Hi all,

I have had this plant for over 15 year and it has gotten yellow leaves on and off but overall he was hanging in there. Now the yellowing is accelerated. But - there is new life if there too! Recently a new sprout showed up. It is on counter room temp indirect sunlight, in soil, gently watered. I am not a green thumb at all so my knowledge on this very limited but we have had this for a while so would hate to see it go. Appreciate any suggestions!! Thank you

to the site!
Clean off all the yellow leaves so you can see if it's getting better or worse. Also just looks nicer. The biggest stem is having some root issues, the stem is wrinkled which indicates it's not getting enough water.
How long has it been in that pot?
Have you ever leached it?
How often and with what do you feed it?
How do you determine when to water it?
I would start with leaching it. This is where you soak it, like all the way to the top. Let it drain fully. Then do that 2 more times. This washes out any buildup of salts from water and fertilizer which can burn the fine root tips that do all the water absorption.

By the way, real name is Dracaena braunii, aka lucky bamboo.
I find them easy, don't know what happened there, I would clean up as CalPoly said.
It should be a lot more plant for fifteen years, so conditions have not been ideal.
I bought a little 3 inch pot for my kid to take to college in 2010. I now have two big pots with multi stems 3 to 4 feet tall aside from stems cut off, rooted, and given away over the years.

Too much water the roots don't like sitting in water. Let the soil dry out between watering and place in direct light Not direct heat from the window sun shinning thru.. But bright light. Sometime Bamboo roots get very large and need room in a bigger pot .checkmthe roots to see if they may be root bound.

Yes, not a real bamboo as mentioned, see the database link for Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena sanderiana) and lots of images.

I've always heard that these should be grown in water, not soil. That's how they're sold here. Is this not correct?

In my experience with these plants they have many different applications. Braiding the trunks ,training in circular designs , most training is for display…lucky bamboo is not a real bamboo.

They can be grown in water or soil. Once they grow larger over time root trimming is required to keep them visually distinct and vibrant . Water only cannot subsist the plants on a continual basis without constant maintenance.

There are various types of this plant in general it's referred to as "Lucky Bamboo" and all the designs are basic a decorative sales gimmick. Many versions of several designs are available on line.

Below pic of one of one of mine on display in water which serves as a vase for the floral design.

Thank you all so much for this feedback! Please excuse my lack of knowledge on this lol. So I water it about once a week but probably I am sometimes guilty of missing. Otherwise I do not do anything or give anything else to it. When we got him he was in a small vase w rocks but after some years they got yucky so I got this pot which is larger , and put soil instead of rocks based on a friend's advice. Maybe I should try leaching it and replanting in a bigger pot with fresh soil?
My options for direct sunlight are limited - if I put it on a windowsill w more direct light but a cooler draft, is that bad? Thank you!!

It doesn't need a bigger pot, but a good leaching would help. Afterwards a 1/4 strength liquid feed will green it up a bit.

Ok I will definitely do that thank you! Any idea why it's leaning so hard? Because of the dead ends? It started leaning a while ago, when it still looked greener. We thought it was because we moved it slightly away from the sun because it was getting too hot by the window where it was and maybe he was reaching for more light!

My honest opinion, it is very sick. Consider buying a new one. It is not a crime to toss a sick plant.

With sallyg