Containment by shoot removal

[bamboothew]

I know this has been talked about many times but I am in need of some clarification. My proposed method of containment for most of my running bamboos is simple shoot removal. I am thinking that as my groves mature and grow towards one another I will become very familiar with the appearance of the different species' shooots and will simply remove them as they appear where I don't want them. Areas of lawn (which hopefully will become more and more scarce over the next few years, according to plan) will be mowed as normal or large shoots of edible species will be harvested as a vegetable. Of course, any species planted very close to the property line I will rhizome prune on the side of the grove facing the neighbor's property if I see it becoming necessary. Also, I have some vivax planted just a few feet from the house that I plant on keeping as a "clump." It has only been in the ground a year but I have already dug a trench on the house side of it in the last month to check for rhizome activity. Plan on doing this every winter to keep it in bounds.

I remember some old posts of Brad's in which he indicated that this was basically the method he was using. My questions to all of you with years of experience in this method are:

1. Has it been as successful as you had hoped?
2. Have you had any kind of unforseen difficulty that I need to know about?
3. What are the farthest distances you have seen rhizomes run before sending up a new shoot?

Thanks in advance for the helpful replies!

I know there are those of you who so strongly advocate in-ground barriers but I have a hard time believing that they are really necessary in an open yard like mine. Am I right or wrong?

[Ego1607]

I have one related question.

How far will a running bamboo rhizome go without forming a new clum? For example, if a rhizome runs for a meter and forms a shot I cut off imediately, will the rhizome continiue growing in the same direction "indefinately", trying to push shots futher and further every season, or does it have a limit on how far it can go from a mature clum?

[Michael]

I cannot answer the question about maintaining a trench and the pruning method since I have very limited experience with this method. But in cases where I did see it employed it seemed to work ok but a lot of work was involved. I have a lot of bamboo that will want to be intermingling in the not too distant future. It is my present plan to use a trencher (as described in another post here) and back fill to keep the rhizomes from leaving their area and a mower to maintain a bamboo free walk way between them. Shoot harvesting will be considered since I expect to “prune” the groves during shooting season and follow up in the fall with a culm harvest.

Some of my bamboo will only be kept in check by using the mower and shoot removal where it is not wanted. I have seen this method at work in many places some as old as 60 years as is the case of a large timber bamboo (vivax I think) located just north of Luverne, AL. When I visited this place, I learned that it had been growing since just after WWII. There were places in the yard (mostly covered in large oak trees) where you could see 1” diameter rhizomes showing on the surface up to 50 feet or so (I would really like to say 75 to 100 feet, but I well acquainted with how big culm grow after someone has visited a grove some time in past.) In Camden, AL at the Auburn University’s Costal Low Land Experimental Station land they have small (200 feet and less diameter) groves that have been around since at least the 60s and they are planted in an hayfield that was harvested as another experiment in hay and cattle production. The groves are neatly kept in control using this method. On one trip I saw a group of people harvesting P. aurea rhizomes using a kind of “subsoiler plow” to dig the rhizomes from the grown. My memory says they were about 10 feed out from the grove and they were loading a truck with the rhizomes. In the same field I saw a S. fastuosa at least 30 feet from the edge of the grove but I am sure it was a late shoot. Sometimes when a young culm is cut down (mowed down in the yard) branches will come out from the part that is left in the ground. These have been harvested in several locations in the AL, GA and NW Florida area with great success. (probably not the quickest way to get a bamboo up and running but when you have just dug up a 200 lb root ball; quick gratification of acquiring another plant (just in case or for a friend) is very satisfying. I did a lot of this at the USDA station in Byron, GA where I was self limited on the number of large division I could dig and transport.

Another method I see often is nature’s way of keeping running bamboo’s onslaught in check is the wetlands or swamps. Most of the large culms I see from P. aurea grows closest to the edge of a creek, swamp or very wet area, but the bamboo does not enter the area where the soil is saturated for long periods of time. The occasional flooding of these areas seems to have the Nile effect of bring in nutrients rather than doing harm.

[needmore]

I have one related question.

How far will a running bamboo rhizome go without forming a new clum? For example, if a rhizome runs for a meter and forms a shot I cut off imediately, will the rhizome continiue growing in the same direction "indefinately", trying to push shots futher and further every season, or does it have a limit on how far it can go from a mature clum?

You need to remember that the rhizome grows in summer how ever far it is capable of growing and then it stops when cold weather arrives. Probably there will be no canes at all on it. Then, the next spring, canes will start to come up on that rhizome. It will not grow a few feet then produce a cane and then grow more such as I think you are asking. It will grow, be done growing then produce canes later on. So mowing keeps that particular rhizome branch from producing its own canes, it will remain in the ground trying to sprout new canes but the mower tends to limit that.

[Ego1607]

I have one related question.

How far will a running bamboo rhizome go without forming a new clum? For example, if a rhizome runs for a meter and forms a shot I cut off imediately, will the rhizome continiue growing in the same direction "indefinately", trying to push shots futher and further every season, or does it have a limit on how far it can go from a mature clum?

You need to remember that the rhizome grows in summer how ever far it is capable of growing and then it stops when cold weather arrives. Probably there will be no canes at all on it. Then, the next spring, canes will start to come up on that rhizome. It will not grow a few feet then produce a cane and then grow more such as I think you are asking. It will grow, be done growing then produce canes later on. So mowing keeps that particular rhizome branch from producing its own canes, it will remain in the ground trying to sprout new canes but the mower tends to limit that.

Thank you, that was what I wanted to know.

So the rhizome grows, stops growing, produces a cane, and then, if that cane grows successfully, new rhizome grows from it spreading further, right?


How far can I expect P. nigra rhizomes to grow?

[GrowingHabit]

I think how far the rhizomes of P. nigra will travel is purely a function of culture. I have a grove entering its 5th year, and I treat it to layers and layers of good compost-type materials and mulches and fertilizers. But I keep the food close within the borders of the grove. I have yet to detect a rhizome farther than 25 feet from the center of the grove.

The rhizomes I've dug off that grove and planted elsewhere aren't treated to such indulgence. I just heel them in somewhere and forget them. First year, they've moved 8 feet. Second year, another 8 feet. I'm not sure what they'll do this year.

The ignored nigra plants have few, far-ranging rhizomes. The over-babied nigra has rhizome mass that doesn't move as far outward, but has so much rhizome in 360 degrees around its center, that I am challenged to get a knife blade between them. It has consistently produced a lot of rhizome mass close to itself from when I first planted it. I wonder if this difference in behavior holds true for anyone else who may be treating same plant different in separate areas of their own garden?