rezones will not die - help!

[mraroid]

I have bamboo taking over my yard and I do not know how to stop it. Any advice appreciated.

I planted some rezones of Phyllostachis viridis on the side of my house about 10 years ago. I did not know enough to contain them. I have bamboo shoots popping up in about 3/4s of my backyard now. It has traveled to one neighbors back and front yard, and it is heading for the other neighbor. I need to stop it. I lifted up some stepping stones I had set in gravel, and found a labyrinth of rezones.

Last year, I cut off young bamboo stocks and carefully sprayed Roundup on the stub. I also took a ax to a big bed of rezones cutting them the best I could, I then sprayed them with roundup. Roundup acted like fertilizer to them. My one neighbor is so far polite about it, but I am causing them much work (I try to go over and get the bamboo when I learn about them). It seems spraying stuff on the young cut off bamboo shoot does nothing to the long (20 feet, 30 feet) of rezone that is running under the dirt. I have taken a pick ax and a shovel and actually dough up a rezone (about 15 feet), but it has branches that go deeper and branch off. It was a backbreaking job and I have 100s to take care of.

I think I have to move to a nuclear options, but I do not quite know how to go about it. Suggestions anyone? I like in Portland Oregon in the USA.

jack

[moriphen]

1st question, do you want your bamboo removed completely or do you want it under control and inside a set portion of your yard?

I'll assume you want the bamboo removed.

Running bamboo must have a containment setup and yearly rhizome pruning in order to fit into a suburban yard. Stop using roundup, its doing more damage to the soil then it is killing your bamboo rhizomes. Now with that said, here is the generally accepted method to remove an unwanted bamboo grove. Cut down the old growth and fertilize with a grass fertilizer (high in nitrogen), when the new growth shoots up cut it down too. Repeat this process for a few years and the over time the new bamboo culms will become smaller and weaker until no new shoots come up in spring at which point the rhizomes that support them will be dead as well.

M

[mraroid]

Hello....

Thank you for the good information. I would like to keep the small grove growing on the side of my house. Is it possible to kill all the rest and just keep that? If not, I guess I will have to cut it all down.

mraroid

[stevelau1911]

I'm in a cold enough zone so that running bamboos mostly don't become invasive so I don't have personal experience with containment however I do know that bamboo rhizomes cannot survive indefinitely without a source of energy, so any rhizome that is disconnected from a culm will eventually rot away.

Basically if you let the shoots rise, cut them off, and starve the rhizomes, they'll run out of energy and perish. There's no need to dig any rhizomes up.

[Alan_L]

Just to be clear, if you want to keep the main plant but remove all of the "escaped" parts of the plant:

1) using whatever tool is required, cut a line defining the area you want the bamboo to stay inside. Make sure you cut every single rhizome. You may need to go 12" deep or more. Some people dig a small trench to make this easier the next time.

2) In the "escaped" area -- outside the line you cut -- remove every single bamboo culm (stalk) and shoot. Cut them all the way to the ground.

3) When new shoots grow in this area, cut them down. The taller you can let them grow before cutting them down the better, as it will take more energy from the rhizomes making them die faster. Do not let these new shoots form leaves!

4) Repeat step 3 as often as needed.

5) Every year you will need to repeat step 1 -- cut any new rhizomes that have crossed your line (or trench), and then steps 2 and 3.

Eventually the rhizomes that are disconnected from the main plant will run out of energy and die. If there are other patches of this same bamboo growing in your neighbor's yard or anywhere else, the same thing will need to be done there. You can't let the leaves feed any of the escaped rhizomes!

[zxylene]

5) Every year you will need to repeat step 1 -- cut any new rhizomes that have crossed your line (or trench), and then steps 2 and 3.

Eventually the rhizomes that are disconnected from the main plant will run out of energy and die. If there are other patches of this same bamboo growing in your neighbor's yard or anywhere else, the same thing will need to be done there. You can't let the leaves feed any of the escaped rhizomes!

And while your doing that remember this will only be a once or twice a year thing if done properly and may take several hours but I mow my grass several hours sometimes twice in a week. That is how I look at it. It makes the chore seem like a lot less work plus bamboo is beautiful grass is just grass it is everywhere.

[tomgun]

Roundup has worked great for killing bamboo. I wait until a stalk comes up, cut it, and pour Roundup in the tube. It kills up and down the rhizome. Then control what you got as others have suggested.

Google around for how long/if it stays in the soil. It pretty much doesn't. Even my long time organic farmer friends, although they don't use it on their certified crops, have no problem with Roundup and its proper usage. If you want to not like it, though, you can find some article that will fit your belief system.

I have noticed that when a bamboo is in the death throes of Roundup, it will leaf like crazy. That is what it is supposed to do, burn itself out. Then it dies or near dies. One more time should do it.

Good luck.

[Alan_L]

I have noticed that when a bamboo is in the death throes of Roundup, it will leaf like crazy. That is what it is supposed to do, burn itself out. Then it dies or near dies. One more time should do it.

Do you spray the leaves this last time, or do you cut the culms again?

Also, are you using regular Roundup, or the concentrate? I know for bush honeysuckle they recommend brushing the concentrated form on the stumps after cutting.

[needmore]

Roundup has worked great for killing bamboo. I wait until a stalk comes up, cut it, and pour Roundup in the tube. It kills up and down the rhizome. Then control what you got as others have suggested.

Google around for how long/if it stays in the soil. It pretty much doesn't. Even my long time organic farmer friends, although they don't use it on their certified crops, have no problem with Roundup and its proper usage. If you want to not like it, though, you can find some article that will fit your belief system.

I have noticed that when a bamboo is in the death throes of Roundup, it will leaf like crazy. That is what it is supposed to do, burn itself out. Then it dies or near dies. One more time should do it.

Good luck.

What is the Roundup doing that you could not have done by pruning the culm off at the ground? Are you saying that the rhizome itself absorbs it and sends it horizontally/laterally through the system, killing some 'feet' of rhizome in each direction? Then you rhizome prune? I think the 'kills it up and down the rhizome' is what I'm confused about.

[tomgun]

Alan:

I would spray the leaves again. However, sometimes out of laziness I never get around to it and it dies anyway. It depends how ticked off or conscientious I am.

I pour the concentrate in the culm. When spraying leaves, I always do the strongest mix. I have gotten rid of invasive trees by brushing the 2-inch stumps with the concentrate.

Needmore:

The Roundup is quicker than pruning the shooting culms, which would also eventually work. Yes, the rhizome absorbs the Roundup and will even carry it back to the mother patch if it is connected. You'll see some sickly culms come up in the source. If the stand is established, though, one rhizome will not bring it down. So do disconnect the target rhizome from what you want to save.

After the treatment, I don't dig up the rhizome. It's dead.

[RazinCane]

If the situation is critical I would cut EVERYTHING down. You can let the area you want to keep grow back after you dig a 1' deep x 1' wide trench(may need to be deeper and wider for mature Viridis) around the bamboo you want to maintain. In the interim know that for bamboo to grow and spread requires leaf mass. Once deprived of leaf mass the bamboo will put up survival shoots expending the energy stored in the rhizome. It cannot win this battle if you're persistent for it takes much more energy and time to grow than it does for you to cut it down. Allow it to regrow until it begins to branch then cut again. The key is to allow it to grow as much as possible but not to allow it to leaf out. You'll know you're making progress as the size of the shoots get smaller each time it reshoots. Fertilizing it, as has been suggested would seem counter intuitive to me since the goal is to starve the network of rhizomes. With time, patience and persistence you'll be able to enjoy your bamboo again without fear of it running rampant. Good luck.

P.S. You'll have an abundance of bamboo poles. You may want to get a book on bamboo fencing, furniture or crafts. The lemons to lemonade thing.

[Tarzanus]

Fertilizing it, as has been suggested would seem counter intuitive to me since the goal is to starve the network of rhizomes.

Nitrogen makes it shoot more, shoots are most likely going to be bigger and will take much more energy to grow. Plant that is well fertilized will think it has great opportunity to save itself. Since it needs leaf mass as well as minerals to grow, it will gain practically nothing out of it. If it leafs out, that's a different story.

[RazinCane]

Nitrogen makes it shoot more, shoots are most likely going to be bigger and will take much more energy to grow.

Though not a Vulcan my logic tells me it would take less energy from the rhizomes if growth is fueled by nitrogen but either way it's an added expense for dubious benefit. Starving the plant is the solution we can both agree and whether one chooses to feed it along the way will either hasten or prolong the inevitable. He could try both methods and put the debate to rest.

[needmore]

I've heard claims that over feeding with nitrogen will cause immature buds to shoot well before their time so if this is true then the over feeding could speed up the process substantially. If...being the key word here.

I have killed off many groves and there is a huge difference when all culms are cut and even just a couple are left. With the whole grove cut I generally have to mow regularly that year and can replant the next, new culms seems to come up 4-6 times or so. Leaving some culms I am still having to mow in the second year, there have been 10-12 flushes of new culms on one I have culled in spring of 2010.