Killing bamboo

[grampster]

When we moved to Grampster's Ridge 6 years ago, I had a couple stalks of bamboo down the hill along my fence line in the back of the house.  The guy behind and below us has a pool and a nicely landscaped back yard with a fountain and a small waterfall into a smallish pond that recirculates.  He has some northern climate bamboo as part of the landscape.  Over the years the bamboo has crossed under the fence and I now have quite a grove of them.   About 20' wide and maybe 8' feet deep.  As this grove was enlarging, I liked it as it is easy on the eye and the area around it is sort of overgrown with other sorts of plants, small trees and vines etc.  But.....I did not realize what an invasive plant bamboo is!!  The underground root system spreads out rapidly and in many directions and it's moving nearer to my drain field.  I've been mowing over the new shoots and then digging up the roots where I find them beyond the grove.  The root growth is rapid!

When spring rolls around I'm gonna spend some quality time cutting down about 90% of the grove to ground level.  What I'd like to know is whether anyone knows if there is some sort of product I can spread over the cut down portion to eradicate it.  I really don't care if I kill any of the grasses that remains in the cutting area.  I can always plant more grass or something less envasive after awhile and I won't have any sort of erosion problem as the ground is flat and mostly clay.

[K Frame]

Pretty much.... nothing.

Bamboo laughs at most herbacides. They will work, sort of, but very slowly and generally require MANY applications.

I've known people to use the mower method, but that takes a LONG time and may or may not work.

Another way is to mow it down to the ground and then cover everything with thick plastic sheeting to cut off water and sunlight. Essentially you starve it out.


But, the best way is to dig. But you know how labor intensive that is.

I know people who have controlled the spread by putting a physical barrier in the soil, like a wide plastic edging, once they've gotten things under control.

Good luck. You're going to need it.

[charby]

Bamboo is a grass that spread by rhizomes. What ever you spray may kill your neighbors plants also buy spreading it through the roots.

[Brad Johnson]

Fastest and easiest control method is to have someone with a backhoe or track hoe come in and dig them out back to whatever line you want. Fill the trench with topsoil and possibly install some type of deep root barrier to keep future spread at bay.

Brad

[bedlamite]

I'm told Roundup works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGkjwAGfRi8

[mtnbkr]

Pandas.  Lots of pandas.

Chris

[Hawkmoon]

Fastest and easiest control method is to have someone with a backhoe or track hoe come in and dig them out back to whatever line you want. Fill the trench with topsoil and possibly install some type of deep root barrier to keep future spread at bay.

^^^ This.

[grampster]

Sigh....

I just found some stuff on line that will kill bamboo once it's cut down.  Tordon RTU by Dow Chem.  I just need to be careful and apply it to the cut stalks only as it kills all sorts of woody* growth.  (*that's trees, not the other )  I don't really care if what I put on them kills the neighbors bamboo.  His grove is what infested me.  Ignorance about bamboo is NOT bliss.

I think the excavation and fill thing would be a last resort.  I'm also thinking of maybe renting a trencher and make a 24" or so deep narrow trench and then line it with heavy duty vinyl to isolate the area so if my neighbors bamboo does come back under the fence it won't go anywhere.  One thing I've noticed is that the rhizomes run fairly close to the surface.  One main rhizome kicks of many shoots that go off in many directions.  That stuff is extremely invasive.   Charby is right, I found out that bamboo is a form of grass.   

[charby]

Pandas.  Lots of pandas.

Chris

[charby]

  Tordon RTU by Dow Chem. 

If you have any evergreens near any of bamboo they will die too.

I did an investigation where an applicator applied 2oz of Tordon 22k with a few gallons of water (basically made Tordon RTU) over 2000 sq ft of ground to kill off woody plants in a grove of Norway Spruce. Killed every spruce tree and half the spruces in the yard next door.

[lupinus]

Have you considered the merits of fire?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

[charby]

Have you considered the merits of fire?

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

bamboo loves it, comes back even thicker

[dogmush]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCbfMkh940Q

I had a similar issue with some neighbors ornamental bamboo at my old house.  I finally killed the stuff, but the technique was not EPA approved and precluded other plants there for a while.

Good luck.

[BobR]

I hate my neighbors. I will be moving in a couple of years. Bamboo can make a privacy fence. I like this thread. 


bob

[charby]

I hate my neighbors. I will be moving in a couple of years. Bamboo can make a privacy fence. I like this thread. 


bob

So does various poplar species.

[makattak]

So does various poplar species.

You missed his first part of the post: "I hate my neighbors." Poplars don't spread into his neighbors yard and create headaches for years to come.

[charby]

You missed his first part of the post: "I hate my neighbors." Poplars don't spread into his neighbors yard and create headaches for years to come.

The right poplar species do, they clone by aggressive root sprouts. These roots also love to plug sewer lines.

[charby]

The right poplar species do, they clone by aggressive root sprouts. These roots also love to plug sewer lines.

Quaking Aspen is one, Lombardy poplar also.

toss in a few salix, like a sandbar or black willow and your setting up decades of misery.

[BobR]

Good ideas, but I like the bamboo because a shallow trench on my side of the fence should keep the growth going out of my yard. :)


bob

[Boomhauer]

Rent a mini excavator with a thumb and rip it all out

[charby]

Good ideas, but I like the bamboo because a shallow trench on my side of the fence should keep the growth going out of my yard. :)


bob

or a deep landscaping edging.

[Regolith]

Detcord. Lots and lots of detcord.

[charby]

Detcord. Lots and lots of detcord.

Great now the whole neighborhood will be choked out by Bamboo because you spread the rhizomes everywhere.

[mtnbkr]

Great now the whole neighborhood will be choked out by Bamboo because you spread the rhizomes everywhere.

Isn't this how sci-fi horror movies are envisioned?

Chris

[French G.]

My uncle is a lifelong bamboo hobbyist. Used to supply the national zoo even. Well, he planted a bunch up in the mountains where I grew up. I walked in there recently and the houses are long gone, bulldozed. The road is not passable. But the bamboo is just fine. I don't think the deer eat it either. When White oak falls and the drive are overrun by it I know nothing.

I do miss it, grew up playing in it, love the shoots for eating. Thinking about a patch here for an endless supply of garden posts. I'll be sure to plant it close to the neighbors.