In spring 2022, we moved in a house that had a bamboo planted in the backyard, among other tree shrubs. At first, it felt convenient since it was giving us some privacy from the neighbors. But that first year we started seeing small bamboos sprouting everywhere, up to 30 meters away from the shrub. This document is a log of my battle against that bamboo.
A large bamboo had been planted in front of one of our large sliding doors. It was put there specifically to provide privacy, and it seemed perfect for that. There were two main clusters of branches, offering a great shield. The thickest branches were 3-4 cm in diameter and the shrubs would go up 2-3 meters high. We really liked the small leafs, and it also provided a nice shadow.
As springs ends, we start to notice weird shoots coming out of our lawn. At first not sure what they were, we would cut them and think nothing of it. After all these were easily 15 meters away east-ward from the main bamboo branches, we did not make the connection immediately. I did not know how bamboo spreads, maybe those were seeds, traveling from the wind. Then we realized these had deep roots, then I realized some shoots were growing same distance but in the other direction, westward.
At that point, I knew I had we had to kill this plant before it went any further underneath my lawn. My first step was to cut all the branches. I used a branch cutter and removed everything. I cleaned up the branches to keep the sticks for gardening, and burned all the rest.
Obviously, I knew this was not over, I had read about the persistence of bamboos and their networks of rhizomes. I had put boiling water on the stems, some vinegar and as the season was coming to an end, the plant was going into sleep for the winter.
After that first fight, a part of me thought it was over. But it was obvious it was just the first episode. Over the winter, the bamboo was mostly asleep, or it seemed. We found no shoots coming out. In retrospective, I wouldn't be surprised if the rhizome network was active over the winter and would continue shooting underground.
tbd
tbd
To elaborate on: - rhizomes / root system - shoots - shoots after cutting - leafs - wood
To elaborate on: - exhausting it - splitting underground with a saw - digging it all out - progressive digging - vinegar - boiling water - chemicals
To elaborate on: - metal or concrete boxes - non shooting bamboos