Bambo - Knowledgebase Question

Annuals
Tyler, Tx
Question by jbvlfrench
March 26, 2007
My husband and I have just purchased a home, which has bambo everywhere in the backyard and I mean everywhere. What can I do to get rid of it. We have tried spraying it which just made it grow fasting and we have also tried digging it up which is a back breaking job. Please help us. Thanks Vicky French


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Answer from NGA
March 26, 2007

0

 Vicky,

To remove bamboo your options are to either dig it out which is quite a job, mow it to death, or spray it with a herbicide. To my knowledge there are not any herbicides that list bamboo as a controlled species on their labels. That said 41% glyphosate (Roundup is one brand name) mixed at a rate of 6 ounces per gallon is fairly effective. The bamboo should be mowed down and allowed to regrow to about 3 feet tall before spraying it. Repeat applications (perhaps 4 or more) will likely be needed for complete control. Another herbicide imazapyr (Arsenal) is as or more effective than glyphosate and is often suggested as a combination spray with the glyphosate. However imazapyr has both foliar and soil activity and will damage or kill landscape trees, shrubs, and grasses whose roots are in the treated area. Thus it is not generally recommended for landscape settings. If a herbicide is used you need to trench between the bamboo to be killed and any on a neighbor's property that is to be left as translocated herbicides can move into adjacent bamboo doing considerable damage.

Another control option is to mow the bamboo regularly (at the same frequency you might mow a lawn for a couple of seasons. Such intense mowing sets it back a lot by depleting its stored energy and not allowing it a chance to grow leaves to replenish its stores of carbohydrates. Thus this technique can work fairly well at getting rid of much of the bamboo in the mowed area. Bamboo experts claim that repeated pruning of any shoots that come up for a period of time will do the trick and that herbicides are not really needed. They also recommend trenching to sever the part to be removed from any part of a grove on another property that cannot be removed. This prevents the remaining grove from supplying the underground parts on your side of the property line with energy to resprout.

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