12ft bamboo - how best to remove/kill
Discussion
I've got a large bamboo out the side of my house, it's not out of control, been cut and managed well, but even when we moved in it was 12ft tall and about 30ft long.
We have decided that containing it is a little too much work and we don't really like it.
So, cut it down first obviously, but what do we do with the roots etc, just get a JCB in and dig them up? Once the main ball is gone, will any shoots die off? Or is it a glyphosate bombing it needs?
Ta
K
We have decided that containing it is a little too much work and we don't really like it.
So, cut it down first obviously, but what do we do with the roots etc, just get a JCB in and dig them up? Once the main ball is gone, will any shoots die off? Or is it a glyphosate bombing it needs?
Ta
K
Prey to your chosen diety.
You're about to start a process that will take huge amounts of effort and break you.
I managed to get rid of our bamboo, 2 years it took! Manually had to dig out the rhizomes with a piackaxe and swearing. It just laughed at roundup, and since it was mixed in the roots of the (nice) hawthorn hedge, I couldn't just dig all out with a mini digger.
Character building, it was!
You're about to start a process that will take huge amounts of effort and break you.
I managed to get rid of our bamboo, 2 years it took! Manually had to dig out the rhizomes with a piackaxe and swearing. It just laughed at roundup, and since it was mixed in the roots of the (nice) hawthorn hedge, I couldn't just dig all out with a mini digger.
Character building, it was!
normalbloke said:
Does ammonium sulphamate not do its usual magic on this stuff?
Yes it does.I had an out of control run that was roughly 10-12ft high, 1.5 ft deep and 30ft long.
My approach, done in summer at the height of it's growing season (in case it made any difference):
- a very very liberal spraying with a strong ammonium sulphamate mix. Same again for 2-3 days running just to be sure.
- when it started to look a bit ill (couple of days), I chopped it at 2ft high, got rid of a lot of it and the sprayed it again plus filled the stems where I could be bothered.
- a few days later I started digging it up, all by hand and made sure I got every last bit. I had to take up next doors artificial grass and also some of their block paved drive. Several days hard work.
- leave any behind at your peril
Wacky Racer said:
sidekickdmr said:
Or is it a glyphosate bombing it needs?
This.Get the maximum strength stuff professionals use. Kills anything.
At least once dead you don't need to care too much about excavating it all.
I'd cut it down to about a foot and dispose of the waste. Let it all sprout new leaves and then lay waste with daily glyphosate sprays over several days so that every living parts gets a really good dose and then leave to die, just keeping an eye open for any new shoots and dosing those. Once absolutely sure it's all dead then dig out.
The only issue is that doing that takes time and sometimes our overlords demand an instant solution. In those cases, still cut down, wait for plenty of new shoots and then whack hard and wait until it's all gone brown but dig out asap and be prepared for some new shoots appearing over the next year or so as some bits of root will probably survive.
The only issue is that doing that takes time and sometimes our overlords demand an instant solution. In those cases, still cut down, wait for plenty of new shoots and then whack hard and wait until it's all gone brown but dig out asap and be prepared for some new shoots appearing over the next year or so as some bits of root will probably survive.
Move house as far away as possible from it. I know there are different variants but the stuff the previous owner of our last house planted was like a disease. Thought we finally got rid of it when we dug up the entire lawn and were able to trace all the roots under the lawn back to the main plant but a year or so later a bit sprouted in a crack in the patio. We did move house shortly after (not because of the bamboo but I'd not consider having it anywhere ever).
DaveyBoyWonder said:
Move house as far away as possible from it. I know there are different variants but the stuff the previous owner of our last house planted was like a disease. Thought we finally got rid of it when we dug up the entire lawn and were able to trace all the roots under the lawn back to the main plant but a year or so later a bit sprouted in a crack in the patio. We did move house shortly after (not because of the bamboo but I'd not consider having it anywhere ever).
Yup. Makes Japanese Knotweed seem all cuddly and benign.OP, I had similar when I moved in to my current house.
The neighbours were big fans of bamboo, about 45ft in length x 6ft width along part of the garden boundary + a previous owner had planted bamboo in a circle ~10ft across. My issue was excess bamboo growth growing into my garden. I ended up removing the lot by hand. If you have use of a digger, great + you will benefit from...
1, Cutting down all the bamboo to start.
2. Buy a HD mattock as bamboo roots are tenacious bu99ers - Screwfix is your friend https://www.screwfix.com/search?search=mattock
3. Buy a set of leather Oregon chainsaw gloves as bamboo cuts like Billy-o https://www.screwfix.com/search?search=oregon+glov...
4. As above, soaking the ground with a water hose really does help.
5. Do not underestimate the length of the underground rooting system and the effort required to remove - I had many runners of 12-14ft from the root ball.
6. Once all removed, thoroughly clean the soil removing every trace of bamboo root - this takes a lot of time but is worth it.
Good luck.
The neighbours were big fans of bamboo, about 45ft in length x 6ft width along part of the garden boundary + a previous owner had planted bamboo in a circle ~10ft across. My issue was excess bamboo growth growing into my garden. I ended up removing the lot by hand. If you have use of a digger, great + you will benefit from...
1, Cutting down all the bamboo to start.
2. Buy a HD mattock as bamboo roots are tenacious bu99ers - Screwfix is your friend https://www.screwfix.com/search?search=mattock
3. Buy a set of leather Oregon chainsaw gloves as bamboo cuts like Billy-o https://www.screwfix.com/search?search=oregon+glov...
4. As above, soaking the ground with a water hose really does help.
5. Do not underestimate the length of the underground rooting system and the effort required to remove - I had many runners of 12-14ft from the root ball.
6. Once all removed, thoroughly clean the soil removing every trace of bamboo root - this takes a lot of time but is worth it.
Good luck.
sidekickdmr said:
Cool, thanks, I have plenty of professional Gallup XL stuff, so will give it a nice shower in this, cut it back and then get the digger in for some destruction!
You should spray it with glyphosate, and then leave it alone and be patient.Cutting off the foliage after you’ve sprayed will mean you’re cutting out a lot of the glyphosate that the plant has absorbed, but before you’ve given it a chance to spread throughout the whole plant, including the roots. This will mean that the plant won’t die properly. You need the foliage and stems to absorb the glyphosate and then transport it up and down the plant.
Glyphosate takes time to work - at least two weeks, more likely three or four and possibly a lot longer. If you really want to do something while you’re waiting, then give it further glyphosate sprays a few days apart. You can add a little bit of washing-up liquid to help it soak in, but don’t be tempted to increase the strength of glyphosate.
Don’t cut it back or try to dig it out for a good few weeks after spraying, when it should be looking very dead indeed.
Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 7th May 18:39
Im iin the process of getting rid of this stuff. doesnt look much in the photo, ive already cut it down with the mini chainsaw. Dug around the edge and tried levering underneath with a solid 2 inch 5ft iron bar. theres now a bend in the bar.
think i may have succumed to the point of having to hire a mini digger. fortunately tis some kid of clumping bamboo rather than running bamboo so hoping once its gone its not coming back
think i may have succumed to the point of having to hire a mini digger. fortunately tis some kid of clumping bamboo rather than running bamboo so hoping once its gone its not coming back
I had 2 established bamboo plants (approx 4-5m tall) that I removed last month.
If you can't get access for a mini digger (which I couldn't) best tool I could find was a mattock - https://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-5lb-mattock-3....
It takes lots of hard work but once you get under the root ball it's just a case of persistence and it will come out.
If you can't get access for a mini digger (which I couldn't) best tool I could find was a mattock - https://www.screwfix.com/p/roughneck-5lb-mattock-3....
It takes lots of hard work but once you get under the root ball it's just a case of persistence and it will come out.
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