Bamboo plant in florist foam needs help?

I was given this bamboo plant 3 years ago by coworkers when I transfered. They gave me this beautiful bamboo plant placed in a large tin container, the bamboo is sitting in florist foam. It's been fine until I moved to a real dry climate. It looks like the plant has turned a bit more yellow than normal and some of the leaves have died not to mention it looks wilted. I'm not sure if I'm over watering or it needs to be replanted so it can get more nutrients... it does get plenty of sunshine. I'm not sure how to replant it since it's been in the foam for so long. Any ideas to help me get my plant healthy again would be great, I really hate seeing it this way. Thanks

Bamboo plant in florist foam needs help?
Lucky "bamboo" doesn't like direct sun (actually they are not "bamboo" at all; see the reference below). Direct sun could cause the leaves to "burn" and drop. Allow only indirect, filtered sun light.





Don't worry about over-watering it, because you can't overwater this plant.





This plant is sensitive to salt build-up, which happens when the tap water evaporates leaving all the dissolved salts behind. It's especially sensitive to fluoride, which is added as a cavity-fighting ingredient. My guts feeling is this is the main cause of your problem.





I suspect the tap water in your area is either very "hard" or heavily fluorinated or both. As the prev poster pointed out, it's best to use distilled water, which is available at any supermarkets. They are cheap.





At this point, I suggest the following remedy. Take out the plant from the container and wash the container thoroughly. Get rid of the foam by crashing it; and replace it with gravel stones as anchors for roots. Stones are easier to wash off the salts; also, foam tend to become a medium for fungus growth.





Put back the plant and add a few inches of distilled water. Change the entire water every other week, or if the humidity is very low, more frequent change may be needed. The point is, don't just "add" back water as it evaporates; change the whole thing.





Your "bamboo" should recover after about one month. They are very slow-growing, so please be patient.
Reply:The surest sign of overwatering plants in soil is yellowing and leaf drop. Is this one of those Lucky Bamboo plants that sit in water? If so, you obviously can't overwater it. But, you do have to take care of it to prevent root rot.





I bought one of these for a friend's housewarming this weekend. The instructions said to keep the water level full in the pot with distilled water. Then, once a week, replace the water with fresh water. This might be kind of difficult with pebbles or florist foam. But, pour out what you can and flush the rest by having a light stream of water going into one corner of the pot for a few minutes.





I had a couple of these that did get root rot. I was remodeling my house and left these in a garage for a few months, and didn't change the water out at all (I wasn't living there and forgot about them). They got all yellow and died. When I pulled them out of their pots, they absolutely reeked like poo. It was pretty nasty.





If the roots of your plants have started to rot, they may not be salvageable. In that case, you'll just have to throw them out and get new plants.