Things You'll Need
Trowel
Mulch
Slow-release fertilizer
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.
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.