water and pebbles has a yellow spot on one stem toward the bottom. What might cause this and what do I do?
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My Lucky Bamboo that is g... #446449
Asked April 05, 2018, 9:50 PM EDT
My Lucky Bamboo that is growing in water and pebbles has a yellow spot on one stem toward the bottom. What might cause this and what do I do?
Belmont County Ohio
Expert Response
Good Morning. Thanks for using Ask a Master Gardener with your plant problem.
Lucky Bamboo is not actually a bamboo at all, but rather a type of Dracaena called Dracaena sanderiana. This group of plants are native mostly to Africa and have become very popular houseplants. I am not sure what might be causing a single yellow spot to occur on a stem, but here are some items to consider.
All dracaenas can tolerate low light but will do best in bright indirect light. If your plant is getting too little or too much light, that may cause the plant to stress, resulting in a spot on the stem.
If the stem spot is solid, it could just be that the stem is maturing and changing color as it becomes more woody. Or perhaps it could be a sunburned spot.
If the stem is soft in the area of the spot, then some disease organism has begun to grow on the tissue and it is causing rot to occur. It might smell bad too. If so, throw away the plant and buy a new one.
You could try to propagate the stem by cutting the stem off above the spot, discard the area from below your cut and re-root the stem you have cut off. It will do that in water by itself, not back in the pot you have the other stems in to prevent spread if it is a disease. You would want to change the water and rinse the pebbles in this case. Keep in mind that these plants will send out new leaves at the node, the ring that makes it look like bamboo, when you cut the top off the plant.
Dracaena sanderiana and all dracaenas for that matter, are sensitive to chlorine and fluoride in the water systems. You should probably use distilled water to avoid that issue. The symptoms would be yellowing and browning leaves, leading to leaf drop. They also do not do well with water that has too high a pH. That means the water is alkaline. That may cause discoloration to occur.
Here are a couple of fact sheets on Dracaena, one from University of Illinois and the other on diseases from Penn State. Hope these help you.
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/dmp/palette/080210.html
https://extension.psu.edu/dracaena-diseases
Thanks for your question.
Lucky Bamboo is not actually a bamboo at all, but rather a type of Dracaena called Dracaena sanderiana. This group of plants are native mostly to Africa and have become very popular houseplants. I am not sure what might be causing a single yellow spot to occur on a stem, but here are some items to consider.
All dracaenas can tolerate low light but will do best in bright indirect light. If your plant is getting too little or too much light, that may cause the plant to stress, resulting in a spot on the stem.
If the stem spot is solid, it could just be that the stem is maturing and changing color as it becomes more woody. Or perhaps it could be a sunburned spot.
If the stem is soft in the area of the spot, then some disease organism has begun to grow on the tissue and it is causing rot to occur. It might smell bad too. If so, throw away the plant and buy a new one.
You could try to propagate the stem by cutting the stem off above the spot, discard the area from below your cut and re-root the stem you have cut off. It will do that in water by itself, not back in the pot you have the other stems in to prevent spread if it is a disease. You would want to change the water and rinse the pebbles in this case. Keep in mind that these plants will send out new leaves at the node, the ring that makes it look like bamboo, when you cut the top off the plant.
Dracaena sanderiana and all dracaenas for that matter, are sensitive to chlorine and fluoride in the water systems. You should probably use distilled water to avoid that issue. The symptoms would be yellowing and browning leaves, leading to leaf drop. They also do not do well with water that has too high a pH. That means the water is alkaline. That may cause discoloration to occur.
Here are a couple of fact sheets on Dracaena, one from University of Illinois and the other on diseases from Penn State. Hope these help you.
http://web.extension.illinois.edu/dmp/palette/080210.html
https://extension.psu.edu/dracaena-diseases
Thanks for your question.
