Thank you for purchasing the Brushboo toothbrush, by doing so you are contributing to Plant for the planet. Not only are you contributing in this way, but you can plant your own bamboo at home with the seeds you received with your brush.
Many bamboo species only produce seeds once in a lifetime and most of them produce seeds over very long periods of time. It is a great opportunity to plant your own bamboo at home. Let’s get to it:
STEPS FOR PLANTING BAMBOO SEEDS
1. Purchase or build a mini greenhouse with peat tablets as a planting medium.
Some nurseries or garden stores may also have other options as well.
2. Place a layer of pastilles in a cake pan with a flat bottom.
3. Place all the peat tablets back into the mini greenhouse.
4. Soak your seeds in approximately 30 °C water for 24 hours.
5. Use a skewer or chopstick to open and scrape the tops of the peat tablets.
6. Place only one seed in the center of each pill. This is because bamboo seeds are scarce and expensive, you don’t need to risk having two shoots in the same pill and having to get rid of one of them.
7. Add a small amount of potting soil over your seeds.
8. Place the mini-greenhouse in a place under half shade.
9. Check the greenhouse daily, as peat tablets can dry out quickly once the main soaking water evaporates.
10. You may see some sprouting within the first 10 days of planting, although most germination will occur after at least 15 to 20 days.
11. If none of the shoots grow tall enough to touch the plastic cover when others are starting, raise the cover enough to prevent the leaves from touching it….
12. After 30 days, most of the seeds that will sprout with this method will have done so.
13. Mix a good potting soil with about 50% small bark or wood chip mulch.
14. Place a little (1 cm or 1/2 inch minimum) of this soil mixture in the pots.
15. Transfer each tablet containing a sprout to a pot and fill with the soil mixture around the tablet so that it is at least 1/2 cm buried under the soil.
16. Water the pots with a good dose of water.
Since they have very good drainage, don’t worry too much if you put too much water.
17. Arrange these pots outside in a place where they receive about 50% shade and never receive direct sunlight for more than a few minutes at a time.
These seedlings are now well on their way. You will probably lose at least 10% of them for unexplained reasons, but the rest will have a good chance of reaching maturity.
18. Now go back to the tray where the unsprouted seeds are and remove the plastic lid.
If you want, save the lid for future occasions, but these seeds and seedlings will not use it anymore.
19. If your mini-greenhouse tray has a plastic divider (removable) that helps keep the tablets organized, remove it and make lots of drainage holes in the bottom of the tray.
20. Return all tablets to the tray without the divider.
Spread them evenly, and keep them with the same side up…the seeds on top.
21. Fill the soil around the tablets with the soil mixture you prepared, and place it on top of the tablets to cover their surface by about 1/2 cm.
22. Place this tray outside in the middle in full sun, checking daily to keep it moist but not too wet.
With the removal of the lid and increased sun, it will need watering almost every day. It may be useful to use a watering can at this point, as you can give it a more normal dose of water.
23. Hopefully, you will see a new set of seedlings starting to emerge in the next few weeks.
If you have any additional questions you can write to hello@brushboo.com