Invasion of next door's bamboo

[jumpjockey]

Next door have planted some bamboo up against the fence to make a screen (been there a couple of years). Quite a few shoots appear in our beds which we just break off, and the odd sinister looking stalk thing coming up then digging back under the ground, which I hack at with secateurs. So far, so livable with. But now a big shoot has appeared 2 feet into our lawn! I could chop off the end but would it keep coming back? I tried pulling on it but it would leave a long furrow in the lawn

Any ideas about what best to do?

Bamboo is a bugger for spreading if it's not contained in a pot or with an underground barrier.

You're going to have to either cut them back (or get your neighbour to cut it back from their side), or dig the blighters out.

Sorry. Wish I had a better solution.

I've been told the way to stop them spreading too much is to plant them in their pots ie bury the pots (not too deeply, top of the pot just visible) so the roots can't go sideways. Not sure if this is an option for your neighbour.

hmmm, probably a bit late then! They were planted a couple of years ago up against the fence so I guess the roots have spread irretrievably now. Don't really fancy digging up my entire flower bed. If we keep chopping down the shoots will that keep it vaguely under control?

ahhh JJ, it's awful isn't it?
we have the exact same problem and it's driving me mad. I am actually going to dig up as much of ours as I can as it's coming up all over my lawn and in my bloody patio too!!!!
and the little shoots are really sharp if you tread on them which means my poor babies can't run around barefoot on the lawn

we tried killing it off by spraying weedkiller over as much as we could but it just turned it all a funny colour and killed a patch of our grass where we weren't very careful.

oh it's v annoying

we have this with next door's ivy. It has come over the fence and completely overtaken our yard

Seems a very intrusive way of making a screen (your neighbours )

Bamboo spreads by underground running rhizomes which usually aren't that deep underground so it might be possible to lift the turf, pull up the running roots and then replace the turf on top. They do go for miles though as we had our neighbours come under the fence by 12 feet into a border.

We dealt with it by working along the fence boundary, severing the runners that were joined to the parent plants and then pulled out anything on our side, and sprayed the individual canes with a systemic weedkiller such as Roundup as they came up. But you do need to make sure that you have cut through any rhizomes attached to the parent plant.

Then perhaps look at putting an underground barrier about 2 foot deep along your boundary to stop any future incursions from the enemy next door!

Flipping heck SP! that sounds like hard work... from what I gather they should have put some kind of barrier down when planting them... msy just carry on snipping off the shoots as they appear, our garden's only small so there's only so much they can do [hopeful]

shellingpeas, that is our plan too. do you reckon 2ft is deep enough for a barrier?

OMG are you my neighbour???

I have PAINFULLY spreading bamboo, despite putting down a barrier underground

I am planning on digging a trench out around it and filling with concrete but I fear I may be too late

It is like something from a horror film

It does SWAY nicely though...

Thisisyesterday: I have a 1metre barrier and it has spread

Oh god, we have this in our front garden (put in by previous owners) It's going mad. And they did actually put most other plants in pots but not this bamboo. It is pretty though. And handy for bamboo canes when you cut it down

nooo, don't say that MP!!!

It really IS useful for bamboo canes...

Oh yes, our neighbour's bamboo is great for canes too - I have a large selection now that I use for staking all my other plants.

So far this year our 2 foot deep barrier seems to be working, but I believe there is an underground conspiracy by pandas to take over the world...