Planting Bamboo in Pots

Bamboo will grow happily in containers.

Get them off to a good start and the growing's easy.

Mulch ... or groundcover

used for the sake of appearances, but also, to reduce soil moisture losses to evaporation and provide an environment for surface roots and organisms to flourish.
As groundcover, Native Violets do all that AND act as an Indicator plant, wilting for lack of water before the bamboo feels moisture stress. Handy, no?
And pretty.
Kinda in love with Native Violets.

Potting Mix

A Premium Potting Mix has the Australian Standards red tick symbol.

Cheaper potting mixes are rarely a good idea.

The volume of mix is limited to avoid having organic matter at depths where anaerobic conditions can develop – ever had that rotten egg smell from wet mix in the bottom of a pot? We don't want that.

Sand

As deep as required to make up the depth of your container.

Acts to filter finer particles before they get to the geotextile.

At anaerobic depths, inorganic sand means no rotten eggs.

Use a little less mix to accommodate a 20mm layer of sand, as a minimum.

Geotextile cloth

retains the growing media while allowing water to drain through.

Drainage Cell

allows free movement of water to drainage outlets

increases the infiltration rate of air into the Mix.

The space between particles in a Potting Mix, is filled by air and water.

The balance of those two is a key factor in plant growth.

On balance, we prefer this set-up.

Your grandma probably put rocks in the bottom and filled with garden soil.

That can work too.

It's a question of Water and Food