here are some ideas:

http://www.americanbamboo.org/GeneralInfoPages/GrowingBambooIndoors.html

http://www.bamboosourcery.com/indoor.cfm

You don't say what your daylight situation is. I gave my daughter in San Francisco a nigra. She's had it in two different apartments. The first apartment had one big bay window, but not much direct sunlight; the current one is a loft that has an 18' wide X 18' high glass wall that also doesn't get much direct sun, but obviously provides a lot of light. The plant did well in both locations.

Aside from light, how much have you been watering, and how big is the pot?

When I asked about watering, I should have been clearer. What I meant was, how wet does the soil stay with the frequency of watering you do? Bamboo like moisture, but not being in water all the time.

my pot is twenty inches in diameter at the top, and it is about twelve inches deep. The soil has never gotten totally dry. It stays pretty damp for about 48 hours. I read lots about how drainage is important. Im gonna try to put some photos i took up here, so refer to those for more info.

rockbassart-
That sounds about right for the watering, and the pot sounds big enough. However, it does sound like that culm is dying; that doesn't necessarily mean the plant is dying, but something is wrong here. I'm wondering where you got this bamboo. Did you dig it, did you get it at a nursery, or what? Sometimes when you take a division of bamboo and repot it, it goes into transplant shock, but it might not happen right away. If your plant had been dug and repotted just before you got it, or it got dried out right before you got it, that could be the issue. You wouldn't have known it, but it might have been in precarious health when you got it. So...what can you tell us about how long you've had it and where it came from?

thats the weird part. It came from ebay, and the lady who sold it to me seemed pretty darn reputable. It came with no soil at all, so i planted it in a tall thin container. Its leaves opened up, then after two weeks of transition it went from seemingly stabile to mostly yellow in two days. I transferred it to a wide squatty container with seemingly good drainage. It continued to get bad, so now i think it maybe was watered too much, or maybe i shouldnt have misted it with fertilizer for four days. Im trying to not water it as much, I really think thats what i screwed up on. Live and learn i suppose. Plus, this guy came from south carolina, growing outdoors. now it is in chicago at the hottest part of the year, but it will soon get really damn cold. It doesnt get direct sunlight, but ive got a grow light about two feet above the top of it. I'll just have to wait and see, and maybe not take on more than i can handle in the future. Theres got to be a bamboo that can tolerate my ignorance.

Bruce is it possible to put it outside in a shaded location?? to give it some time to acclimate before you bring it inside?? Just a suggestion'

Kurt

It came with no soil at all?! The leaves were curled up when you got it?!! I have ordered bamboo over the internet a couple of times and never received a plant in that condition. Bamboo isn't usually sold as a "bare root" like roses are. I am thinking that you are not overwatering or giving it too little sunlight, but you received a plant barely clinging to life in the first place.

Please post a picture or describe the plant in more detail. Do you know what species it is supposed to be? what do the leaves look like?

rockbassart-
That explains it. I doubt that anything you did or didn't do hurt it. No one who knows or cares anything about bamboo is going to ship it bareroot like that. If bamboo roots get dried out, it either substantially damages the plant, or kills it. I wouldn't throw it out, but keep watering it and see if it sends up any shoots. (The culm is probably a goner, but it won't hurt to leave it for a while). Put the plant outside now if possible just in case some solar gain encourages it to do something. If it doesn't die, it could take a year before you see new growth. If you want a plant now, you should consider: 1) getting a bamboo that tolerates low light, 2)and getting it from someone reputable who knows what they're doing. Black bamboo is very nice, and it may be able to grow in your place even without direct sunlight if there's enough ambient light, but I can't tell without a better understanding...do you have other plants you're successfully growing there? Make sure you take a look at those links that unautre posted above that have recommendations for growing bamboo indoors. I might suggest Bambusa vulgaris 'vittata' which I've grown indoors and is very pretty (golden culms with green stripes). There are many good mail order bamboo nurseries, including the one in those links.

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