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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Which bamboo is this?

22 replies

Blackcats7 · 20/04/2024 16:16

Can anybody tell me which variety of bamboo this is please?
It belongs next door but has popped up on my land and is very close to my house so am concerned.

Which bamboo is this?
OP posts:
Turkeyhen · 20/04/2024 16:17

Can you get a pic of the stems?

Golden bamboo is a common one which has (as you might expect) yellow stems.

Cheeesus · 20/04/2024 16:18

It looks like one I’ve just planted (in pots) - Sasa palmata f. nebulosa

checkedshirts · 20/04/2024 16:21

That looks like the one mentioned above which is runner rather than a clumper. It's vigorous (which seems to be the new word for invasive)

Turkeyhen · 20/04/2024 16:26

Whatever type of bamboo it is, if it's running across the boundary onto your land and up to your house, that's a problem the neighbour needs to deal with. If they won't, you can dig a trench on your boundary to stop it, or install a root barrier along the boundary.

Blackcats7 · 20/04/2024 17:47

Turkeyhen · 20/04/2024 16:17

Can you get a pic of the stems?

Golden bamboo is a common one which has (as you might expect) yellow stems.

Stems look like these

Which bamboo is this?
OP posts:
Blackcats7 · 20/04/2024 17:51

Turkeyhen · 20/04/2024 16:26

Whatever type of bamboo it is, if it's running across the boundary onto your land and up to your house, that's a problem the neighbour needs to deal with. If they won't, you can dig a trench on your boundary to stop it, or install a root barrier along the boundary.

The neighbour is extremely difficult, I have had to resort to a solicitor over another issue already which is now sorted. I warned her about the bamboo last year but she denied it was an invasive variety well now I can see it has popped up six feet away from her clumps on my land and about six inches from my house so I am concerned. Planning to get a gardener to spray it with heavy duty weedkiller which I hate as I never use chemicals but this seems the only option as there is limited space to get to it.
Not heard of a root barrier, thanks, will google.

OP posts:
Turkeyhen · 20/04/2024 18:15

The easiest way would be a narrow trench by the boundary - the rhizomes can't leap across a gap, at least I don't think so 🥴

We had bamboo in our garden (planted by previous owners) and had to remove it when it did exactly the same thing.

Blackcats7 · 20/04/2024 19:54

Cheeesus · 20/04/2024 16:18

It looks like one I’ve just planted (in pots) - Sasa palmata f. nebulosa

Thank you I think you are right. Bad news for me though.

OP posts:
MereDintofPandiculation · 20/04/2024 20:40

Sasa is well known for spreading. If she thinks it isn’t spreading, it may be something else

Cheeesus · 21/04/2024 09:06

This is the barrier stuff you can buy

https://amzn.to/3w9GF8z

Cheeesus · 21/04/2024 09:07

If it’s Sasa, the leaves are much bigger than the other stuff. I can take a photo of mine once I’ve got out of bed.

Blackcats7 · 21/04/2024 09:17

MereDintofPandiculation · 20/04/2024 20:40

Sasa is well known for spreading. If she thinks it isn’t spreading, it may be something else

She doesn’t know what sort it is, she just denied it would be an issue. From experience I know she doesn’t tell the truth if it doesn’t suit her.
I have been through my insurer, mediation, the police and eventually my solicitor with this woman over another issue. It has been beyond belief and cost me a lot of money. I am horrified to think this may well be the start of more hassle with her.
The bamboo definitely the spreading sort as it has spread under the fence on to my property.

OP posts:
Blackcats7 · 21/04/2024 16:00

Cheeesus · 21/04/2024 09:07

If it’s Sasa, the leaves are much bigger than the other stuff. I can take a photo of mine once I’ve got out of bed.

Yes please to a photo

OP posts:
Cheeesus · 21/04/2024 16:20

Sorry, forgot. Here is Sasa with the big leaves and not Sasa with the smaller leaves.

Cheeesus · 21/04/2024 16:20

Try the image again

Which bamboo is this?
Which bamboo is this?
LoobyDop · 21/04/2024 18:32

That looks like the running kind we’re in the process of eradicating from our garden. There’s a thread “Bamboo” where a few people have posted how they’ve got rid of it.

Blackcats7 · 21/04/2024 20:09

I have just posted on the other thread but in case someone here can answer,
has anybody had to resort to legal action if a neighbours bamboo is invading and the neighbour refuses to take action?
I think it may well come to this for me.

OP posts:
LizzieSiddal · 21/04/2024 20:52

We had a lot of this bamboo in our garden when we bought it. It spread horrendously, however we managed to totally get rid of it quite easily following a gardener’s advice.
We cut it down to about a foot then using strong weedkiller, sprayed right into the hole of the remaining stalk, (the stems are hollow).
That kills all the spreading roots and completely eradicates it.

Good luck because it is a pain!

Pompandceremony · 28/05/2024 13:45

I grow about 15 species of bamboo, and hopefully this information is useful to @Blackcats7.

The previous ID of Sasa palmata given above, but this is not that bamboo. I think @Cheeesus alluded to this difference.

The plant in the OP's question Pseudosasa japonica, a different species (and genus), but I am not surprised by it being identified as Sasa palmata. Even the Latin name 'Psuedo-' refers to Pseudosasa being a 'fake Sasa', because of their similarities.

Both Sasa palmata and Pseudosasa japonica have been popular in the UK since at least Victorian times, and both have naturalised in parts of the UK. Both have a similar habit of growth, both grow very well in woodland settings with much more shade than other bamboos.

I think both can be very ornamental, especially if you remove the lower leaves on say 0.8-1m of the stems - this is commonly done in East Asia. It turns it into a much more beautiful and impressive looking specimen.

Other than botanical differences in the flowers (which isn't the question) the major differences are height and proportions.

Sasa palmata typically grows to about 1.5m or less (sometimes taller with adequate moisture and fertility). The leaves are about 3x to 5x wider than Psuedosasa japonica, and usually a bit longer, giving it the common name 'broad leaf bamboo'. Altogether, it makes for a much stouter, much more leafy plant.

Pseudosasa japonica can grow 6m high, but usually not more than 3m in the UK. The leaves are much more narrow than Sasa palmata, but still wider than many other commonly grown bamboo (like most Fargesia or Phyllostachys species).

Both bamboo are known as runners. Their rhizome sends out branching, spreading roots away from the centre of the plant, where it sends out new shoots, colonising an area. Hence, both plants can be invasive (explaining how it appeared from below your fence).

You could dig it out, but be aware it will grown back from underneath your fence. This can get exhausting to keep doing the same thing (if it next to lawn, provided you mow when the shoots are short and fresh (and very, very soft), it can be mown down and controlled this way, but if you've too late, the shoots will have shot up and become too woody to control this way). If however you like the plant, you can look after it and prune it to look good, but focus on stopping it spreading further. This can be done by creating a barrier at the soil level, which blocks the rhizome and roots spreading further. This might be done via paving next to it, or a root barrier (search bamboo root barrier) can be dug in, which consists of a rigid but flexible underground fence that gets buried in the ground. It's hard work digging a short trench, but it's perfectly doable without hiring anyone.

Root barriers are really common in landscape gardening, because bamboo are very beautiful, and have a grace and exoticism that few plants have. Both these species are also popular as they provide a quick growing fence and provide a wind break, that grows to a specific height without cutting. l know the RHS have articles related to these root barriers.

Plmnki · 28/05/2024 20:44

All this about how supposedly beautiful these bamboo species are is irrelevant. They are invasive and destructive. They contribute nothing to British wildlife and wreck peoples gardens and properties. I look forward to the day when they are illegal and reviled like Japanese knotweed.

OP, we are poised to involve a solicitor for the same reasons you are. It’s horrific that the onus is on us to protect our properties whilst wholesalers and retailers take the profits from selling these invasive plants.

nothing to add but we are looking at taking out a court order against our neighbour.

Blackcats7 · 28/05/2024 21:08

@Plmnki I have taken legal advice and been told that this constitutes "legal nuisance" and thankfully my home legal expenses insurance cover has agreed to pay as they deem my chances of success more than 51% which is their criteria.
I am not looking forward to yet more trouble with my neighbour but it has to be done to protect my property.
I have given her the chance to resolve things informally which she refused.
Hope you get somewhere with your neighbour and totally agree that bamboo should and I believe from my reading online will be given the same status as japanese knotweed in the near future.

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