Bamboo tolerates a wide range of soils, including sand, although it prefers a loamy soil. If sand is all you've got, most bamboos should grow fine when given the right care. Select a clumping bamboo for a yard accent or a running bamboo to form a natural barrier or privacy screen in your yard. To avoid winter injury, plant bamboo in the spring or early fall in moderate climates and in spring in chilly ones.
Things You'll Need
Trowel
Mulch
Slow-release fertilizer
Step 1
Choose a full sun location for your bamboo and dig a hole twice as wide and just as deep as your bamboo plant's nursery container.
Step 2
Remove your bamboo plant from its container and place it in the prepared hole. Fill in the hole with sand to complete planting.
Step 3
Spread 2 inches of mulch over the sand, packing the mulch around the roots of the bamboo plant and anywhere you want the plant to spread.
Step 4
Water your bamboo just after planting, adding enough to saturate the soil. Thereafter, water your bamboo at least twice a week. Ned Jaquith of the American Bamboo Society recommends 1 gallon of water for a bamboo plant twice per week. If your bamboo leaves curl up, the plant is dry and needs more water.
Step 5
Fertilize the bamboo in the spring using a slow-release balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10. Add fertilizer around the plant's base, using the right dose for your size bamboo. Water the soil to disperse the nutrients.
Step 6
Continue to water your bamboo twice weekly and add more mulch periodically, as the mulch decomposes. This helps enrich the sand.
Tip
Since sand dries out quickly, choose a bamboo that prefers dry soils. Green onion bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica "Tsutsumiana") is one such cultivar, according to Carol Morse and Bob Johannessen of Terra Viridis Nursery.