Large Grove Removal With Photos

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joshr799
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Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by joshr799 »

Here are some before photos and current photos.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HpaNq2QBa2eKP7jZ7

Hi, I'm looking forward to any feedback from anyone with insight into the best path forward. I have had a large grove on my property for the last 15 years, and due to the amount of time required to maintain it, I have taken steps to start removing it. The kicker was a local guy who told me the bamboo was sick with a fungus or bacteria growing on the leaves.

The grove has been here since the mid-'60s and was great to be around. I don't have any neighbors to worry about, so I had no barrier around it. Because it was not contained, I had to work hard every spring for 4-6 weeks to maintain the circumference as best as possible.

Last week a landscaper came with a skid steer and a brush hog attachment to cut it down and mulch it. No poles were left above ground, and all the mulch was removed. I'm now left with undisturbed rhizomes and uneven ground.

I've been here for 15 years with this bamboo, so I’m familiar with its growth pattern. I know a lot of energy is stored in the rhizomes. I know that if I leave them undisturbed, they will continue to grow new chutes every spring until that energy is expensed. The question is, how long could that be? With such a large grove and the age, it could be three or four years, possibly longer.

I plan to reclaim the area, plant grass, and prevent the growth of new chutes in the growing season by mowing them over daily. The growing season is usually 4-6 weeks. I have talked to a few excavation guys about the next phase of remediation and have a few options.

Option 1: Since the property is uneven and there’s a small valley running through the area where the grove was, I’ll need to level the area and backfill with a lot of fill dirt. The first thought was to bring in 12-15 tri-axle dump trucks full of fill dirt and cover up the existing rhizomes. The goal would be to bury them by a minimum of 12” in some areas, with the center possibly up to 24”. Everything would be graded to flatten out the site. After that, I would get some topsoil and plant grass seeds. I hope this will slow down some of the growth in the spring. I'm ok with maintaining it to a certain degree. I know it's challenging to get rid of completely.

Option 2: Use a backhoe and loader to dig up as much of the rhizomes as possible. The material would be taken away. New fill dirt would be brought in to backfill the area and allow for proper grading. Then I’d bring in topsoil and plant grass seed. It’s pretty much the same as option 1, but I’m adding the step of digging up the rhizomes and removing the material. This adds about 25% of the total cost of the job. I also understand that this is running bamboo, and eliminating all rhizomes will be difficult.

Is it worth digging up the rhizomes, or will burying them under 12-24” of fill dirt be enough to slow the growth?
Alan_L
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by Alan_L »

I don't have experience with a grove of this scale and age, but I have one main question: how likely is it that every single rhizome will be removed, especially the ones far from the grove? Maybe that's not a concern, especially since they'll be removing the great majority of them, but still...

It sounds like the fill will help, but I'd be surprised if you didn't have to knock down shoots for a couple years at least.
dependable
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by dependable »

I can't seem to access photos. In any case, you got to a good start by mowing the grove. You can bury the chopped up bamboo, or remove with or have the debris removed with skid steer with grapple attachment. Ongoing mowing will eventually successfully suppress the growth. I don't think you will need to mow daily, just keep at it until the new shoots stop coming up. A few seasons of regular mowing will get you most of the way there. You will still have to mow after that, but normally this is done with any lawn or field.

Burying the rhizomes will help slow it down, and evening it out make it much easier to mow with regular mowing equipment. I would skip digging it all out, though I have done this for customers who wanted instant results. As you know, the cost and loss of good soil would be substantial. Even if it is dug up, some rhizomes will be missed, and you will have to keep up on the mowing anyway.

Here are some recent pictures of some clearing I did at my place last year.
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needmore
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by needmore »

Just mow it.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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Alan_L
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by Alan_L »

How long will the tiny bunches of leaves that form beneath the mower level stay alive? It seems that when I remove a shoot that's in the lawn, that little tuft keeps growing forever. Or is that only because the main grove is still feeding it?
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by dependable »

Alan, they will probably continue to come up unless you cut rhizomes from main grove, otherwise the grove is still getting water & nutrients from mowed area, and will keep trying to put culms up. The easiest way to deal with it is to run a chain trencher along edge of grove every few years, or install a barrier.
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needmore
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by needmore »

They will keep coming up for a few years but regular mowing keeps them under control. Ideally you try to exhaust the rhizomes by letting new shoots get several inches tall between mowings. This is maybe not ideal for a lawn but your situation does not look’lawny’ so if it were me I’d just keep mowing every 2-2-3-4 weeks as normal.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
dependable
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by dependable »

Agreed that regular mowing is all that is needed to keep area in lawn grass. In my experience anyway, if rhizomes are not cut from main grove, they will never be exhausted.

One of my groves is adjacent to grass along roadway where rhizomes are never cut and it sends up full sized culms every year, regardless of when new culms are knocked down.
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needmore
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Re: Large Grove Removal With Photos

Post by needmore »

Right, they must be disconnected from anything with foliage/leaves or they’ll just keep going.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
http://www.needmorebamboo.com
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