Remove bamboo – forever – but how and with what? If you want to permanently and completely destroy bamboo plants in the garden, you need to know whether it is the clumping or the dangerous, grove-forming type of bamboo.
How do I permanently remove bamboo from my garden?
To permanently remove bamboo, dig up and discard the mother plant and any rhizomes. Use tools such as drainage spades, digging spades, garden sieves and protective clothing. Start with the outermost shoots and work towards the mother plant. Ideally done in spring.
A bamboo with a rhizome barrier or a clumpy bamboo variety is much easier to remove. These include the non-hardy Fargesias. They form new stalks directly from the root ball and only spread slowly.
Bamboo without borders
In the wild counterpart - the grove-forming bamboo plants - the rhizomes branch up to 10 meters in all directions and up to 1 meter deep. Rhizomes are thick oval-shaped roots that spread limitlessly as new root balls with their own shoots. Known as bamboo varieties without borders are, for example:
- Sasa
- Pleioblastus
- Phyllostachys
Better sooner than too late, the mother plant and all rhizomes must be dug up and removed. They grow through and damage masonry, buildings, sidewalks and streets! You won't let anything stop you!
Know-how, manpower and professional tools
Removing an overgrown bamboo requires, above all, time and patience. From the right time to the right special tool, including a mini excavator, everything needs to be planned and calculated. The garden needs to be dug up and replanted. In addition, digging should be completed in one growing season! The most important tools and materials to remove the bamboo:
- Lawnmower (optional)
- Mini excavator (optional)
- Shovel
- Holstein grave spade for normal work
- Drainage spade with fiberglass handle for bamboo barrier
- Digging spade with D-handle for digging up bamboo
- Garden sieve
- Protective clothing and goggles
In general, bamboo can be destroyed all year round. It is more advantageous in spring when the first green new shoots sprout. Now the bamboo activates its energy reserves for growth. Therefore, it is a much better time to successfully destroy it than when it is inactive.
Start by removing the outermost bamboo shoots towards the mother plant. First destroy the entire bamboo ring around the outside. This way you can limit and control the wild growth on the first day. The closer you get to the mother plant, the stronger and harder the root network is. Sift the excavated soil and discard the bamboo rhizomes before backfilling the soil.
Confine instead of emigrating
The best weapon against overgrowth is to limit it: With a special rhizome barrier you can clearly limit the bamboo location. Then the bamboo stays pretty safely within its boundaries and does not undermine your own or neighbor's garden. But check regularly whether the rhizome barrier is tight.
Tips & Tricks
The rhizomes are not allowed in the compost! A new bamboo can form from every rhizome that is separated or left in the ground! And the work was free!