Ultimately what should my next step be? I've been in this house for less than one year and don't plan on leaving, so hopefully a resolution could be found. But, anything I should be doing in the meantime?
Second pic is view from my yard, so definitely creeping from them.
by ohhaiclaudette15
25 Comments
Move.
Shit. That sucks. You’re going to need a root barrier. At least a couple feet down.
In the immediate, just keep them mowed down. If you’re up for it, dig down and get the rhizomes out.
They should make this stuff illegal.
Bamboo knows no boundary.
We grow a patch of bamboo for consumption on our farm. Its not going to stop spreading, only things you can do is dig down your property line and install a root barrier or harvest the young shoots and eat them (depending on variety)
That sucks. I own spreading bamboo, it sucks to control but luckily mine’s not near any neighbors. In some areas it’s homeowners legal responsibility to keep bamboo from spreading to neighbors property. I’d say something to neighbors.
My in-laws new neighbor tried to plant bamboo on 100ft of fence border and we warned them about their legal responsibility to control it from spreading over. As soon as it crossed over the property line they pursued it legally, neighbors had to come remove it all. They decided to pull it from their side too, took them 2-3yrs to actually kill it off from growing back.
Move. That stuff is the devil… you can not beat it.
I grow mine in pots
Plant it in the ground and lay your neighbor over top of it, in three days it should started to have grown into his back as a thank you 🙏🏻
Your only hope is to get one of those trencher machines, dig a slit trench 3 feet deep along the property line, and install interlocking steel plates along the trench run and slightly above ground. This will keep roots from coming through and looping over.
As long as your neighbors keep their patch alive and uncontained, there is no hope to kill off the bamboo permanently. You need to block it at the property line and then cut every stalk and poison every leaf on your side until the roots die from energy loss.
Do your local laws classify running bamboo as invasive? That could be the only way to force your neighbors to address the issue.
Tell them to get rid of it. In reality though, it’s nearly impossible to get rid of. In the spring in will grow 6 inches in a day. It travels far underground and will grow through asphalt and concrete. Like others said, you can try to trench and plant steel edging, but even that isn’t guaranteed.
Well there’s only one solution, mint
War crime.
Godspeed
Best bet is a sawszall with a 12” pruning blade on the opposite side of the fence, you can keep the root mass cut back even on running varieties
This is gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I would spray it with glyphosate or paint it with glyphosate. With any luck, it’ll travel it right down to the root. They’ve absolutely no business planting that in the wild.
The bamboo I have in my yard has two gross phases per year that are split into two parts in one. It will send up small shoots the consistency of asparagus that you can easily kick over with your feet or destroy with a weed eater. The second is where it shoots ribosomes out to spread the bamboo. I’ve been easily able to keep my bamboo under control and contained by just mowing over it and or weed eating it when it’s nice and soft and sending up baby shoots. I I tried using a ditch witch and going down about 2 ft and using reinforced plastic with concrete poured on the other side and the bamboo still managed to either go over it or find cracks in it to penetrate through. In my opinion the best way to control it is just to cut it when it’s coming up fresh
Check for a town ordinance. This is becoming more and more common where townships have started putting bans on planting bamboo, and if you can prove it is coming from your neighbor (take photos, etc) they can be forced to remove it at their expense.
If you are close with them, you could try having a ‘chat’ first before. If not, unfortunately, things can get pretty ugly pretty quickly.
Bamboo requires excavation of the soil / land and full removal of the rhizomes and runners. Any piece of rhizome or runner that is left behind can and likely will result in new growth. If putting in a concrete barrier on your side of the fence is an option, you may want to consider it (yes this is extreme, and yes it is a pain in the ass).
Or you can move.
I had this in a new house. Bamboo was coming through the shed and little chutes all over the place. I would constantly mow them though they came back. They also became hazardous to our dog and anyone walking barefoot. Where I live bamboo is considered invasive and anyone planting it is supposed to have a barrier. Eventually I had enough especially when I had a kid.
The person who had it was kind of a jerk about it though I did not go to the town or take legal action though let him know what it was doing to my property. Someone can put a steel barrier in the ground but that is costly and why should you have to. He eventually got a tiller and was able to grind the main rhizome that all the runners came from. That is the only way to get rid of it. Before I reached out to him I used to take a stalk or two that was connected to it (but on my side) and pout round up and weed killer down it. Bamboo is hollow so it goes right down. It helped a bit but just like Jurassic Park it found a way.
Destroying the rhizome is the only way. Barriers help though you shouldn’t have to do that.
I wish commentators would state where they’re from before giving their advice on bamboo.
Bamboo in cool season zones vs warm season zones is a completely different experience.
It’s also not all non-native. The United States has its own native bamboo called River Cane.
Bamboo? you’re cooked
Does anyone here know if Round Up will kill it?
I’ve had good luck with Tordon herbicide. Haven’t tried it on bamboo but stuff works wonders on buckthorn and honeysuckle in my area.
Behold, the cleansing power of fire
Time to buy some pandas
You have my complete empathy. Shits about to get bad.