Do home made bamboo barriers work?

[Chris L]

After reading the horror stories about invasive bamboo on a South Carolina forum, I'm very hesitate to buy more runners.(just bought my first one this spring) The world of bamboo is very exciting to me, but I don't want to regret buying more bamboo ten years from now.

Half my garden is filled with "snow on the mountain" (currently trying to dig up as much as I can). Could you compare bamboo's invasiveness in zone 6/5 to snow on the mountain? I'm not really afraid of bamboo taking over other plants (I divide most of my plants every year now), but I am afraid of it suddenly going into my lawn and my neighbor's yards (only about 10 feet away) without any sign of it until its too late or out of control.

Those expensive barriers are just too big and expensive to invest in for my smaller sized planting beds. I have a few home made barriers in mind, I just hope it will be good enough to control the running bamboo. Could compressed wood more than a half inch thick stop Phyllostachys bissetii dwarf from spreading into the yard? (The Phyllostachys bissetii is located along my picket fence in a garden bed of about 3 ft. by 8 ft.)I haven't thought of a good way to stop it from pushing through the corners of the barrier yet. The other idea that I passed on after finding out that its too small an area to let the bamboo spread (I want a larger screen too) was to cut out the bottom of a jumbo plastic storage container and place it around the bamboo.

I've already heard the suggestion about digging a hole 1 ft deep and 1 ft wide, but it wouldn't really work along my picket fence because as the groove of bamboo spreads I won't have easy access to the back of the groove along the picket fence. (I have other plants on the other side of the fence)

I'm interested in any advice someone could give me about keeping bamboo contained in a zone 6 garden. Thanks!

[kudzu9]

Chris-
If bamboo was as invasive as many people make it out to be, many of us wouldn't grow it as it would be too much work. I've got over 50 species, mostly runners, in Zone 8, and don't bother with barriers. Even the expensive barriers can fail. I plant mine, keep an eye on it, and rhizome prune with a sharp shovel as needed in the fall. In my experience, bamboo only takes over a yard when people plant it, let it do its thing for 5-10 years, don't maintain it, and then are shocked -- yes, shocked -- at how it could have gotten so out of control. Besides, in Zone 5-6, you'll probably have top kill with many species, and that'll slow it down right there.

[Steve in France]

Even a stone barrier will work , I use sandstone blocks here , they turn about 90 % or the rhizomes back into the growing area. I will be buying rhizome barrier this year from Jos VDP , I hope to get up to see him next week, fingers crossed.
My Bamboos run a lot , but i water all the time and mulch and use fert.
My Spectabilis has run 9 feet in a year , Semiarundinaria Fastuosa has run a few feet. I'm zone 8 too , with mildish winters and coolish summers, Bamboos are in full leaf here all year round.
Later
Steve

[Bamboomoon]

When you say "My Spectabilis has run 9 feet in a year", it gives me pause to think because my Spectabilis has gone up 3 feet higher this year, and the new culms are a lot bigger than the old ones. This makes me think I may have forgotten to root prune that particular plant in October. Nothing I can do but enjoy it for the next 5 months, but this brings up an interesting question. Does anybody "forget" on purpose and skip a year just to jigger the culm size results? Would the larger culms still be supported by a suddenly reduced root system? I would guess not, but it sounds like I may find out when I root prune this October ...

[Steve in France]

My Spectabilis has make at least three 9 foot runners , but they will be pruned after the new culms leaf out. I will then install a barrier to contain this years rhizome growth. I guess I'd not Fall prune rhizomes as to me it seems i would be pruning out months of energy stored in the rhizome for next years growth. Since the rhizomes start storing energy from about July on an Oct pruning could cost 3 to 4 months of stored energy. Plus the runners are producing the odd culm so there is a good opportunity to propagate. Also on rare bamboos those whipshoot tips would be cut by Fall pruning , now here I have a Ph Vivax H Inversa that I planted last year , it cost a bit and I'm delighted to say that there are three large normal culms coming plus a bonus of one runner whipshoot , so the whipshoot will be potted up after it leafs out , if I sold it it would pay for the original plant, more than likely it will be given to one of my Bamboo friends to enjoy. Also three runner whipshoots on Shanghai 3 to be potted up in a few weeks and a Semiarundinaria Fastuosa long runner with a couple of propagatable shoots.
Great way to build up spares and I do often get emails from people wanting stuff , it's nice to have them on hand.

Later
Steve

[kudzu9]

As for when to rhizome prune, I do it in the fall because: 1) I can pot up plants I want to save (because they're able to sustain themselves by then), and 2) I can eliminate all the ones that I don't want that are growing where I don't want them (in the fall, they've generally completed their running for the year). I don't think you're injuring the rhizome system by doing it then. Any energy stored would have gone to the shoots in that area. I haven't seen any evidence that rhizome pruning hurts culm size in any way for the new growth you allow to remain.

[Steve in France]

I suspect it's about timing and climate, as with most things it would be much more interesting to discuss it face to face with a few Boos around to look at . As to timing , I'll cut the whipshoots as soon as they leaf out , say mid July . In my climate with normally a long Fall and a mild Winter I believe I have almost constant rhizome growth , I can see this happening often when a rhizome appears a few feet away from the main plant in Dec or Jan.
I just noticed another whipshoot on Shanghai 3 , so that's four whipshoots about 25 new culms largest of which is 1 1/4 inches across, not bad for a second season Boo that started as a five foot single thin culm . I'll been breaking off any culm under 1/2 inch across as all the culms big culms are in a small area and there are at least 8 an inch across and larger.
It's part of my plan to have a good looking grove from day one and not just grow a large patch of mixed size culms with the long term aim of giant culms one of these days
I'll do before and after pics in a few weeks , I think I may even have a pic of the single culm planted in Aug 20004.
Later
Steve

[Joseph Clemens]

My homemade bamboo "barrier" works just fine. I dug out around my plantings to create sunken walkways and groves on individual "islands". I still have the occasional escapee, escapee's make good potted divisions.

Where I planted immediately adjacent to my property line --- separated from my neighbor by only a chain-link fence --- I buried a few panes of glass vertically from old sliding-glass-door's with sunken walkways on my side of these plantings, a few rhizomes escape around the ends of the glass each year, but my neighbor does not irrigate his yard and has only a few native weeds growing there (barrel cacti). If I severed the rhizome connection, those escapee culms would soon expire in the dry ground. I am not sure if my neighbor has even noticed the 10 foot high culms, they have never mentioned it.

[tomgun]

There are some places bamboo just doesn't go, I'm afraid. I would strongly suggest not putting it along a fence where you could not have a pruning trench.

If you could have the bamboo in as much of a mound or ridge as possible, even better.

Some trees, plants, and bamboos should not be smack up close to a fence or house. The example I use is one would not plant an oak tree three feet from the side of a house. There are limitations to everything.

I am building my bamboo up in raised beds with retaining wall. There is plenty of room between them and the fence and I am on rock-hard ground. I'll catch the creeping.

Kudzu9 is right: Bamboo will all of a sudden jump up in unknown places after not looking at it for five years.

[RazinCane]

While rhizome pruning will curtail running, it should be noted that leaf mass is what fuels vigor. Cutting culms in conjunction with rhizome pruning is the most effective way to maintain a grove the size you want. I trench a circle or oval around my boos and back fill with mulch, when said boo fills area, if it puts up 10 shoots I cut 10 older culms and maintain a balance. By limiting leaf mass it lacks the energy to run as far, making rhizome pruning easier and more effective.

[jessica56200]

Do you have advises for an Italian bamboo? it goes dry very soon