Lucky Bamboo

I'm going to be making some pots for lucky bamboo. I found a great place that sells the bamboo, liked it, bought some, potted it, then found out it's considered "lucky." Here's what I've found out about it thus far:

It's luckier to get it as a gift.
It's a feng shui MUST.
Different numbers of stalks bring different kinds of luck:
• 2 stalks = love
• 3 or 6 stalks = happiness
• 5 or 7 stalks = health
• 8 stalks = wealth
• 9 stalks = general good fortune
• 21 stalks = blessings
(Note: I picked up 3 stalks, but they weren't a gift - wonder if this negates some of the luck? Since I'll be buying them and putting them in my pots for others to give as gifts, will I have blessings galore?)

Also, this lucky plant is poisonous. It's not really bamboo, it's Dracaena Sanderia. If you get huge stalks and have pets, beware. Your best bet would be to stick with smaller versions that can sit up on shelves.

The lucky bamboo does best with low, indirect light.

It loves water but it doesn't like the chemicals most folks have in their water so use filtered water or rain water. If neither of those options work for you put tap water in a container and let it sit out for at least 24 hours so the chemicals disperse. You may also want to try your dirty aquarium water - the bamboo loves the organisms that the fish don't particulary care for!

Change the water every week or so.

If you'd like curly bamboo (it's naturally straight) you can train it but it is slow going. If you're not a patient person, pay a few extra dollars and buy it. If you'd like to do it yourself, block the light on three sides (a cardboard box with one side cut out works great) or put it in an area where there is a stronger bit of light in one direction with very low light on the other sides. After a while the bamboo will start to turn toward the light at the top. Turn it a bit to give it a "curl." Keep doing that until it curls and curls.

It's a very easy plant to care for but it can develope problems. There are great sources on the Inernet (search words that seem to work best are lucky bamboo container grow).

Once I have a few pots completed with bamboo I'll pop some photos onto the website and will put them on here.