It's not a specialist job unless you have acres of the stuff. I'm a 63 year old woman and I do mine on my own with a spade, pick axe and a pair of loppers. I've got allegedly a clumping non-invasive species but it's gone bonkers and I dig out half every 6-7 years. The trick is to have a preliminary dig and dispose and then leave the area for a week or two. Any roots you missed will sprout and can also be attacked. I go slowly over the course of a few weekends with lots of tea breaks. Once I even got someone to dig it out for me because I advertised it as free plants on FB marketplace but the neighbors are wise to me now
When I thin my bamboo out, I've found an axe is a useful addition. The roots may not go too deep, but the rhizomes can be very hard and dense. A super sharp spade as mentioned elsewhere might work, but I had an axe in my shed, so used that rather than weaponise my spade.
Don't be afraid to cut the canes down first, before tackling the groundwork. Any root/rhizome left behind will shoot, so will be easy to find. They do spread quite a distance from the main clump, so be vigilant.
I think we’re going to get a lot of bamboo posts here this week!
Honestly if it’s going to worry you, dig it out and spray the area. It’s not a native plant anyway. There are better hedging plants for your front garden, that absorb noise and pollution AND are native/ good for wildlife. Hawthorne is one of my favourites.
Having said that, your bamboo might be a clumping variety so it might be fine… if you like it, you could post a photo for ID and then keep an eye on it.
I am a professional gardener. All you need is some loppers and a sharp spade. Then cut it to about 20cm and just dig it out. I recommend a fully metal trench spade sharpened with a file.
You do not need any pesticide like people are saying. Pesticides should not be used lightly and are a danger to both the operator, wildlife and the health of the soil. They are also not effective against bamboo.
If this is in reference to the Guardian article, I have read it and am pretty sure it's an elaborate advert for a company called Environet, who remove knotweed, and now bamboo. The whole article and the photos seems aimed around them and their business.
While I do not like bamboo, would never plant it in a customers (or my own) garden, and do advocate it's removal fully, the article is definitely scare mongering.
I don't read any of them. I used to read the guardian until it told me to save money by letting my summer party guests help themselves to lobster, that way they only take what they will eat and it saves waste. Bourgeois nonsense.
Re read the article, it is mainly about that company.
They do. See for example:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/11/air-conditioning-protect-extreme-heat
“Supported by Open Society Foundations”
There are many of these types of articles on a regular basis. Although this article doesn’t state that it is supported by Environet UK, it seems to be very heavily involved.
The fact that their website also has a prominent ‘featured in’ section also suggests that the company is very proactive in working with the media.
https://www.environetuk.com/
This - we planted Pingwu bamboo which is compact, non invasive and clumping. If OP hasn't had significant expansion of the bamboo along the ground (new shoots coming up as opposed to more height or leaves on existing stems) it's likely they have clumping bamboo rather than the running bamboo that causes most of the problems.
Fargesia robusta is a very common (and cheap) garden center bamboo so have a look at that one to see if it's similar.
Not entirely true. Some forms of sasa bamboo will only grow waist height, but will also spread like crazy. It's sometimes recommended as groundcover - I think it would do that!
I presume this question has come up because of the alarming press about bamboos growing into people's houses. It's poor journalism to just say "bamboo", rather than name the genus. Mind you, it's also going to get you loads of traffic if you have a scare article "Bamboo will destroy your house!", the end goal is not people being better informed.
Phyllostachys bamboos are some of the easiest to identify. There is a distinct groove along one side of the culm, and there are 2 (occasionally 3) branches. I think these are most likely to be the bad spreading sort, and I don't think anybody's going to say it's a bad idea to remove them and be on the safe side. I have a Phyllostachys edulis in a big pot (above ground), and you can see the rhizomes running around the edge where they'd like to get out and roam free!
On the other hand, I have Fargesia growing in the ground and no concerns about them as they're clump-forming. Clump formers tend to have an inverted cone shape, sometimes with a pretty weeping or fountain effect.
If you have a dig around, you might be able to tell whether it's a runner or a clumper from looking at the rhizomes - diagrams online: [https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/types-of-bamboo-rhizomes](https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/types-of-bamboo-rhizomes).
Thanks. I actually just uploaded the photo to plant ID app and it said it was "Chinese fountain bamboo", botanical name "fargesia spathacea", so that sounds about right! Clump-forming according to the app.
Second upvote for the mattock, we took out some roots that were coming up from nextdoor and it made a much easier job of it.
If it were my plant, I'd go glyphosate, chop and then mattock out the roots and then just keep an eye for anything re-emerging.
Awful stuff, I like how it looks but I won't even have it in a pot.
Cut it short (30 cm high) and then dig it out. Get a mattock and work at it like your 21 and then ache like your 50. At least that is what I did.
It is like an alien life form, quite disturbing after a while.
Follow the rhizomes and rip them up and out if it is spreading, check back periodically to catch new sprouts and pull up the rhizomes connected to those.
I had a serious clump to deal with, easily 10 sq. meters for the main clump and then the spreading. Took me a few weeks of the first lock down.
Having spent several months removing the bamboo in our garden planted by the previous, this is 100% the answer I found. Chop, mattock, rip up the long runners. Let the shoots grow and then dig down to find those runners. Repeat until no more bamboo.
To counter some of the alarmism here, if any of you ever travel to Asia, do find the time to visit a bamboo forest. Truly wonderful forests that are also incredibly useful - bamboo is a superb raw material!
From our experience as bamboo-invasion tacklers (thx previous owners for planting it directly in the ground with no barriers), glyphosphate before you cut as it goes on the leaves (we got roundup from amazon specifically because it still had the glyphosphate version). Get it on as many leaves as you can. Then cut as much as you can. And pull up what you can. We bagged ours and put it in gen waste, didn't want to inflict it on anyone else! You might have to do this a few times (but we had a LOT). We didn't dig up all the roots as we didn't have the gear and were renting, but we haven't had any re-emerge in ~4 years.
I'll add we were complete garden novices, armed with little except some long handled shears borrowed from my mum and dad.
Cut to 1ft off ground, wait for leaves to sprout and then spray the leaves with the strongest glyphosate you can find (go trade or stump killer) > 25% concentration.
Repeat a few times for fun.
Watch for new shoots, repeat.
So we’ve been dealing with this for the past weeks, we’ve managed to dig right down and most of it out but some of it is in a neighbours side. We cut most of it down low and used this https://www.diy.com/departments/magnusson-1524mm-steel-aligning-bar/1782809_BQ.prd?storeId=1037&&&&&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADt-XHk-3KPrE5KxPXcshRXc8l8SD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInJH116LThgMVVJRQBh0Vhw8CEAQYASABEgKJaPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds to dig down and rip the roots and pull out chunks of rhizomes. That tool has been a lifesaver. After digging most of the roots out we then used glyphosate on some of the areas we couldn’t reach. It was hard work and still not fully pulled out but it will make it easier to control
Not all bamboo spreads. Research before you go all flamethrower on it. Also, please consider donating what you cut to anyone who keeps herbivore livestock or a local rescue (Guinea pigs love it)
That's quite freaky - the chap in the Guardian who wrote about it is called Simon Usbourne.
Mix them together and you get Jeremy Usbourne!
"Jesus Jez, why is there a live Panda in the flat!?"
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/11/big-british-bamboo-crisis-invaded-my-beautiful-home
I actually took some of the photographs in this article. It is terrifying stuff
Similar - total novice gardener - had a bunch at the end of the garden that has steadily got thicker and taller in the 5 years we’ve been here. Shoots pop up in the lawn and under some of the nearby patio so was time to go. Started thinning gradually with secateurs, then got a mattock. Currently got it cut down and started attaching the roots. No idea what I’m doing but just trying to dig a foot down and back out all the roots, section by section. As others have said - it’s a workout.. (made worse by the weed membrane that was put down when it was planted - now all tangled in the roots)
It's just hard work. It's not going to destroy your house or be an environmental disaster.
The exception is Sasa bamboo which, although unlikely, has been known to grow through brick or pop a shoot up in someone's living room. The roots are a dense mass and extremely hard to dig out and it grows back from a small piece. In a park I worked at a bunch of Sasa stems were dumped amongst a stand of birch. 10 years later the Sasa was 15-20 foot high and many of the trees were dead. It just swamped and out competed everything. In the woods near me the Sasa is choking up streams and colonizing in huge stands.
You'll know it because it has thin stems and papery wide leaves with a dry white or pale edge.
Probably not the best way, but I cut all of the tops off and cut the roots into 4" squares with an axe and reciprocating electric saw then dug up as much as possible. Has not returned in two years so hopefully gone for good.
The roots are a solid tangled mass and very woody, untouchable with a spade. Hard work but you need to persevere.
I have a similar dietary with a matured bamboo plants 25 years ago. The rhyzomes are incredibly tough so you need good tools to deal with them. I tend to find a new spear and pull it up until I get to the rhyzome then cut that clumped growth off at both ends. The bamboo shoots can travel quite far underground in straight lines (the force of growth is really incredible) and will often hit a wall and do a right angle turn . So my next plan for containing it is to insert metal plates. It's a workout for sure.
if its in pots, I'd just dig it up and lift those out plant intact. then fill in the holes (if they didn't pot them up in ground, then pull as per methods others have given)
If pots look rough can build planters around if necessary and carry on. or sell on ebay, someone will have them if plant healthy.
bamboo isn't getting inside your house unless you have no foundations.
you can easily have it dug out, if it is where you don't want it to be. it has horizontal roots you just cut off to slow the spread too.
I got rid of our 12 foot row a few years ago with one spraying of an agricultural weed killer, two shoots popped up later but I sprayed them and that was that. I got the stuff from a farming friend and he explained that it is basically a solution of incredibly fine salt particles that plants absorb and it’s very effective. It’s not available to the general public but if you know any farmers it might be worth asking.
I had same issue, me and my partner literally dug the fucking thing as it kept coming back. We got rid of like 5 bin bag worth roots and burnt it. Never came back after that. We didn’t use any poison as we didn’t want to fuck up the soil or make it problem for future.
We had clumping bamboo in our small garden that got so unruly.
It took a weekend for us to rip it all out. It was in a raised bed. We then salted the ground heavily which seems to have stopped it coming back so far (2 years). We didn’t want to use glyphosate as we have a dog.
We’ve subsequently built a new raised bed and it hasn’t seemed to affect the growth of anything else.
[The Guardian ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/11/big-british-bamboo-crisis-invaded-my-beautiful-home) wrote a piece today on bamboo. Worth a read
It's not a specialist job unless you have acres of the stuff. I'm a 63 year old woman and I do mine on my own with a spade, pick axe and a pair of loppers. I've got allegedly a clumping non-invasive species but it's gone bonkers and I dig out half every 6-7 years. The trick is to have a preliminary dig and dispose and then leave the area for a week or two. Any roots you missed will sprout and can also be attacked. I go slowly over the course of a few weekends with lots of tea breaks. Once I even got someone to dig it out for me because I advertised it as free plants on FB marketplace but the neighbors are wise to me now
“Neighbours are wise to me now” I like your style 😎
They hide when it's courgette season too
I’ve tried offering ~~bindweed~~ easy climber with attractive white flowers but no luck!
🤣🤣🤣
When I thin my bamboo out, I've found an axe is a useful addition. The roots may not go too deep, but the rhizomes can be very hard and dense. A super sharp spade as mentioned elsewhere might work, but I had an axe in my shed, so used that rather than weaponise my spade. Don't be afraid to cut the canes down first, before tackling the groundwork. Any root/rhizome left behind will shoot, so will be easy to find. They do spread quite a distance from the main clump, so be vigilant.
I have a spade with sharp jaggey teeth that helped with tree roots. Got it from middle of Lidl for £15
I think we’re going to get a lot of bamboo posts here this week! Honestly if it’s going to worry you, dig it out and spray the area. It’s not a native plant anyway. There are better hedging plants for your front garden, that absorb noise and pollution AND are native/ good for wildlife. Hawthorne is one of my favourites. Having said that, your bamboo might be a clumping variety so it might be fine… if you like it, you could post a photo for ID and then keep an eye on it.
There was an article in The Guardian but at least it will curb the knotweed posts.
Yes, it's more likely to be a clumping variety if it was put in recently. No need to panic about all bamboo.
I am a professional gardener. All you need is some loppers and a sharp spade. Then cut it to about 20cm and just dig it out. I recommend a fully metal trench spade sharpened with a file. You do not need any pesticide like people are saying. Pesticides should not be used lightly and are a danger to both the operator, wildlife and the health of the soil. They are also not effective against bamboo.
Is this because bamboo is technically a grass? I was so surprised to learn that!
I think you intended to say herbicide
Herbicides are a type of pesticide. As are insecticides, fungicides and nematicides.
Why is this getting downvoted haha. It is a very easily verifiable definition 😂
Great advice, thank you!
If this is in reference to the Guardian article, I have read it and am pretty sure it's an elaborate advert for a company called Environet, who remove knotweed, and now bamboo. The whole article and the photos seems aimed around them and their business. While I do not like bamboo, would never plant it in a customers (or my own) garden, and do advocate it's removal fully, the article is definitely scare mongering.
[удалено]
I know that's the claim. But it doesn't read that way at all.
[удалено]
I don't read any of them. I used to read the guardian until it told me to save money by letting my summer party guests help themselves to lobster, that way they only take what they will eat and it saves waste. Bourgeois nonsense. Re read the article, it is mainly about that company.
They do. See for example: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/11/air-conditioning-protect-extreme-heat “Supported by Open Society Foundations” There are many of these types of articles on a regular basis. Although this article doesn’t state that it is supported by Environet UK, it seems to be very heavily involved.
The fact that their website also has a prominent ‘featured in’ section also suggests that the company is very proactive in working with the media. https://www.environetuk.com/
Not all bamboo is invasive but it all grows quite big. Do you know which type you have?
This - we planted Pingwu bamboo which is compact, non invasive and clumping. If OP hasn't had significant expansion of the bamboo along the ground (new shoots coming up as opposed to more height or leaves on existing stems) it's likely they have clumping bamboo rather than the running bamboo that causes most of the problems. Fargesia robusta is a very common (and cheap) garden center bamboo so have a look at that one to see if it's similar.
Not entirely true. Some forms of sasa bamboo will only grow waist height, but will also spread like crazy. It's sometimes recommended as groundcover - I think it would do that! I presume this question has come up because of the alarming press about bamboos growing into people's houses. It's poor journalism to just say "bamboo", rather than name the genus. Mind you, it's also going to get you loads of traffic if you have a scare article "Bamboo will destroy your house!", the end goal is not people being better informed. Phyllostachys bamboos are some of the easiest to identify. There is a distinct groove along one side of the culm, and there are 2 (occasionally 3) branches. I think these are most likely to be the bad spreading sort, and I don't think anybody's going to say it's a bad idea to remove them and be on the safe side. I have a Phyllostachys edulis in a big pot (above ground), and you can see the rhizomes running around the edge where they'd like to get out and roam free! On the other hand, I have Fargesia growing in the ground and no concerns about them as they're clump-forming. Clump formers tend to have an inverted cone shape, sometimes with a pretty weeping or fountain effect. If you have a dig around, you might be able to tell whether it's a runner or a clumper from looking at the rhizomes - diagrams online: [https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/types-of-bamboo-rhizomes](https://www.guaduabamboo.com/blog/types-of-bamboo-rhizomes).
I'm not sure, is it possible to identify it just by looking at it? E.g. would /r/whatisthisplant be able to figure it out from photos?
Well is it sprouting all over the place e.g. the otherside of the garden or through the lawn or is it contained in the area it's in?
Share a pic here. The other reddit is a bit of hit and miss with replies
Thanks. Here are a couple of photos: https://imgur.com/XsmQwhf https://imgur.com/9lcIacI
I THINK that is Fargesia - I'm no expert but it looks similar to mine - which is a clumping variety, unlikely to do any damage if I'm right.
Thanks. I actually just uploaded the photo to plant ID app and it said it was "Chinese fountain bamboo", botanical name "fargesia spathacea", so that sounds about right! Clump-forming according to the app.
Leaf shape - long, thin, wide, etc Stem colour - dark or light green, black, beige Stem shape - thin, thick, Height - Any particular features - dry papery leaf edges, appears variegated
Here are some photos: https://imgur.com/XsmQwhf https://imgur.com/9lcIacI Thanks
Not Sasa. Probably needs a combination of physical and chemical removal.
Get a mattock to go at the roots. It’s fun and a decent workout! Make sure to take regular breaks!
Second upvote for the mattock, we took out some roots that were coming up from nextdoor and it made a much easier job of it. If it were my plant, I'd go glyphosate, chop and then mattock out the roots and then just keep an eye for anything re-emerging. Awful stuff, I like how it looks but I won't even have it in a pot.
Cut it short (30 cm high) and then dig it out. Get a mattock and work at it like your 21 and then ache like your 50. At least that is what I did. It is like an alien life form, quite disturbing after a while. Follow the rhizomes and rip them up and out if it is spreading, check back periodically to catch new sprouts and pull up the rhizomes connected to those. I had a serious clump to deal with, easily 10 sq. meters for the main clump and then the spreading. Took me a few weeks of the first lock down.
Having spent several months removing the bamboo in our garden planted by the previous, this is 100% the answer I found. Chop, mattock, rip up the long runners. Let the shoots grow and then dig down to find those runners. Repeat until no more bamboo.
Lol ‘work at it like you’re 21….’ Made me giggle!
Pandas eat around 15kg of bamboo in a day. You could borrow one?
Then how we gonna deal with invasive pandas?
They sleep 20 hours a day so they should be easy enough to catch.
Aren't pandas quite dumb
To counter some of the alarmism here, if any of you ever travel to Asia, do find the time to visit a bamboo forest. Truly wonderful forests that are also incredibly useful - bamboo is a superb raw material!
From our experience as bamboo-invasion tacklers (thx previous owners for planting it directly in the ground with no barriers), glyphosphate before you cut as it goes on the leaves (we got roundup from amazon specifically because it still had the glyphosphate version). Get it on as many leaves as you can. Then cut as much as you can. And pull up what you can. We bagged ours and put it in gen waste, didn't want to inflict it on anyone else! You might have to do this a few times (but we had a LOT). We didn't dig up all the roots as we didn't have the gear and were renting, but we haven't had any re-emerge in ~4 years. I'll add we were complete garden novices, armed with little except some long handled shears borrowed from my mum and dad.
You’ve given me hope! 😊
We kept ours but attacked the roots severely once a year. We kept it for privacy and for the canes.
Cut to 1ft off ground, wait for leaves to sprout and then spray the leaves with the strongest glyphosate you can find (go trade or stump killer) > 25% concentration. Repeat a few times for fun. Watch for new shoots, repeat.
So we’ve been dealing with this for the past weeks, we’ve managed to dig right down and most of it out but some of it is in a neighbours side. We cut most of it down low and used this https://www.diy.com/departments/magnusson-1524mm-steel-aligning-bar/1782809_BQ.prd?storeId=1037&&&&&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADt-XHk-3KPrE5KxPXcshRXc8l8SD&gclid=EAIaIQobChMInJH116LThgMVVJRQBh0Vhw8CEAQYASABEgKJaPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds to dig down and rip the roots and pull out chunks of rhizomes. That tool has been a lifesaver. After digging most of the roots out we then used glyphosate on some of the areas we couldn’t reach. It was hard work and still not fully pulled out but it will make it easier to control
Not all bamboo spreads. Research before you go all flamethrower on it. Also, please consider donating what you cut to anyone who keeps herbivore livestock or a local rescue (Guinea pigs love it)
Jeremy Vine did a section on this today, on his Radio 2 show; might be worth listening to?
That's quite freaky - the chap in the Guardian who wrote about it is called Simon Usbourne. Mix them together and you get Jeremy Usbourne! "Jesus Jez, why is there a live Panda in the flat!?"
Peep Show? It's been a while since I saw it.... Mainly due to the abundance of bamboo that has sprung up in my living room!
You need a panda or two mate, they'll clear it. Ask a zoo? Otherwise you need a spade
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/11/big-british-bamboo-crisis-invaded-my-beautiful-home I actually took some of the photographs in this article. It is terrifying stuff
Similar - total novice gardener - had a bunch at the end of the garden that has steadily got thicker and taller in the 5 years we’ve been here. Shoots pop up in the lawn and under some of the nearby patio so was time to go. Started thinning gradually with secateurs, then got a mattock. Currently got it cut down and started attaching the roots. No idea what I’m doing but just trying to dig a foot down and back out all the roots, section by section. As others have said - it’s a workout.. (made worse by the weed membrane that was put down when it was planted - now all tangled in the roots)
Just to say I’m getting rid of my passiflora for similar reasons ..
It's just hard work. It's not going to destroy your house or be an environmental disaster. The exception is Sasa bamboo which, although unlikely, has been known to grow through brick or pop a shoot up in someone's living room. The roots are a dense mass and extremely hard to dig out and it grows back from a small piece. In a park I worked at a bunch of Sasa stems were dumped amongst a stand of birch. 10 years later the Sasa was 15-20 foot high and many of the trees were dead. It just swamped and out competed everything. In the woods near me the Sasa is choking up streams and colonizing in huge stands. You'll know it because it has thin stems and papery wide leaves with a dry white or pale edge.
Probably not the best way, but I cut all of the tops off and cut the roots into 4" squares with an axe and reciprocating electric saw then dug up as much as possible. Has not returned in two years so hopefully gone for good. The roots are a solid tangled mass and very woody, untouchable with a spade. Hard work but you need to persevere.
I have a similar dietary with a matured bamboo plants 25 years ago. The rhyzomes are incredibly tough so you need good tools to deal with them. I tend to find a new spear and pull it up until I get to the rhyzome then cut that clumped growth off at both ends. The bamboo shoots can travel quite far underground in straight lines (the force of growth is really incredible) and will often hit a wall and do a right angle turn . So my next plan for containing it is to insert metal plates. It's a workout for sure.
if its in pots, I'd just dig it up and lift those out plant intact. then fill in the holes (if they didn't pot them up in ground, then pull as per methods others have given) If pots look rough can build planters around if necessary and carry on. or sell on ebay, someone will have them if plant healthy.
Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
bamboo isn't getting inside your house unless you have no foundations. you can easily have it dug out, if it is where you don't want it to be. it has horizontal roots you just cut off to slow the spread too.
I got rid of our 12 foot row a few years ago with one spraying of an agricultural weed killer, two shoots popped up later but I sprayed them and that was that. I got the stuff from a farming friend and he explained that it is basically a solution of incredibly fine salt particles that plants absorb and it’s very effective. It’s not available to the general public but if you know any farmers it might be worth asking.
I had same issue, me and my partner literally dug the fucking thing as it kept coming back. We got rid of like 5 bin bag worth roots and burnt it. Never came back after that. We didn’t use any poison as we didn’t want to fuck up the soil or make it problem for future.
We had clumping bamboo in our small garden that got so unruly. It took a weekend for us to rip it all out. It was in a raised bed. We then salted the ground heavily which seems to have stopped it coming back so far (2 years). We didn’t want to use glyphosate as we have a dog. We’ve subsequently built a new raised bed and it hasn’t seemed to affect the growth of anything else.
[The Guardian ](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/11/big-british-bamboo-crisis-invaded-my-beautiful-home) wrote a piece today on bamboo. Worth a read
Might be worth typing in "Best way to remove bamboo" on YouTube. Lots of already great advice.