Unwanted Bamboo

[Barnie]

A few years ago I planted a small bamboo plant in my garden, now HORROR, it is coming up all over the garden and the original is huge and I can't control it. Any ideas please.

[Brooklyn1]

Move. And don't tell your neighbors where or they will hunt you down.

[David E. Ross]

Bamboo is merely a very large grass. There are herbicides that target only grass, killing both the visible growth and the roots. Poast and Grass Getter are two that I have used successfully on smaller grasses. (I always mix a little liquid soap with the spray to make sure it thoroughly wets the grass.) Obviously, you must use care not to spray this where it will affect a grass lawn.

My suggestion is to cut the shoots close to the ground when they are about 2 feet (0.6 m) tall. This will kill the shoots but not the roots. Do this repeatedly from now until the spring. Then, spray the grass-specific herbicide on the new shoots when they are growing vigorously. It might take two or even three treatments to kill all the bamboo.

In the future, if you want to plant some bamboo, check with a reliable nursery (not a hardware store or lumber yard) to make sure you are getting a clumping bamboo, not a running bamboo. Clumping bamboos spread very slowly, are easy to control, and are usually not considered invasive. You apparently have a running bamboo, which spreads quickly and can be horribly invasive.

Clumping bamboos generally fall in the genus Bambusa; running bamboos generally fall in the genus Phyllostachys. However, there are other running and clumping genera. Furthermore, some species of Bambusa are very similar to species of Phyllostachys. For example, B. oldhamii and P. bambusoides are both called 'Giant Timber Bamboo'; and B. multiplex 'Golden Goddess Bamboo' is very much like P. aurea 'Golden Bamboo'.

[David Hare-Scott]

You are in for a long hard road. Whether you use herbicide or muscle, or both, it will probably take years. Even after you have followed every runner and sprayed every shoot you will have to go around every year (or more often) and check that some little bit has not survived. Every surviving fragment has in its genes taking over the world. Note that it can run for metres, even under hard surfaces, and come up unexpectedly elsewhere including your neighbour's place. In one case I know of it actually pushed up shoots through an asphalt driveway.

D