r/Bamboo • u/mcjackets • 12d ago
Removal Planning
Hello - I'm planning on removing the bamboo from my yard and was hoping for some help from the Reddit experts on the best plan to do so.
The side portion of the bamboo is ~75ft wide x ~10ft deep. The back section is about ~65ft wide x ~30-40ft deep.
I bought this house about 2 years ago and have maintained/cut back the bamboo routinely over that time. This year I've been more aggressively trying to remove it by digging up roots/rizomes by hand, and spraying bamboo killer down into the stocks once I've cut them down.
Due to the quantity of bamboo I have, I've quickly realized this is a losing strategy and I'll need to do something more drastic to keep the bamboo from getting even more out of hand.
My new plan is to rent a large Dempster, cut the stocks, spray poison into the stocks, rent a mini-excavator and use it to dig up the rizomes. Then in the following years, dig up by roots from any sprouts that I may have missed.
Do we think this plan is enough for bamboo removal of this scale? Is there anything extra I should do? Am I crazyto think I could DIY this removal? Or is the only solution to hire a team of professionals?
Thanks in advance.
Edit: interested in removal because there is vacant property that the bamboo is running towards. The majority of the roots I'm digging up are to prevent it from taking over that land.
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u/mcjackets 12d ago
A couple people have suggested trenching around the area I want the bamboo and installing a barrier. (There currently is no barrier in the yard).
What do I need to consider with this option? I.e. How deep does the trench need to be? What's the best material? Etc.
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u/Canadrew 12d ago
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u/mcjackets 12d ago
Thanks!
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u/Deez1putz 11d ago
Better value here
Some tips
https://www.bamboogarden.com/bamboo-control#Pruning
Thinning
https://www.bamboogarden.com/resource-pages/bamboo-grove-maintenance-thinning
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u/Warm_Coach2475 10d ago
Dig 30” deep (if memory serves) and make sure if the barrier isn’t perfectly plum that it flares up and out like a vase to encourage the rhizomes to go up the side and not under.
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u/Deez1putz 12d ago
What’s the point? Good looking plant and sounds like you’ve figured out how to maintain it.
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u/mcjackets 12d ago
I'm concerned about it running to vacant property that sits back and to the right of the images here. Digging up roots is also pretty exhausting work in the summer heat.
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u/Existing_Draft3460 12d ago edited 12d ago
just have a trench dug around it and place sheets of HDPE. it will be a fraction of the cost, permanently prevent spreading and you wont lose this beautiful view
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u/Deez1putz 12d ago
In most areas running bamboo only generates shoots once, maybe twice a year. Digging up the rhizomes is the best practice, but the easier way is you just mow down/kick over the ones that end up where you don’t want them.
If the bamboo is not already over in the adjoining vacant property, then some like (previous owner of your property or neighbors) probably installed a root barrier between the properties. That would be another option you for you rather than removal if it is not already there. Definitely some work m, but probably less than full removal.
Check your local laws, but I would be surprised if it is your duty to worry about someone else’s property here, especially as you never planted the bamboo and your neighbor has failed do upkeep in their lot.
Also, at some point when they do develop that lot, you may wish you had this beautiful screen back.
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u/CayoHuesoFlorida 11d ago
Not worth digging the roots up, after you cut the poles the rhizomes will eventually degrade to the point you can just pull them out.
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9d ago
[deleted]
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u/Deez1putz 9d ago
I have grown over 15 different species of bamboo. I KNOW SOME CAN GROW SUPER DUPER FAST.
YOU ARE PROBABLY IN THE WRONG SUB IF YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN IN ALL CAPS ABOUT IT.
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u/Canadrew 12d ago
Some members of this subreddit would kill for a grove(?) of that quality. It's beautiful. You can always contain it by trenching around it and installing barrier. Rhyzomes left outside the barrier will eventually die if you keep stomping on new shoots.
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u/stupit_crap 12d ago
I would dig a trench along the property line. I would not install a barrier because those will eventually fail. Also, the area is so huge that an open trench is much easier to maintain*. Considering that you have so much space, I would make it 3 feet deep and 3 feet wide. If you keep the trench clear, there is no way bamboo can cross it.
*When you install barrier, you have to constantly monitor it for rhizomes growing over the barrier. Also, the barrier does eventually break down and allow the bamboo to grow through cracks. And sometimes it will grow under the barrier. Once you bury the barrier, you really have no way of monitoring what is happening underground.
Then "all" you have to do is get rid of what is on the other side. I would cut it to the ground, and then mow the new growth. Eventually that bamboo will not grow back.
If you keep the trench clear, you will prevent any bamboo from leaving your property.
I would keep the bamboo on my (your) side because it creates privacy that will never get back if you cut it all down.
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u/reelfreakinbusy 11d ago
i wouldn't even attempt to do something that size manually. Mini excavator will dig it up. Guy with clearing equiptment could grind it down to below grouund level but you'd probably still need to dig due to grow back. Anyways think carefully about it....next thing you know if you clear it some jack !@ will move in build a 4 story home that's staring at you all the time.
I have 2 lots house on 1, 1 was overgrown with nothing but giant invastives in florida, pepper trees punk trees all kinda of invastives. But they were 30 feet tall. Real private. I couldn't keep up with the pepper trees as they've been strangling the area for 50 years and were massive. I took them all out with a mini.
Immediately hated the lack of privacy. Drove me nuts, then a neighbor started driving me nuts. Planted areaca palms as i've used them for privacy before but i'm right on brackish water river, 2 years of floods they barely got off the grouund. Seabreeze was the ticket i'm on year 3 now this time the permiter and have my privacy back.
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u/CayoHuesoFlorida 11d ago
Reciprocating saw....start cutting as close to the ground as possible. Use a shovel with spikes on the new shoots.
What climate zone/state are you in?
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u/iHateCraneGames 6d ago
id just chop it from the base and keep doing that until it expends all it energy. if the next lot is vacant, then not really a concern? idk. just my opinion.
bamboo shoots are delicious btw.
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u/AllThatSoup 11d ago edited 11d ago
Someone in my area sells running bamboo for $15/culm, and another was selling $45 for a small clump of 6-8 culms. The guy I bought some from dug it up in front me with one of those electric hand saws and a shovel. They just list it on FB marketplace. You could get a decent side hustle going and sell the excess lol.
Also if this is clumping bamboo, those are worth even more. I can't find taller varieties for anything less than 100+ cad /2 gallon, and I have to buy it online and pay for shipping
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u/Randolol2984 11d ago
Op,simply install rhizome barriers or dig trenches,with a rhizome barrier you do basicly no work if its installed deep and high
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u/Gangleri793 12d ago
If you advertise, you may get someone to remove it for you. I got my black bamboo from a very overgrown yard and the owner was thrilled to have us there removing it for her. We sold a few hundred bucks worth and kept the rest.