'Anything we can do to contain it?'

While a foreign plant species may be beautiful, it can cause detrimental harm to an ecosystem. Even when enclosed in a single space, invasive species have a way of spreading.

Bamboo, for instance, grows from underground rhizomes that spread 100 or more feet horizontally, according to the University of Maryland extension page.

Native to tropical climates, bamboo is almost impossible to contain.

One Reddit user thought they had done everything right when they planted non-native bamboo in their garden. Despite the barrier the gardener built, they were not able to contain the bamboo.

Bamboo is almost impossible to contain, as one Reddit user discovered when their barrier failed to keep the plant in check. Photo Credit: Reddit

When they had planted their bamboo seven years before the break, the Redditor installed a black ground barrier, a fence, and cinderblocks to contain the rhizomes.

The barrier, in the end, proved ineffective. Now, unruly bamboo shoots grow away from what was meant to contain the plant, both in the OP’s and their neighbor’s yards.

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“Anything we can do to contain it?” they asked their fellow gardeners on Reddit.

The consensus in the comment section was that no, there really is no way to contain the bamboo. Once it invades, it will continue to spread unless killed.

To remove rhizomes or stems from a yard they have invaded, a homeowner must either use polluting herbicides to kill the plants or dig up the yard to locate and remove the rhizomes.

Some landscaping companies, the University of Maryland extension page says, use power equipment for rhizome removal. If any rhizomes are missed, they will continue to produce bamboo stems.

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Bamboo is first an expensive purchase and eventually an expensive and laborious fix. The fix, however intensive a process, is necessary.

According to Princeton, New Jersey’s government page, some bamboo species can very likely damage infrastructure. It grows through the cracks in the pavement, creating structural impurities.

The plant also displaces native plants, disrupting the ecosystem that it has invaded and harming pollinators in the process.

Native plants, on the other hand, are less expensive to maintain and support pollinators, allowing a garden to be almost completely self-sufficient.

Commenters on the Reddit post informed the original poster that bamboo was a poor addition to their garden from the start.

“Invent a Time machine and go back the day before you planted the bamboo and don’t plant the bamboo,” one person commented.

“The bamboo was already a bad idea. I don’t know anyone who has contained these,” another said.

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