Uploaded February 2016 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago

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Lucky bamboo update. (previous youtube.com/watch?v=R6PKFzpNUcQ )I gave it some superthrive near the base of the stem which is what the brown color is and I put some powdered rooting hormone on the smaller lucky bamboo which is what that white color is and there is wax on the end of the large one to prevent rotting. Also added some rooting hormone to the perlite.

Lucky bamboo can grow roots fairly easily, but after it grows what it feels is enough, it seems to stop growing roots. I see this in other plants also, which I consider a problem. The reason I consider it a problem, is that the plant can't take advantage of more resources, due to lack of roots, so giving it a rooting hormone to force it to grow more roots, will use up some nutrients to grow some more roots, but I feel it gives the plant a far better chance of survival and thriving. I believe the more roots a plant has, the easier it is to adapt to stress, transplanting and overall unfavorable conditions, while having no downside once the roots have been created.

The one thing I am wondering about, is if you were to give rooting hormone to a seed before it sprouted(meaning on the seed and in the soil around the seed), then once it sprouts, would it dedicate too much energy to growing roots and die because of lack of food stored in the cotyledon leaves or would it just get a jump-start on awesome growth, since the first thing a seedling does, is establish some roots and seem to grow so slowly that they appear to almost have stunted growth until enough roots are grown.

I suspect that rooting hormone might be a great addition to fertilizer, because not only can it use the fertilizer to grow the new roots, but as it grows more roots, it can feed on more fertilizer with less risk of over-feeding and burning or killing the plant.

I have done searches online and haven't come up with an answer I am confident with, because the posts people make seems to be a lot of educated guessing rather than actual experimentation and comparing results.

There is something called SUPERthrive, which SOME PEOPLE CLAIM one of the things is a non-food-safe growth hormone and that too much of it, will cause elongation of the plant to the point it can't support itself and it will die, while others CLAIM no side effects and nothing more than a placebo.

Well from my tests, although I added both, i believe the rooting hormone is great for lucky bamboo. I am also trying it on another related plant "Snake Plant".

*HYDROGEN PEROXIDE WARNING!* I have told people that H202 is a miracle cure for plants, but this stuff is deadly to plants if you do not HEAVILY dilute it. When in doubt, avoid H202, because it turn leaves yellow and stunt root growth and can kill it, if it is too concentrated.