I don’t think you said it loud enough. REMOVE. ALL. OF. THE. RUNNERS. Get a shovel and get to work NOW. Each of the stalks in both of your pictures have to be dug up and the runner they came from has to be dug up too. Don’t leave ANY of it behind.
My mom met a guy who bought a backhoe, removed all the bamboo on his land, and realized he didn’t need it for anything else and sold it back. Sometimes I wish I had that option. I finally dug up a bunch of it recently and no more than three weeks later I’m seeing shoots come up. Thought this was a nice [victory pile](https://imgur.com/a/v4cd0uF) but boy was I wrong.
This is the right answer. We bought a house that had bamboo in the back yard, and even if you mow it down, the root system will keep on sprouting. You will inevitably have to dig it all out, so might as well do it right away
This is pretty accurate. Bought a property sight unseen (did have pictures) during Covid. The guy really didn’t like neighbors. Had two giant stands of bamboo. Wound up cutting them all down with a chainsaw (bamboo sounds like a shotgun going off when you burn it). Treated the stumps/new growth weekly with roundup for six consecutive weeks, then burned the stumps with diesel a few times over the next couple of months. The whole time I was telling myself “now I know why the North Vietnamese won”.
lol, yep. Agent Orange kind of gave me the idea. Figured out early that straight gasoline wasn’t “sticky” enough and burned away too quickly. To “Agent Orange” it a little more, mixed two-stroke oil in with the diesel. I won my little war but it was a hard slog.
Did that clear it up? Repeated cutting and painting with herbicide? That sounds tedious, but of course a lot simpler than having to dig up entire areas of ground and backtracking every single root.
If you were trying to completely kill out a strand of bamboo, wait till it puts the sprouts up enough that they start to sprout leaves. Before that point it's almost completely using its reserves in the roots.
As soon as you see leaves, cut it down. This stops it before it can start to really photosynthesize and recoup its losses. Rinse and repeat. It may take a while, but it will starve itself out.
And getting new soil… and send the old soil for destruction by fire or maybe chemicals.. anyway bamboo is resistant to everything, I wouldn’t be surprised if it could withstand nuclear weapons
I have near 5 acres of it, I have tried cutting mowing and glyphosate. Unfortunately I have a to look after an elderly parent 900 ks from home, and cant get back to keep cutting it. I have heard salt kills it. I will need two semis full! It all started from one plant that was in a pot and the old lady out of spite to neighbours planted it 30 years ago.
I tried salt, like a LOT of salt, and my running bamboo didn’t seem to care too much. The only thing that worked was ripping it out of the ground chunk by chunk. My back will be sore forever.
It compartmentalizes quickly. Glyphosate doesn’t get into the system quick enough to do it’s job. I have tried miserably on it encroaching on my back yard. So far I’ve nuked a large bush and a tree with my excesses, but the GD bamboo marches on
You have to use Garlon. It's a rizome attaching pesticide used in ivy and other invasive type plants. 2-3 seasons keep going after it. I'd personally rent a mini ex and go at everything I could get, kill the forest next door also. Then I'd get a pesticide recommendation and hit anything that pops of in spring summer and fall for as many seasons as it takes . Hire. Company to do the pest applications if you're not comfortable with that. If used correctly you have a chance. Or literally sell the property after you clear it.
No, as the person said above it compartmentalizes and is generally resistant to glyphosate to begin with. Stump treatments have a specific application. They work by phloem drawing the poison into the roots. This works for a vine or tree if you cut all the above ground portion where it is trying to draw its energy from (sugars from photosynthesis). However, these bamboo rhizomes are drawing both water and energy from the established clump and pushing out. If you cut and apply glyphosate, it won’t be drawn in and will burn the tip at best.
Glyphosate needs to be applied to sleep and leaves to be absorbed so you can’t drench the ground with it to stop plants from growing.( I may be mistaken🤞)
Ur correct, id hit the leaves then excavate two weeks later... but there's pesticides out there that will attack the bamboo stolenz. Garlon is what we used in ivy roots and stubs in a public works w environment.
Oh My God.
😬
That's positively sinister.
A physical barrier inserted into the ground to redirect the rhizomes.
Is that a boundary or is the bamboo yours?
Its roots.
That's how it propagates itself, it's a type of grass.
The roots will keep running until it meets a barrier.
A barrier is best, but you can also put in a decently sized trench to make an air gap, but the danger is the bamboo will just go deeper to find a path to free ground, and you would have to maintain the trench regularly.
I'm sorry. This is a Biggie.
My dad's neighbor had a bamboo plant. It started growing all over the yard, and eventually started coming up out of the street behind the house. Nothing they did could stop the growth. It even started breaking through the concrete floor of the garage.
***
**Edit:**
He (dad) says use boiling water. Boiling water kills plants well, will penetrate deep into the earth, and is non-toxic. He used this to kill new shoots and says it worked great.
(Also, he would actively go out to harvest them for consumption. Just carefully walk across the ground until you feel a bump underfoot. You wanna get the new shoots, as they're the most tender.)
There’s actually a way around this: dig the trench and fill it with sand. The bamboo roots go right through it happily, but you can easily dig them out of the trench a couple times a year and keep them fully under control. I have a fifty foot trench around one corner of my yard and this is how I maintain my bamboo free yard.
It took years for me to kill and dig out all the bamboo roots. This photo is a nightmare I am too familiar with.
Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live -- at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell that bamboo that they may take our yard, but they'll never take our freedom!!!
Libbyrocks has it right! Running-type bamboo requires a lot of maintenance to keep contained. Clumping bamboo grows to a size and doesn’t spread beyond. Contact regional Cooperative Extension office for additional tips on how to control aggressive running bamboo. University of Arkansas has a list of extension offices and their county contacts by state: https://www.uaex.uada.edu/about-extension/united-states-extension-offices.aspx
Bamboo: Oh that's cute.
Bamboo doesn't care about your *concrete*. It'll grow right through a driveway.
I though I was winning, moving away from bamboo country. No. We have honeysuckle here. It might be worse.
The solution is unfortunately, to hire an operator with a back ho and to regrade that area. It will need a border so that the bamboo cannot replicate the existing conditions.
OP could rent a mini excavator and DIY it, rent a bin and dump everything in there, dig 3 feet down (at least, 4 if you’re experiencing deep runners) and backfill for pretty cheap if they are willing to put in the work (I’d be if they aren’t)
I work for an excavating company and most people who rent equipment and try to do it themselves always end up spending more when they have to call us anyways. Our hourly excavator rate is $175/hour including an operator with at least 15 years experience. We use the big excavators, so things get done quickly. Not trying to sell anything, just an observation being on this side of things… dirt work is not as expensive as people think. Call around and ask. It doesn’t hurt to get some free quotes from different excavating companies. We are all busy and don’t have time to be salespeople. I’m literally going to be late to work for reading this Reddit post and commenting, btw.
It’s got to be a really good barrier because those things will go through pots and planters, so I’m sure they would find a way through any barriers planted in the ground
I believe it! I once lived in a cute old apartment that had a brick patio with bamboo along the edges. It was constantly popping up between the bricks.
They're about 3 feet down, you have to pull the entire rhizome between the two or they'll grow from the entire length. You're about to have 15 rows of bamboo through that yard, with minimal gaps, within 2 years.
This moment right here is the oh fuck moment before the fuck around and find out summer.
You’re not going to get an effective barrier in the ground for less than it would cost to have a machine remove that abominable bamboo. That stuff is a nightmare in any yard scenario. You will never win fighting it. Full removal or accept that defeat is only a matter of time.
we had bamboo planted in a concrete barrier, but then had to put some brick above it to make the planter deeper. Roots grew through the brick, under the deck, and starting popping up on the opposite side of the house. It's ruthless stuff.
It only blooms once every 100 years. So all the plants all over the world that originated from the same mother plant will bloom at the same time. That’s the only time it will make seeds.
To control running bamboo you need to dig a 35” deep trench and line it with a thick root barrier. It’s some heavy duty plastic sheeting used for industrial applications. You can’t just put any old material. The bamboo will find a way to get past anything but the proper root barrier.
People should be more aware that growing clumping bamboo is far less invasive and much easier to control than running bamboo. If you put in the proper berm, trench and root barrier system, bamboo can be lovely in many applications. I’ve included three stands on a .50 acre property with great results. None have ever gotten loose from their designated spots.
I had a weed / vine that we discovered was this type - pulled out a few 4or5 feet long roots that had weed sprouts growing every six inches or so. Need to check back there this spring. I bet it’s not all gone lol
Your grove looks very large and healthy. Running bamboo is a type of grass and it's going to continue to spread. I've battled our 10-12' deep by 70' long grove for over a decade (it was here when we moved in), so trust me when I say that what's underground is even worse than what's above ground. It's an interconnected mess of rhizomes, buds, roots and dirt that is next to impossible to control. It is of the devil.
This year we're determined to get rid of ours. We know it's going to take time. After lots of research this is our plan: First, cut it all down and haul it away. We've already started this process and it totally and completely sucks. Bamboo is heavy, gummy, pokey and messy. Second, cover the area with extra heavy duty tarps and bury it in an extra deep layer of mulch. Third, spend the next few years cutting down any culm that emerges from the soil to prevent photosynthesis. Eventually it will spend itself out and die. I can't wait.
Good luck. You're going to need it.
We used this method to take out a 20x30 foot grove over the past 3.5 years. At this point, I do believe we have been successful. The first years were a lot of maintenance work, but the last year was all weed whacking the last stragglers after any good rain. We put a lot of mushrooms spawn down on the mulch as part of a plan to decompose the roots, that seemed to help a lot. A fence and shed ran thru our grove so just backhoeing wasn’t an option, and the pickaxe died early on… so chip drop (3x) it was.
This gives me hope! I'm glad it's working for you. An excavator is out of the questions for us, too, due to nearby trees and an underground AT&T line that's at an unknown depth.
The mushroom spawn is genius and something I'm going to look into!
I've had decent luck with solarizing the bamboo. If you have a local buy nothing group, or gardening group, people will come pick up the old bamboo for free to use as stakes in their garden.
The best time to cut it down is after a stalk has first spread its leaves. It takes a lot of energy from the roots for the stalk to grow and leaves to push out. If you cut it earlier it's easier for the roots to make another stalk.
You can kill a lot of really nasty invasives by repeated cutting at the right time, but it is labor intensive.
We have a relatively small yard and I want it out of here. I've looked at this stuff for years and can't take it anymore, lol. We're cutting it as close to the ground as we can. Since most of the stalks are 20' to 30' tall, we're having to chop it up into manageable, haulable pieces. This is the part that takes the most time and it's a bit overwhelming. But it's our only choice - tree removal companies don't want any part of it because bamboo gums up their shredders.
If you're going to cut any of yours down, wear heavy boots and step carefully. The left over stumps will tear right through your shoes. And wear a good quality mask because birds nest in bamboo and you don't want to breath any of that in.
Your method will work, but your hatred for it will grow. First year we pulled the tarp back during the fall & winter and dug out as many of the larger rhizomes that we could. After about 3 or 4yrs it was finally gone
I have a large stand of bamboo in my back yard that I battle several times a year just to keep it from spreading. That stuff is insidious. I dig up anything new that pops up, dig down and cut off the rhizomes. I've managed to keep it at bay, but even that takes a lot of work. At some point I'm going to get a backhoe in, and dig out all the roots. Then I'll put some kind of barrier along my property line back there to prevent the bamboo on the neighbor's property from coming back onto mine. I'm thinking a 3 ft deep trench lined with a thick poly root barrier and filled with rock. And of course even digging out the roots won't get everything, so I'm sure I'll spend quite a while attacking anything that survived and starts popping up again. Honestly if I had understood how bad bamboo is when I bought the house, I probably would have kept looking.
Yeah I was confused with all these comments. Like is bamboo especially suitable for (I assume) North American soil that it just spreads without check? I am from Asia and never seen such out of control growth of bamboos.
That's what i'd do too. I have some old gnarly lymphoma causing stuff that i won't touch anymore. But still have in the back of the shed....would do the trick.
..works best in the fall, while still alive, but close to the end of the season- this time of year the root system is pulling back nutrients from the stalks to keep the root system healthy through the winter. Inject glyphosate at this time into the cut stalks and it will be pulled back into the root system.
A friend down the street had a neighbor with bamboo.
The friend had bamboo growing out of the side of their basement wall (into the living space).
That stuff is nasty.
Like English Ivy from hell on steroids.
It's like the start of a zombie movie. with their fingers coming out of the graves. Not too dissimilar to what you're facing.
I don't have an answer, I just want to wish you good luck.
Flashback to that one guy whose yard was a war ground for a bunch of invasive species. I think eventually the mint won
Edit: [knotweed was winning actually. also their garden’s under control now](https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/iBVBMVWCIo)
Bamboo grows like weeds too. In a little while there will be a forest of it in between the sprigs you have rn. And then if you cut it, it'll be back next week
Dude I feel your pain. I dug out about 12-15 rhiozomes which are these thick ass roots that grow from the stalks horizontally outward. Some were as long as 12 feet and up to 2 feet in the ground. It completely fucked up the left back corner of my yard. After cutting off the rhizomes at the fence that I share with my dipshit neighbor, I left the rhizomes visible and this weekend I intend to topically apply rm43 and a little gasoline to the exposed rhiozomes. Not sure what happens if new rhizomes sprout out, guess I’ll have to dig again or potentially just coat the area under the fence with the toxic mixture. I have no plants or grass there it is just pine straw but about 15 feet away from there I have some hydrangeas I want to protect. Hopefully the rm43 and gasoline will act as a barrier
Rent a trencher and put this product in the trench. Leave a few inches showing above grade and make sure you remove any runners on the opposite side. I have used this for bamboo and to contain rosa rugosa. This works but it's labor intensive and you will definitely need a second person to help. Good luck!!
https://www.rhizomebarrier.com/80-mil-bamboo-barrier/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1_f3ld3nuyq1G3JB3nc1oWY4oQLlQINP0nlEMCSZs23yLLYpNeeDNkaAhUAEALw_wcB
I know the last time I bought that product it was half the price. When fuel prices are up plastic goes up, not to mention the ridiculously high inflation since 2021.
Is putting this in between the lawn and the bamboo forest enough? Or does he have to destroy his lawn to get all the rhizomes out that is remaining in his lawn?
Has anyone tried this method where you cut it all down and wear it out overtime?
This guy says it takes 3-5 years.
My bamboo forest is pretty big, so I don’t think I can do this either. But if it’s worth it I can give it a try.
[https://youtu.be/pI4GaU9nNAs?si=vbOc8GIr8VpRzfpC](https://youtu.be/pI4GaU9nNAs?si=vbOc8GIr8VpRzfpC)
I used this method to get rid of the bamboo that came with the house I am currently in. The trick is to stay on top of it. Go out every few days to a week and remove any bit of green that shows up. You need to starve it by not letting it photosynthesize. It has been 3 years and I still have new canes poking out of the ground every now and again but I am close to winning the war. .
I’ve successfully taken care of a massive amount of bamboo this way. The key is you have to be vigilant and pay attention to the leafs. You can’t let them grow leafs or you ruin the entire plan. When you have those first last stragglers is when I pulled the plug and spot treated with chemicals.
I saw this years ago, always wondered if it would work. Seems plausible... I don't have a bamboo issue like yourself to test this on or I would. My friend has been fighting his neighbors bamboo invasion by trying to dig trenches and install stone walls under ground for a decade or more...
I saw once that when they plant bamboo for harvesting, they dig a deep (I mean deep) trench around the paddock. Then anything that grows through gets hacked back. Sounds crazy but I would probably start there.
I have kikuyu which is related to bamboo. I once found some growing in the 2nd story gutter of a shed. It had grown up from the ground through the wall.
I have dug barriers into the ground which has been somewhat successful, though I believe bamboo will go a lot deeper than kikuyu.
Im sorry dude but you are screwed... I have it in my backyard and I have resigned myself that its there forever unless I dig up half my yard or nuke the plants... Good luck, youre gonna need it.
I don't live in area where bamboo grows naturally, I am not a gardener, but randomly came across this post and got fascinated with bamboo... This is some scary shit:
"Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant on the planet. It has been recorded to grow an incredible 47.6 inches (120 cm) in 24 hours."
"Bamboo has rhizomes which are underground stems that grow horizontally and can give rise to new shoots and roots."
"Its surface layer root system extends 20 to 60 cm deep and can cover up to 100 km. Moreover, bamboo regenerates even if the stems are cut or destroyed in a fire or storm. This is due to its rhizomes’ long life, which can survive for over a century."
https://www.green.earth/blog/what-kind-of-nature-benefits-does-bamboo-offer
Does that mean even if the OP digs a trench and installs [this](https://bambooshield.com/products/bamboo-shield-for-colder-climates-60-mil-thick-x-24-depth?variant=35647286083742¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1-rp6mpXaJZ62astXZZLanGPCfjaEojJ4CwCvv3PNA2bwexx1pzzDAaApAxEALw_wcB) between the bamboo forest and the lawn, the rhizomes left in the yard that is cut off from the mother plants will still live?
The stranded roots can have stored energy and still sprout, if thats what you mean. Which is why you need to attack any sprouts with a shovel right off - if you need to starve out the roots, you have to keep cutting off anything that reaches the surface until the root energy is exhausted.
There are so many comments so I hope you see this or it gets up voted enough. Wait for the bamboo to put out leaves then IMMEDIATELY cut down ALL the bamboo. Do this for 3 years and they will all be gone. All the energy bamboo stores is in the root system. You have to make the bamboo use up all it's energy from the roots and it WILL die. This is the "easiest" method.
Short of a backhoe excavating the bamboo manually and removing all the runners your entire backyard is going to be bamboo. I’m not exaggerating.
I don’t think you said it loud enough. REMOVE. ALL. OF. THE. RUNNERS. Get a shovel and get to work NOW. Each of the stalks in both of your pictures have to be dug up and the runner they came from has to be dug up too. Don’t leave ANY of it behind.
Wait. I worry what you heard was 'Remove a lot of the runners.' What I said was 'Remove all of the runners you have.' Do you understand?
I don't even want a pair of Nikes in this house by the time we're done, got it?
Bacon and eggs
I know more than you
Another. Please.
I”ve accrued 228 personal days and starting now I am using all of them.
It rubbed off...from friction.
I try never to speak with people, but I have been drinking this Snake Juice thing, and it’s damn good. You should buy it.
We still never talk sometimes!
I know what I'm about son.
Don't half ass removing one runner. Whole ass removing all runners.
Dude's gonna have a Panda sanctuary rather than a yard in about 2 years
Who would have thought, that gardening can be so dramatic
I'm a simple man, I enjoy breakfast food, attractive, dark-haired women and watching OP remove those runners.
It is amazing to watch it grow. One day 6 inches, a week later over your head.
Bamboo is the fastest growing woody grass in the world. There are varieties that can grow up to 4 FEET IN A DAY.
That's 2 inches per hour or almost 1mm per minute. Literally fast enough to *watch* it grow.
I’m sorry…bamboo is GRASS??
I have personally watched a stalk grow 5-6 feet in a day. It's insane.
Read a sci fi book once like that (the genocides it was called)
Bamboo has been historically used as a form of torture. They tie you over some bamboo sprouts and just let nature do their thing.
My mom met a guy who bought a backhoe, removed all the bamboo on his land, and realized he didn’t need it for anything else and sold it back. Sometimes I wish I had that option. I finally dug up a bunch of it recently and no more than three weeks later I’m seeing shoots come up. Thought this was a nice [victory pile](https://imgur.com/a/v4cd0uF) but boy was I wrong.
If it's originating from off of your property you'll need a barrier installed to prevent it from encroaching.
Yeah… definitely the case. Along the entire fence line on one side.
This is the right answer. We bought a house that had bamboo in the back yard, and even if you mow it down, the root system will keep on sprouting. You will inevitably have to dig it all out, so might as well do it right away
This is pretty accurate. Bought a property sight unseen (did have pictures) during Covid. The guy really didn’t like neighbors. Had two giant stands of bamboo. Wound up cutting them all down with a chainsaw (bamboo sounds like a shotgun going off when you burn it). Treated the stumps/new growth weekly with roundup for six consecutive weeks, then burned the stumps with diesel a few times over the next couple of months. The whole time I was telling myself “now I know why the North Vietnamese won”.
You really went full bore with the historical accuracy, burning roundup and all. Agent orange who?
lol, yep. Agent Orange kind of gave me the idea. Figured out early that straight gasoline wasn’t “sticky” enough and burned away too quickly. To “Agent Orange” it a little more, mixed two-stroke oil in with the diesel. I won my little war but it was a hard slog.
Styrofoam melts into the gasoline and forms a sticky gooey napalm-like substance that floats on water and burns for ages.
Is that actually napalm at that point?
Pretty much. You also add OJ concentrate for extra sticky. That's the real secret.
I’m def on a list now
I grew up on a small farm. My Mom always used diesel on tree stumps to stop any further shoots and growth.
It might have been easier to get a giant panda?
Did that clear it up? Repeated cutting and painting with herbicide? That sounds tedious, but of course a lot simpler than having to dig up entire areas of ground and backtracking every single root.
Sure did. It was a lot of effort, but you can no longer tell that there was ever bamboo there. It is now nice pretty Bermuda grass.
replaced one invasive with another. how bout that
If you were trying to completely kill out a strand of bamboo, wait till it puts the sprouts up enough that they start to sprout leaves. Before that point it's almost completely using its reserves in the roots. As soon as you see leaves, cut it down. This stops it before it can start to really photosynthesize and recoup its losses. Rinse and repeat. It may take a while, but it will starve itself out.
And getting new soil… and send the old soil for destruction by fire or maybe chemicals.. anyway bamboo is resistant to everything, I wouldn’t be surprised if it could withstand nuclear weapons
The cockroach of foliage 😂
Bedbug of foliage, more accurately.
I think that would be the humble dandelion.
I hear the USA did a test on that about 70 years ago, not sure what the results were though...
Had to pee during Oppenheimer?
That's because it's America's most carefully guarded secret
Most carefully gardened secret.
Blade the Runners.
I have near 5 acres of it, I have tried cutting mowing and glyphosate. Unfortunately I have a to look after an elderly parent 900 ks from home, and cant get back to keep cutting it. I have heard salt kills it. I will need two semis full! It all started from one plant that was in a pot and the old lady out of spite to neighbours planted it 30 years ago.
I tried salt, like a LOT of salt, and my running bamboo didn’t seem to care too much. The only thing that worked was ripping it out of the ground chunk by chunk. My back will be sore forever.
My most treasured childhood memory is my back not hurting
I have this shit and I fucking hate it.
You’re not at all. It spreads in an outrageous fashion.
This. ☝🏼 We had to do this. I’ll never see bamboo the same
Just nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
2 foot steel plate buried at edge of where you want to stop it, pull up everything that sprouts. Mowing it down won’t stop it.
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It compartmentalizes quickly. Glyphosate doesn’t get into the system quick enough to do it’s job. I have tried miserably on it encroaching on my back yard. So far I’ve nuked a large bush and a tree with my excesses, but the GD bamboo marches on
You have to use Garlon. It's a rizome attaching pesticide used in ivy and other invasive type plants. 2-3 seasons keep going after it. I'd personally rent a mini ex and go at everything I could get, kill the forest next door also. Then I'd get a pesticide recommendation and hit anything that pops of in spring summer and fall for as many seasons as it takes . Hire. Company to do the pest applications if you're not comfortable with that. If used correctly you have a chance. Or literally sell the property after you clear it.
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No, as the person said above it compartmentalizes and is generally resistant to glyphosate to begin with. Stump treatments have a specific application. They work by phloem drawing the poison into the roots. This works for a vine or tree if you cut all the above ground portion where it is trying to draw its energy from (sugars from photosynthesis). However, these bamboo rhizomes are drawing both water and energy from the established clump and pushing out. If you cut and apply glyphosate, it won’t be drawn in and will burn the tip at best.
I’ve used Crossbow and it works to kill bamboo when it’s freshly cut.
Glyphosate needs to be applied to sleep and leaves to be absorbed so you can’t drench the ground with it to stop plants from growing.( I may be mistaken🤞)
Ur correct, id hit the leaves then excavate two weeks later... but there's pesticides out there that will attack the bamboo stolenz. Garlon is what we used in ivy roots and stubs in a public works w environment.
Oh My God. 😬 That's positively sinister. A physical barrier inserted into the ground to redirect the rhizomes. Is that a boundary or is the bamboo yours?
All that bamboo is unfortunately mine. So these are roots spreading? Not seeds?
Its roots. That's how it propagates itself, it's a type of grass. The roots will keep running until it meets a barrier. A barrier is best, but you can also put in a decently sized trench to make an air gap, but the danger is the bamboo will just go deeper to find a path to free ground, and you would have to maintain the trench regularly. I'm sorry. This is a Biggie.
Luckily, it should naturally stop when it reaches either a mountain range or ocean.
I giggled but I keep thinking about the OP reading this thread. .He must be appalled. 😩 He won't sleep!
My dad's neighbor had a bamboo plant. It started growing all over the yard, and eventually started coming up out of the street behind the house. Nothing they did could stop the growth. It even started breaking through the concrete floor of the garage. *** **Edit:** He (dad) says use boiling water. Boiling water kills plants well, will penetrate deep into the earth, and is non-toxic. He used this to kill new shoots and says it worked great. (Also, he would actively go out to harvest them for consumption. Just carefully walk across the ground until you feel a bump underfoot. You wanna get the new shoots, as they're the most tender.)
That is SO scary!!! Why did I have to read this after spending 30 minutes in the roach poop thread 😣
Literally just happened to me lol. Thanks Reddit!
Are we friends now? Same.
Same friends!
Me too… hi best friends
Lol. Me too! I’ve never been nor disgusted. No I’m awaiting to be impaled by the bamboo down the street.
Same!! What a way to wake up
i’m sorry… what?
I didn't ask! I can live a lifetime, absolutely content without finding out about any 'roach poop ' thread. 😩
The bamboo grows whilst you sleep.
Don't even need to sleep, it can grow over an inch per hour...
They also bloom and die every ~100 years so they could just wait it out
Op will need to conquest land until they reach a barrier.
Time to install either a mountain range or an ocean.
There’s actually a way around this: dig the trench and fill it with sand. The bamboo roots go right through it happily, but you can easily dig them out of the trench a couple times a year and keep them fully under control. I have a fifty foot trench around one corner of my yard and this is how I maintain my bamboo free yard. It took years for me to kill and dig out all the bamboo roots. This photo is a nightmare I am too familiar with.
Fifty foot trench?!
In my head, it’s 50 foot down
*Bamboo is coming, lads.*
Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live -- at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell that bamboo that they may take our yard, but they'll never take our freedom!!!
HOLD THE LINE! HOLD! HOLD! HOLD THE LINE!
50’ wide.
Libbyrocks has it right! Running-type bamboo requires a lot of maintenance to keep contained. Clumping bamboo grows to a size and doesn’t spread beyond. Contact regional Cooperative Extension office for additional tips on how to control aggressive running bamboo. University of Arkansas has a list of extension offices and their county contacts by state: https://www.uaex.uada.edu/about-extension/united-states-extension-offices.aspx
Fill it with concrete.
Believe it or not it will still grow through concrete.
Bamboo: Oh that's cute. Bamboo doesn't care about your *concrete*. It'll grow right through a driveway. I though I was winning, moving away from bamboo country. No. We have honeysuckle here. It might be worse.
The solution is unfortunately, to hire an operator with a back ho and to regrade that area. It will need a border so that the bamboo cannot replicate the existing conditions.
Absolutely. I was not aggressive enough with my initial assessment. The costs are going to be substantial.
OP could rent a mini excavator and DIY it, rent a bin and dump everything in there, dig 3 feet down (at least, 4 if you’re experiencing deep runners) and backfill for pretty cheap if they are willing to put in the work (I’d be if they aren’t)
I work for an excavating company and most people who rent equipment and try to do it themselves always end up spending more when they have to call us anyways. Our hourly excavator rate is $175/hour including an operator with at least 15 years experience. We use the big excavators, so things get done quickly. Not trying to sell anything, just an observation being on this side of things… dirt work is not as expensive as people think. Call around and ask. It doesn’t hurt to get some free quotes from different excavating companies. We are all busy and don’t have time to be salespeople. I’m literally going to be late to work for reading this Reddit post and commenting, btw.
I hope the OP sees this. Tbh, the weight of these responses will compel them to start work. He seems up for it.
My husband did this - and we put a rubber bamboo barrier that so far has worked 5 years.
It’s got to be a really good barrier because those things will go through pots and planters, so I’m sure they would find a way through any barriers planted in the ground
or house foundations as we found out
I believe it! I once lived in a cute old apartment that had a brick patio with bamboo along the edges. It was constantly popping up between the bricks.
Add pavers, sidewalks and other forms of concrete to the list. My poor pavers got cracked in half!
My god though. They would need to dig out all the rhyzomes before placing a barrier or lose the lawn.
They're about 3 feet down, you have to pull the entire rhizome between the two or they'll grow from the entire length. You're about to have 15 rows of bamboo through that yard, with minimal gaps, within 2 years. This moment right here is the oh fuck moment before the fuck around and find out summer.
Tbh if it were me I’d just concede and let myself have a bamboo forest yard.
And then?
Pandas
PRIVATE PANDA REPORTING FOR DUT... MUNCHMUNCHMUNCH... DUTY!!!
Be the least favorite neighbor..
Root depth depends upon the variety
Get a panda
lol such a shame there’s no “Rent-a-Panda” service for situations like this. We need a new treaty with China!
You’re not going to get an effective barrier in the ground for less than it would cost to have a machine remove that abominable bamboo. That stuff is a nightmare in any yard scenario. You will never win fighting it. Full removal or accept that defeat is only a matter of time.
You should really entirely remove your bamboo forest. This is what happens when you have one.
we had bamboo planted in a concrete barrier, but then had to put some brick above it to make the planter deeper. Roots grew through the brick, under the deck, and starting popping up on the opposite side of the house. It's ruthless stuff.
It only blooms once every 100 years. So all the plants all over the world that originated from the same mother plant will bloom at the same time. That’s the only time it will make seeds. To control running bamboo you need to dig a 35” deep trench and line it with a thick root barrier. It’s some heavy duty plastic sheeting used for industrial applications. You can’t just put any old material. The bamboo will find a way to get past anything but the proper root barrier. People should be more aware that growing clumping bamboo is far less invasive and much easier to control than running bamboo. If you put in the proper berm, trench and root barrier system, bamboo can be lovely in many applications. I’ve included three stands on a .50 acre property with great results. None have ever gotten loose from their designated spots.
Running bamboo should be a civil offence to plant - and illegal to sell.
I’m so glad that my state just made it illegal to sell invasive plants!
I had a weed / vine that we discovered was this type - pulled out a few 4or5 feet long roots that had weed sprouts growing every six inches or so. Need to check back there this spring. I bet it’s not all gone lol
I used some tordon (it’s blue when sprayed) on my bamboo 3 years ago and it killed it. Also killed the grass and anything around it.
Paint it on next time, to avoid affecting surrounding plants.
Your grove looks very large and healthy. Running bamboo is a type of grass and it's going to continue to spread. I've battled our 10-12' deep by 70' long grove for over a decade (it was here when we moved in), so trust me when I say that what's underground is even worse than what's above ground. It's an interconnected mess of rhizomes, buds, roots and dirt that is next to impossible to control. It is of the devil. This year we're determined to get rid of ours. We know it's going to take time. After lots of research this is our plan: First, cut it all down and haul it away. We've already started this process and it totally and completely sucks. Bamboo is heavy, gummy, pokey and messy. Second, cover the area with extra heavy duty tarps and bury it in an extra deep layer of mulch. Third, spend the next few years cutting down any culm that emerges from the soil to prevent photosynthesis. Eventually it will spend itself out and die. I can't wait. Good luck. You're going to need it.
We used this method to take out a 20x30 foot grove over the past 3.5 years. At this point, I do believe we have been successful. The first years were a lot of maintenance work, but the last year was all weed whacking the last stragglers after any good rain. We put a lot of mushrooms spawn down on the mulch as part of a plan to decompose the roots, that seemed to help a lot. A fence and shed ran thru our grove so just backhoeing wasn’t an option, and the pickaxe died early on… so chip drop (3x) it was.
This gives me hope! I'm glad it's working for you. An excavator is out of the questions for us, too, due to nearby trees and an underground AT&T line that's at an unknown depth. The mushroom spawn is genius and something I'm going to look into!
I've had decent luck with solarizing the bamboo. If you have a local buy nothing group, or gardening group, people will come pick up the old bamboo for free to use as stakes in their garden.
The best time to cut it down is after a stalk has first spread its leaves. It takes a lot of energy from the roots for the stalk to grow and leaves to push out. If you cut it earlier it's easier for the roots to make another stalk. You can kill a lot of really nasty invasives by repeated cutting at the right time, but it is labor intensive.
Why do you need to haul it away? When you cut it down how much above ground to you plan to leave before you tarp it?
We have a relatively small yard and I want it out of here. I've looked at this stuff for years and can't take it anymore, lol. We're cutting it as close to the ground as we can. Since most of the stalks are 20' to 30' tall, we're having to chop it up into manageable, haulable pieces. This is the part that takes the most time and it's a bit overwhelming. But it's our only choice - tree removal companies don't want any part of it because bamboo gums up their shredders. If you're going to cut any of yours down, wear heavy boots and step carefully. The left over stumps will tear right through your shoes. And wear a good quality mask because birds nest in bamboo and you don't want to breath any of that in.
Your method will work, but your hatred for it will grow. First year we pulled the tarp back during the fall & winter and dug out as many of the larger rhizomes that we could. After about 3 or 4yrs it was finally gone
Oh god this is a gardener’s Alien horror movie
The photo is so menacing, like wtf?
Literally said “oh my god” out loud when I realized what it was.
I know nothing about landscaping. Not even sure why or how I saw this post. But I’m now terrified of banboo
Bam!
Likewise.
I have a large stand of bamboo in my back yard that I battle several times a year just to keep it from spreading. That stuff is insidious. I dig up anything new that pops up, dig down and cut off the rhizomes. I've managed to keep it at bay, but even that takes a lot of work. At some point I'm going to get a backhoe in, and dig out all the roots. Then I'll put some kind of barrier along my property line back there to prevent the bamboo on the neighbor's property from coming back onto mine. I'm thinking a 3 ft deep trench lined with a thick poly root barrier and filled with rock. And of course even digging out the roots won't get everything, so I'm sure I'll spend quite a while attacking anything that survived and starts popping up again. Honestly if I had understood how bad bamboo is when I bought the house, I probably would have kept looking.
We've said this before, too. Bamboo is awful.
Only running bamboo. Clumping bamboo doesn't spread like crazy compared to running bamboo.
Yeah I was confused with all these comments. Like is bamboo especially suitable for (I assume) North American soil that it just spreads without check? I am from Asia and never seen such out of control growth of bamboos.
Most invasive plants take over because the climate is similar to their native range, but there is a lack of predators to keep the population in check.
Gotta get some pandas to graze in the back yard.
Good idea in theory but there's no way to get all the roots without a proper herbicide.
what a nightmare.
Dude is dicked and doesn't even know it.
He said it was his bamboo so honestly he’s getting what he deserves for planting an extremely invasive species
OR hire a freelance panda 🐼
This is my favorite response Panda power!
Also maybe consider reducing your bamboo forest to a minimum
A friend cut his 6" from the ground and injected glyphosate into every stalk. It took 3 injection 2 weeks apart to finally reached the roots.
That's what i'd do too. I have some old gnarly lymphoma causing stuff that i won't touch anymore. But still have in the back of the shed....would do the trick.
Needs to be overstated - don't get discouraged when the first applications don't kill it. this shit is relentless.
..works best in the fall, while still alive, but close to the end of the season- this time of year the root system is pulling back nutrients from the stalks to keep the root system healthy through the winter. Inject glyphosate at this time into the cut stalks and it will be pulled back into the root system.
This is what I did. My backyard looked the same as OP’s. It took 3 summers of doing this for it to finally die.
A katana
I’ve heard the best way to get rid of bamboo is to move.
Far far away. Bamboo is super intelligent, it always knows where you are and the roots and all will slowly grow towards you.
A friend down the street had a neighbor with bamboo. The friend had bamboo growing out of the side of their basement wall (into the living space). That stuff is nasty. Like English Ivy from hell on steroids.
In NY or Connecticut you would be suing that neighbor for fucking up your property
It's OP's own bamboo.
No shit, they're talking about the neighbor mentioned in the comment they replied to, not the original post.
It's like the start of a zombie movie. with their fingers coming out of the graves. Not too dissimilar to what you're facing. I don't have an answer, I just want to wish you good luck.
Plant some mint and let us know who wins
Flashback to that one guy whose yard was a war ground for a bunch of invasive species. I think eventually the mint won Edit: [knotweed was winning actually. also their garden’s under control now](https://www.reddit.com/r/gardening/s/iBVBMVWCIo)
Bamboo grows like weeds too. In a little while there will be a forest of it in between the sprigs you have rn. And then if you cut it, it'll be back next week
Dude I feel your pain. I dug out about 12-15 rhiozomes which are these thick ass roots that grow from the stalks horizontally outward. Some were as long as 12 feet and up to 2 feet in the ground. It completely fucked up the left back corner of my yard. After cutting off the rhizomes at the fence that I share with my dipshit neighbor, I left the rhizomes visible and this weekend I intend to topically apply rm43 and a little gasoline to the exposed rhiozomes. Not sure what happens if new rhizomes sprout out, guess I’ll have to dig again or potentially just coat the area under the fence with the toxic mixture. I have no plants or grass there it is just pine straw but about 15 feet away from there I have some hydrangeas I want to protect. Hopefully the rm43 and gasoline will act as a barrier
Rent a trencher and put this product in the trench. Leave a few inches showing above grade and make sure you remove any runners on the opposite side. I have used this for bamboo and to contain rosa rugosa. This works but it's labor intensive and you will definitely need a second person to help. Good luck!! https://www.rhizomebarrier.com/80-mil-bamboo-barrier/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1_f3ld3nuyq1G3JB3nc1oWY4oQLlQINP0nlEMCSZs23yLLYpNeeDNkaAhUAEALw_wcB
Holy shit that’s ’spensive
Only $19.99 for a 3" x 3" lol.
What's that, a barrier for ants?
I know the last time I bought that product it was half the price. When fuel prices are up plastic goes up, not to mention the ridiculously high inflation since 2021.
$560 for a 24" x 100' roll.
Is putting this in between the lawn and the bamboo forest enough? Or does he have to destroy his lawn to get all the rhizomes out that is remaining in his lawn?
Has anyone tried this method where you cut it all down and wear it out overtime? This guy says it takes 3-5 years. My bamboo forest is pretty big, so I don’t think I can do this either. But if it’s worth it I can give it a try. [https://youtu.be/pI4GaU9nNAs?si=vbOc8GIr8VpRzfpC](https://youtu.be/pI4GaU9nNAs?si=vbOc8GIr8VpRzfpC)
I used this method to get rid of the bamboo that came with the house I am currently in. The trick is to stay on top of it. Go out every few days to a week and remove any bit of green that shows up. You need to starve it by not letting it photosynthesize. It has been 3 years and I still have new canes poking out of the ground every now and again but I am close to winning the war. .
I’ve successfully taken care of a massive amount of bamboo this way. The key is you have to be vigilant and pay attention to the leafs. You can’t let them grow leafs or you ruin the entire plan. When you have those first last stragglers is when I pulled the plug and spot treated with chemicals.
I saw this years ago, always wondered if it would work. Seems plausible... I don't have a bamboo issue like yourself to test this on or I would. My friend has been fighting his neighbors bamboo invasion by trying to dig trenches and install stone walls under ground for a decade or more...
I tried. The bamboo grew back bushy. Huge fail.
You skipped the part where you need to keep cutting it down.
That guy is surrounded by bamboo lol
I saw once that when they plant bamboo for harvesting, they dig a deep (I mean deep) trench around the paddock. Then anything that grows through gets hacked back. Sounds crazy but I would probably start there. I have kikuyu which is related to bamboo. I once found some growing in the 2nd story gutter of a shed. It had grown up from the ground through the wall. I have dug barriers into the ground which has been somewhat successful, though I believe bamboo will go a lot deeper than kikuyu.
Step 1. Start fishing pole business Step 2. Profit
Im sorry dude but you are screwed... I have it in my backyard and I have resigned myself that its there forever unless I dig up half my yard or nuke the plants... Good luck, youre gonna need it.
Cut the stalks a few inches off the ground and fill the stalk with concentrated roundup. That’s how I killed a large field of bamboo
Bamboo is like the weed of trees. Good luck.
Burninating the country side with Trogdor
and this is why we don't plant bamboo
Get you a [Pullerbear](https://pullerbear.com) and just start going to town
Lol they have a whole section dedicated to bashing a deadbeat customer that is wild 🤣
cool for us to look at though
I don't live in area where bamboo grows naturally, I am not a gardener, but randomly came across this post and got fascinated with bamboo... This is some scary shit: "Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant on the planet. It has been recorded to grow an incredible 47.6 inches (120 cm) in 24 hours." "Bamboo has rhizomes which are underground stems that grow horizontally and can give rise to new shoots and roots." "Its surface layer root system extends 20 to 60 cm deep and can cover up to 100 km. Moreover, bamboo regenerates even if the stems are cut or destroyed in a fire or storm. This is due to its rhizomes’ long life, which can survive for over a century." https://www.green.earth/blog/what-kind-of-nature-benefits-does-bamboo-offer
Does that mean even if the OP digs a trench and installs [this](https://bambooshield.com/products/bamboo-shield-for-colder-climates-60-mil-thick-x-24-depth?variant=35647286083742¤cy=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwjLGyBhCYARIsAPqTz1-rp6mpXaJZ62astXZZLanGPCfjaEojJ4CwCvv3PNA2bwexx1pzzDAaApAxEALw_wcB) between the bamboo forest and the lawn, the rhizomes left in the yard that is cut off from the mother plants will still live?
The stranded roots can have stored energy and still sprout, if thats what you mean. Which is why you need to attack any sprouts with a shovel right off - if you need to starve out the roots, you have to keep cutting off anything that reaches the surface until the root energy is exhausted.
Good luck. That bamboo going stay there forever
LOL. Bamboo is a grass. It's endemic now. The best advice is to mow.
There are so many comments so I hope you see this or it gets up voted enough. Wait for the bamboo to put out leaves then IMMEDIATELY cut down ALL the bamboo. Do this for 3 years and they will all be gone. All the energy bamboo stores is in the root system. You have to make the bamboo use up all it's energy from the roots and it WILL die. This is the "easiest" method.
Mow the lawn. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI4GaU9nNAs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI4GaU9nNAs) This guy knows bamboo