Getting rid of bamboo

[HalfwayUpALadder]

Moved into our new house in October and after getting the worst bits of inside decorated we're now looking to the garden.

The previous owners had bamboo along part of the fence between our house and next door for screening, but the had cut it all down to leave 6-8" stumps by the time they put the house on the market.

The stumps all look grey and dead but I have now noticed a few shooting lengths of bamboo coming out along the ground.

What do you think is the best way of getting rid of the bamboo? A quick google suggests it's going to be a bastard and will take a lot of work! Any advice???

TIA

I had bamboo. We (DP) dug as much out as possible. It is still shooting a bit this year but I just pull them out as I see them in the hope that it will weaken the plant and it will give up in the end. It seems manageable but would also be interested if there is another way!

It will almost certainly have survived.

If it is a vigorous, 'running' sort, I think you just have to dig right under, and round it, and get all the roots out. Any root left could start it off again.

We have a nice black bamboo, which it much easier to control, and hardly runs at all. The shiny black stems can look very good.

Here you go:
stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/bamboo-removal-made-easy.html

Brilliant thank you. My back is already aching at the thought of digging it out

But needs must ...

Ah yes,dh dug out a bastard bamboo the first year of our marriage. We got lazy the second year comparatively and had a baby :)

Ok, the easy way not fight involved. Bring the bamboo down to ground level. Cover the "contaminated" area with a black plastic (or what ever cuts the light supply). Wait 2 years. Everything will be dead.

What I would do if I were you, instead of black plastic I'd get a rubber mat big enough to cover the area and make it an eating space with table and chairs. If you have youg kids a sand box would be perfect.

You have to make sure there are no bamboos the other side of you fence or it will always come back.

We advertised our bamboo on freegle and a couple came and dug it out saying 'oh what a shame you don't want such a lovely plant'.
We nodded and said yes, we were very sorry.
We waited until they were gone and then did a little dance.
Do consider putting it up on freegle.

Is there such a thing as an absolutely run-proof bamboo? I'd love to get one as I want some fast growing evergreen screening but I have the fear that I'll be chasing it all over the garden.

yes there is: clumping bamboos.
a few examples
www.bamboogarden.com/Hardy%20clumping.htm
They grow slowly and are easy to control.

Thanks, are they absolutely run-proof though? A friend was terrorising me recently, telling me that all bamboo is a nightmare no matter what type.

If you want it to be run proof you could plant it in a bottomless pot (sink the pot right into the ground) - they do this at Kew. Then any escapees can be quickly identified and chopped.

Broadly speaking the more expensive a plant the harder it is to propagate and/or the slower it is to grow, which means the pricey ones are less likely to overrun your garden while you pop into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Black bamboo is comfortingly expensive.

Ours was a black bamboo. It actually ran and punctured our oil tank.

Thanks Purple and Gerbils, sorry for the hijack OP.

If the pot is sunk into the crown how do you see the escaping shoots before they've surfaced in the middle of your patio?

Clumping bamboos have a different root system. From the site, but you can find other info on the net
Clumping bamboo are defined as having a non-invasive rhizome structure (known as pachymorph rhizome) which differs from the better known –and sometimes feared—running bamboo (leptomorph rhizome). Clumpers form a tight cluster of gently arching culms extending from a relatively small root mass. Each underground bud pushes upward forming culms, and do not become long running rhizomes. Instead, clumping bamboos grow outward in a circular formation at a modest pace of 2 to 12 inches per year. Canopy growth is also relatively slow, usually gaining a couple feet of height and width annually.

My father has one since years and it is def. not invasive. It takes ages to grow. In 5 years it has grown 3x the size of the original pot. He reduced it last year to share the plant with out a problem.

Thanks for that. Hhhm, I'm looking for a quick growing screening plant that is evergreen and self-supporting, so maybe this type of bamboo would be too slow to hide my neighbours looking over my fence due to their ridiculously high deck for what I need it for.