PLEASE HELP! How to get rid of bamboo

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foxd
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Re: PLEASE HELP! How to get rid of bamboo

Post by foxd »

Twenty feet long by four feet wide doesn't seem like all that much, I removed something like that last year using a small electric chainsaw. I cut them off at ground level so that the area could be easily mowed. Most of the time and effort was spent fighting the grape vines and Tree of Heaven that had infested the grove, plus dragging the mess away from the area. When I checked the area about a week ago very little of it had resprouted and that is easily mowed.
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Re: PLEASE HELP! How to get rid of bamboo

Post by EEN »

The dimensions are actually 20 feet wide by 4 feet deep. The real length is probably 40 feet long, at least.
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Re: PLEASE HELP! How to get rid of bamboo

Post by vindiesel.zmaj »

EEN wrote:The dimensions are actually 20 feet wide by 4 feet deep. The real length is probably 40 feet long, at least.

This is nothing.... I relocated this spring( healthy divisions of the plants, culms, roots, soil and everything) bigger grove, in 2 days. Me and my brother. Didn't cut it down, we relocated it (much more labor intensive).

You can cut all this down with a hand saw for bamboo (30bucks on ebay), in 2, maybe 3 hours, alone.

And btw, this is yellow groove bamboo, phyllostacys aureosulcata.
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Re: PLEASE HELP! How to get rid of bamboo

Post by needmore »

Wow, your initial post described something large so I pictured bulldozer but that as suggested should be a one day cut down, one day clean up job.

You need a high quality shredder - contact the tree companies or rent one and that will be mulch that does not need hauled away.
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Re: PLEASE HELP! How to get rid of bamboo

Post by dependable »

As stated, it is yellow groove bamboo. The reason it looks so bad is it got blasted by a sub-zero gale last February that killed off the leaves on the top. It usually looks a lot better.

If you are at all ambivalent about the removal & expense, I would suggest cutting it all to the ground for and having it chipped by a tree crew as suggested above. New green shoots will come up and in a couple years the stand will look great again. It can also be controlled by mowing, as the new shoots are tender. I would mow it where I did not want it and let it recover where I wanted screening.

By controlling by cutting, as opposed to digging, you avoid some of the regulatory hassle and erosion control measures required if you are digging by pond or wetland. I deal with ConComs hear on the island, and know the drill about digging planting or even cutting near water. If it is explained to them that the root mass will be undisturbed, you should not have to jump through as many hoops.

Cutting it down is the first step regardless, you could just keep it mowed regularly, and the bamboo will eventually go away with no digging.

If you want to dig it up, it is not 4 ft down, most of the roots are in the 18-24 inch depth at deepest. I am a landscaper by trade and have dug out unwanted bamboo roots with small excavator, backhoe and pallet forks on a bobcat. It is not that big a deal. Would love to get $29K to remove that. Too bad I am a boat trip away.
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