Running Bamboo Spreads Rapidly / Hard to Control

Bamboo has three growth spurts each year. The first is in April and May. Within a month or two, the new shoots have grown into full-sized culms (stems). In June and July, after the new shoots are in full leaf, the older culms begin to drop their leaves and then grow a new set. In late summer, the grove extends its rhizomes (horizontal root stem), which is how running bamboo spreads.

In the first few years, a new planting of running bamboo spreads slowly, but then their growth picks up. And in each additional year, the new culms grow taller and larger in diameter. The culms in the middle of a grove grow larger than the ones on the perimeter.

There are hundreds of varieties of bamboo in the United States.

There are basically two types of bamboo grass: clumping and running.
Clumping bamboo doesn't grow fast and it doesn't spread much.
Running bamboo grows and spreads quickly.

Decide what you want to do with your bamboo before deciding on the type and variety.

Running bamboo can be used for a privacy screen between properties. Although it has a reputation for getting out of control, if you plant it properly with barriers , you shouldn't have a problem.

If you only need a short screen of bamboo, you can place each running bamboo plant in a large pot. When the plant is confined in an enclosed area, it can't spread. You can place the pots all in a row and space them according to your needs. This will be costly at first, but the bamboo is easy to maintain and will live year after year.

You can put a barrier around your bamboo plants. You can purchase rhizome barriers or make one yourself out of heavy plastic or by using concrete. A concrete sidewalk is not a suitable barrier; the rhizomes can go under it and spread to the other side.

RHIZOME BARRIER

Build a rhizome barrier if you already have running bamboo or want to plant some and don't want it to spread. Make the barrier two or three feet deep, and slant it outward at the top. Let it stick out from the ground a few inches. When the rhizomes hit the barrier, they will bend upwards.

You can use plastic landscape barriers, or use bricks, concrete, or metal sheeting. You can also buy rhizome barriers from bamboo nurseries or perhaps from landscape suppliers.

STARVE BAMBOO

Cut the entire grove to the ground. The rhizomes are weakest in the spring. The bamboo will grow again, but don't cut it until leaves appear on the culms. Keep repeating. Starving bamboo may take a year or more.

If you don't want to wait that long, water and fertilize the area to make the bamboo grow faster. Each new growth cycle gets weaker until the bamboo stalks gets thinner, looking more like thick grass. You can mow the area or soak it with a 20% vinegar / water solution or other organic herbicide to finish killing it.

DIG BAMBOO

If you're in a hurry to get rid of bamboo, dig it up using a mattock and spade. You need the pointed mattock to loosen the thick, twisted rhizomes from the ground. Bamboo rhizomes usually don't grow deep. Then use the spade to lift the rhizomes from the ground.

SOLARIZE BAMBOO

Cut the bamboo to the ground, then fertilize the area with a high nitrogen lawn fertilizer. Cover completely with clear, plastic sheeting and use something heavy to hold down the edges.

This method works best during the hot summer because the sun will cook the bamboo in the ground. Leave the plastic in place until you're sure all the bamboo is dead.

USE HERBICIDE

Herbicides don't work well on bamboo since it is difficutl to get the herbicide to travel all the way down to the rhizomes.

This is probably a two-person job. Pour herbicide into an open container and have a small paintbrush to paint it onto a bamboo shoot.

One person should cut the shoot six inches from the ground and the other person paint the herbicide onto the shoot quickly before the sap retreats back down into the rhizome. It only takes about 15 seconds after the bamboo is cut for the sap to retreat into the rhizome.

NOTE: If your bamboo grove is shared with a neighbor or has spread into his yard, ask whether he wants to keep his bamboo or get rid of it. Whatever you do regarding your rhizomes will affect the bamboo in his yard, too, unless you separate the grove by cutting the connecting rhizomes.

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When people think of bamboo, they probably think of tropical furniture and tiki torches. When Twist thinks of bamboo, they think of dirt. And they discovered that you can actually make bamboo into a cloth. This cloth is an amazing, natural way to wipe, dust and polish. It is 100% biodegradable, made from 82% bamboo and 18% corn. Great for drying, polishing, cleaning and wiping. Twist Bamboo Cloth

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You can boil and eat the underground shoots of running bamboo.

Watch This Video About Growing Edible Bamboo Shoots (there's a short commercial prior to the video) Courtesy of GardenGuides.com

Bamboo shoots should be harvested before they are one foot tall. The shoots are compared to asparagus and corn (texture and taste). You can store fresh bamboo shoots in the refrigerator for about two weeks. Don't expose the shoots to sunlight.

If you don't grow your own bamboo, some farmers in the Pacific Northwest are growing them for sale at Farmer's Markets, usually in the early summer. And of course, you can buy canned bamboo shoots.

photo by Cassaendra on flickr