Bamboo?

[crazyme5kids]

Our neighbor planted bamboo last year. It is now invading our yard. What is the best way to deal with getting rid of this stuff? I know it is a very invasive plant. Any suggestions?

 

[kirbsam]

get a panda.

 

[agnes!]

Flamethrower. Or napalm.

I can't believe someone actually *wanted* to plant bamboo !! I hate the stuff. It's one of the worst invasive plants around, a real pest. Kudzu might be worse, lemon balm is just as bad and let's try not to even think about English Ivy .

Send them a bill for pain & suffering, it's just the beginning of a long struggle for you. So sorry.

agnes!

 

[JR6ooo4]

get a panda.

Ding Ding!

otherwise a physical barrier like a brick wall. or a chemical barrier, similar to stopping a neighbor's dandelions. But I do not recall seeing a weed and feed that specifically mentions bamboo...

Mikeeee

 

[Cheshire Figment]

White Fuming Nitric Acid.

 

[El Nebuloso]

Here's what's worked for me.

1. Black plastic. Put it over the offending plants and let it pretty much cook the stuff up. This takes time - I hit one area this way and pretty much left it covered for a year.

2. Roundup. Not the cheap stuff. The one with the purple cap that goes for about $100 / gallon. They recommend that you cut off the stalks below a joint and pour some of the stuff individually into each plant. This will work, but considering the bumper crop I had, this was not practical. I ended up mixing up a nice batch of Roundup and water and applying it with a sprayer. I don't recall the concentration, but I probably used it stronger than the label says. I applied the spray and waited a week or two and then pulled up the wilted stalks.

3. Physically rip the stuff up. This will only work if you get the roots with the plant. I had so much of the stuff that I resorted to this method in addition to spraying.

I have now managed to get my crop down to a more manageable level and figure that by the end of this season I will have it pretty much eliminated.

 

[crazyme5kids]

Thanks for the advice. The neighbor is away right now, but he is going to have to take care of it. The one I tried pulling out last night snapped off part of the stem, it already has another shoot growing! There are other ones that were only about 6" early this morning have already grown a few more inches.

I'm already dreading what might happen to the plants in the area that it is coming up in. I'm guessing that we will loose a bunch of them if we have to start throwing poison down and digging up roots .

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

Flamethrower. Or napalm.

Send them a bill for pain & suffering, it's just the beginning of a long struggle for you. So sorry.

agnes!

I feel your pain!! Getting rid of bamboo is a lot of work. I would insist that your neighbor come over and help so they see what a monster they have created.

Here is a good link for getting rid of bamboo, giving several different methods. Good luck to you!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080721085755AAvRw7a

 

[rabx5]

get a panda.

Flamethrower. Or napalm.

No advice as the only bamboo I have is in a vase on my desk at work.

 

[Inigo]

Other than "napalm, lots and lots of napalm", I have no advice for getting rid of the bamboo.

I was told once that the way to plant bamboo is to throw it on the ground, and RUN like the dickens, since it grows and spreads so fast. If you don't run, it might overtake you before you can get away.

 

[Binnie]

I love pandas. Maybe I should plant some bamboo!

 

[PaulaSue]

Okay maybe I don't want ot get some for our garden.

 

[tigercat]

My ds wants to plant a bamboo garden in our backyard.
tigercat

 

[ChristmasElf]

There are many varieties of bamboo.

NEVER plant Black Bamboo as it will take over your yard as well as your neighbors yard. This is known as a "runner" bamboo.

Timber bamboo is a "clumping" bamboo and will not become invasive to your neighbors. This is good to use along a fence line and will grow 25-40 feet tall.

Golden Bamboo is another "clumping" bamboo that will not become invasive and will grow to be average 40 foot tall. Also great along fence lines.

Royal Blue bamboo is a rare bamboo where the stalks turn a silvery blue color and is also a clumping bamboo that will grow to 35-50 ft average.

The nursery told us to always buy "clumpers" as they will not send shoots all over the yard and become invasive.

Runners like black bamboo will take over the entire area and often send up shoots as far as 40-50 feet away from where they are originally planted. Very hard to get rid of once it's planted.

 

[agnes!]

People in my neighborhood like to dump their unwanted yard debris including live plants etc. in the park/woods here, so we have English Ivy strangling the forest, bamboo stands taking over & crowding out native plants... There's a thick mat of various vining plants that have spread over a lot of the woods and throttled the smaller trees & bushes. I haven't seen any kudzu, but that's even worse than bamboo.

I don't know WHY people insist on throwing their dangerous plants into the woods, do they think they're being kind or recycling plants to the environment or are they just plain lazy ?

They should simply destroy the offending plants as the hazardous materials they are.

Invasive non-native plants...the gift that keeps on giving.​

 

[HM]

Dig about 4 feet down at your lot line and put in a brick wall that starts at the bottom of the trench and then comes up about a foot above ground. Make sure the wall extends well beyond the actual line of plants.

The guy that suggested black plastic had a pretty good plan too.....only problem is that some bamboo can actually poke right up through the plastic, it's so strong. You'd have to keep reapplying if the bamboo tries to grow up under it.

Have you talked to your neighbor since he planted? I have a feeling you guys are in for some tough times..... Good luck with it.

 

[MELISAZACK]

My neighbor had the "running" type 5 years ago when we moved it... it not only was invading our yard it was moving everywhere it could go...
when he passed away and the house was sold - his brother and us tore it out by hand by DIGGING and digging and digging the yards looked horrible -and when you think you found it all.. just wait for 1 nice spring/summer day and some rain and BAM!! stalks show up - then you start digging again and trace that root... after 2 years of this - we finally won and are no longer see any shoots coming up in any of the yards...

good luck -you are going to need it... after you destory your yard you may want to ask your neighbor to help pay to fix your yard.. I know the code inspector for our town when he saw us on working on it made it quite clear to the brother he could have to pay for our damage if we wanted it.. we didn't the homes and families have lived there for years together.. my home was my grandmas and I know the families well.. they helped dig and seed my grass and stuff so I was good with that..

 

[crazyme5kids]

I want to thank everyone again for the advice. As of today we still haven't heard from our neighbor, but he was away and we haven't seen him outside, so I will assume he isn't home yet.

If he doesn't show up by next weekend I think I'll start cutting and pouring some weed killer down the inside of the stalks. Hopefully it won't kill any of the plants and bushes we have growing. I'll feel bad if it kills the bamboo in his yard though, but I can't let it go much longer.