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It's coming under my fence from next door.
I thought about digging down to where the roots are and just pouring a load of weed killer on it, covering it back up and sticking a planter over it.
Need something that's not going to do any harm to my or the neighbours dogs.
Any ideas?
Dig it all up. Persuade your neighbour to do the same. No other fix.
If it's the spreading stuff, you could be in for fun, it's a menace. I'd be tempted to use glysophate (it's harmless to pets once it's dry)
The big British bamboo crisis: ‘It invaded my beautiful home’ | Plants | The Guardian
Or, of course, get a panda.
Sounds like a problem for your neighbour to sort out. It won't go away, just get worse, best thing to do is get rid of the lot.
Nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
More seriously, we have a similar issue. In our case we have neighbours on 2 sides with Bamboo, we spoke to both. One took a look at articles like the one linked to above said 'we don't need that kind of problem' and dug it all out. The other has buried their head in the sand. We look out for shoots on our side of the fence, dig out the runner back to the fence and inject them with glyophate (the only stuff that's effective against bamboo). For now that's all we can do, it does mean a lawn is out of the question. We have the issue and our neighbours' response in writing, so if it escalates to cause any real damage, we're well covered for the ensuing legal case.
The other has buried their head in the sand.
Hopefully a pointy root with grow right through their head then!
Nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
More seriously, we have a similar issue. In our case we have neighbours on 2 sides with Bamboo, we spoke to both. One took a look at articles like the one linked to above said 'we don't need that kind of problem' and dug it all out. The other has buried their head in the sand. We look out for shoots on our side of the fence, dig out the runner back to the fence and inject them with glyophate (the only stuff that's effective against bamboo). For now that's all we can do, it does mean a lawn is out of the question. We have the issue and our neighbours' response in writing, so if it escalates to cause any real damage, we're well covered for the ensuing legal case.
Have you considered installing a root barrier along the boundary?
Have you considered installing a root barrier along the boundary?
Bamboo (the spreading stuff) doesn't give a hoot about root barriers. The stuff goes through concrete and all sorts.
Have you considered installing a root barrier along the boundary?
Yes, but that will involve replacing the fence (at our cost), and there are some access issues. Ultimately, the problem lies with our neighbour and it's their responsibility to install a barrier on their side of the boundary or to remove the plant.
Edit - and what davy said above.
Harry, in your case I would get a professional firm in to sort your side of things then charge it back to your neighbour. This may then jolt them into sorting our the problem, rather than dealing with an ongoing annual cost for works. Ignoring the issue is going to cost them a load of money and cost you a load of disruption and mess. The sooner it is sorted, the better.
There's also an issue with how bamboo is sold in the UK. There's a perception that 'clumping' Bamboo isn't a problem; however, in many cases 'clumping' just means 'slow maturing'. This, in turn, means that for 10-20 years, it remains in a clump, but when the clump matures, it starts putting out runners.
This is why it's suddenly becoming a problem, as detailed in the Guardian article above. In the 90's and early 2000's this stuff was planted, but only now is it becoming a serious issue.
Pretty sure your neighbour has the responsibility to prevent a nuisance. How you resolve that depends on your current and future relationships.
Digging all of it out seems to have worked for us, but I was ready to put a deep ditch in to stop it going further if needed. The neighbour at the bottom who planted it has a long garden that runs along the back of quite a number of houses in our street and others around the corner. Bamboo was coming up in gardens all the way along and beyond. He's been trying to sell his house and move to Japan for several years with no success, can't think why.
Have you considered installing a root barrier along the boundary?
Bamboo (the spreading stuff) doesn't give a hoot about root barriers. The stuff goes through concrete and all sorts.
Only if it needs to though. From my experience it'll take the path of least resistance, which means sliding up and over the root barrier rather than going through it, which if installed correctly means you can spot it and treat it at the boundary before it spreads further.
Doesn't glyphosate deal with it effectively? paint the leaves or maybe cut the stems and pour into the hollow.
I planted some bamboo in the small garden when I lived in Japan. A decade later the landlady made me get rid before I moved out. That was a lot of hard work with a mattock and sure enough roots were going under the house...
Nuke the site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
And which will have the added benefit of also knocking out any Japanese snipers which might be lurking
Cut off at the base and squirt neat stump killer Roundup down the shoot. Been battling it forever. This works. Comes in small sachets ideal for the job.
paint the leaves
hahahahaha. This stuff is alien. Neat down the shafts.
It took me months during lockdown/furlough to dig out the bamboo we inherited with our house. I spent 8-hour days chopping through the roots to pull it out in A3 size chunks about 20cm deep. Once it was all gone I had to rake and sift the bare earth down another 20cm to get the deeper rhizomes. I then kept a weekly watch on the patch for 2 years and removed hundreds of new shoots; digging down to the deepest roots I could find each time. At the same time I was treating leaves shooting out of the drystone wall next to the patch with concentrated roundup and pouring it down any exposed stems I could find.
This summer is the first growing season where no new shoots have appeared in the wall or the patch (which is now covered in beautiful self-seeded aqualegia which the bees love).
As a consequence of all that work there is no longer any bamboo in my neighbour's garden. So all you have to do is arrange another global pandemic, hope your neighbour gets furloughed, convince them to do all of the above and job jobbed!
hahahahaha. This stuff is alien. Neat down the shafts.
It can actually work best diluted correctly.
The idea is to let the plant absorb it and then it travels down to the root and kills it. If you use it in too high a concentration it kills the leaves quicker than it kills the root so the plant just comes back once the leaves soaked in weedkiller fall off. That's why farmers use it in much more diluted form, and it takes days/weeks to have any visible effect on weeds, but they don't come back. And the B&Q stuff works in minutes/hours but you keep going back to buy more month after month because you see the visible burnt looking plants as evidence that it must work.
Sounds like a problem for your neighbour to sort out. It won't go away, just get worse, best thing to do is get rid of the lot.
The neighbour(s)? Seems slightly drastic, but given the problem they're evidently causing, it's probably justified.
I tried the diluted roundup on the leaves. It doesn’t work. Hence the neat on the cut stems at ground level. You only have 10 seconds after the cut to apply as the stem seals over. I may have PTSD. It’s a war out there.
I'm at a similar stage to Ti-red and Lister. We acquired two patches of bamboo with our new house last summer. One 'running' and one 'clumping'. I was none the wiser until that gruaniad article linked above was posted shortly after we moved in. This sent me into a full blown anxiety mess and spoiled the summer (mostly due to the stress of moving I think). This post last summer would have probably triggered a panic attack.. anyway. The running bamboo was on a boundary fence away from the house, but had spread extensively and started spreading into the garden behind us
A few days of hard digging removed the main stand to about 2ft deep and any major outlier outcrops. I then treated any roots I could find with roundup as above. I think the graniad article is a bit hyperbolic, written as it is by a bamboo removal firm, but it is tenacious stuff.
In the first year after removing it I'm now in the 'whack a mole' stage of cutting out and treating any shoots that appear. Should probably be a couple more years before it's all gone hopefully. Luckily it hadn't spread much into the neighbours property and they are quite relaxed and happy about my management.
I was leaving the 'clumping' stand and just keep it trimmed but HarryTuttles post above has me rethinking that decision.
We've got at least three varieties, one growing 20 metres high. The method I used to get rid of two varieties was to chop it right back... then chop it back. Repeat this as soon as it shoots for a few months. Over time it comes back weaker and weaker until eventually it gives up. But keep your eye on it or it will sneak out again.
Problem for you will be you can't chop all of it back I guess.
The idea is to let the plant absorb it and then it travels down to the root and kills it. If you use it in too high a concentration it kills the leaves quicker than it kills the root so the plant just comes back once the leaves soaked in weedkiller fall off. That's why farmers use it in much more diluted form, and it takes days/weeks to have any visible effect on weeds, but they don't come back. And the B&Q stuff works in minutes/hours but you keep going back to buy more month after month because you see the visible burnt looking plants as evidence that it must work.
This makes me feel better - I applied glyphosate to a load of weeds at the weekend, from concentrate but in the dilution that the bottle says, and it doesn't seem to have done much effect. Hopefully I just need to be a bit more patient.
My wife loves bamboo and we had a fair amount of it starting to rampage. Over a period of a few weeks I dug out every single bit I could find, sieving etc, to remove. It was back breaking work as the bamboo is really tenacious, but 2 years later there is no sign of it 😊
I didn’t believe weed barriers would work so now it’s only allowed in stand alone planters.
Have you considered installing a root barrier along the boundary?
Bamboo (the spreading stuff) doesn't give a hoot about root barriers. The stuff goes through concrete and all sorts.
Yes I've seen the pics of the stems popping up inside people's houses!
Nonetheless I think I'd be giving the barriers a try if it was my house TBH.
From a quick google the barriers are HDPE coated on both sides with LDPE which is highly puncture resistant (same materials as are used for high quality pond liners) and smooth (so the rhizome will be inclined to grow along it rather than try and go through it).
Thing is you need to leave it sticking out above the ground so it's not the most attractive solution.
as well as glyphosate, you could get some Ammonium Sulphamate.
Obviously you're not allowed to use it as a weedkiller, but should you accidentally trip on the way to putting it in the compost, you might find the problem has reduced.