How can I get rid of bamboo

[Spencer74]

I am planning on doing the garden ... but can't start till I get rid of the bamboo. There isn't that much but it's tough! I have tried cutting at the the base and painting the freshly cut stem with Roundup. Someone on an old thread said something about "diesel and tordon or starane" but I am unsure of the application method ...... and I do want to grow Lemon trees and a hedge in place of the bamboo. Thanks.

[Sturdee]

Using roundup on the new shoots is the way to do it, BUT it may take a few applications before it is all gone.

If new shouts come up fertilise it and then nuke them with roundup. The good thingh about rounup is it doesn't affect the soil so you can safely plant your lemon tree in due course.


BTW Roundup is expensive. Bunnings sell a number of brands of Glysophate with exactly the same composition as Roundup for about a third of the price.


Peter.

[bsrlee]

Nuke it from orbit - its the only way to be sure

More seriously - it depends on which sort of bamboo you have. There are clumpers and runners, and each react differently to poisoning. I think with runners you can kill ONE shoot with an application but everything else on the runner will keep going, and keep sending out more runners & shoots. Or its the clumpers that do that - I can't remember ATM.

The 'quick' way is to dig it all out, down a few feet, pile it up so it can't take root again then shred/burn or whatever. If it is coming in from somewhere else, you will need to install an underground 'fence' of sheet metal 2-3 feet deep and sloped to force the roots down/back.

There should be some info on 'fixing' bamboo online, somewhere like ABC gardening Australia or the old Bourke's Backyard sites.

[Fuzzie]

The house next door to us has running bamboo that has crossed into our block. They don't do anything about it but I have been hacking at the stuff on our side, with a certain amount of success. If you can control the whole clump you've got a head start!

Our bamboo is big stuff 5m high. I cut it at about 30cm above ground just below a segment. Then fill the hollow with a strong mix of zero, don't just paint the cut with normal strength. If anything shoots in spring/summer spray the tender green shoots with a strong zero mix.

The stumps take a long time to die. It has taken two years for the roots to rot out to the point where I can kick out the stumps. This stuff is running down a rocky slope, I don't have the option of digging it out. After the first year it looked like the bamboo was matting out and creating some sort of ground cover growth, but that seemed to eventually die off as well.

[Christopha]

As Sturdee says, spray the shoots with Glyphosate. Bamboo is grass admittedly a tad oversized but it is actually a grass and for Glyphostae to work it needs to be sprayed onto the foliage of the stuff.
Sic 'em Rex!

[Bleedin Thumb]

Even if you kill the suckers (sorry about the pun) you will still be left with a tangled mess of roots (rhizomes) that will take years to decay. If you have access get in a mini excavator or Dingo and dig the stuff up to start with. Then use Roundup to get any new growth that you may have missed.

IMHO this is the ONLY way to get rid of the stuff and have a garden bed that is usable.

[Barry Hicks]

I have been down the 'get rid of bamboo' track and failed. The stuff I had, grew about as thick as your thumb in a thick clump.

My First attack was with a Bobcat which blew a lot of black smoke and spun its wheels before retiring beaten.

Second attack was with a chainsaw. All that happened was that chewed up bits of bamboo kept getting under the chain and derailing the chain.

Third attempt was with a sharp machette and painting neat Roundup on the fresh cut canes. This actually killed that cane and appeared to stop any suckers but seeing as the two clumps were 4-5m across it was like trying to stop the tide coming in.

I eventually won by selling the place. This stuff was so aggressive I found it would grow when a cane was poked into the ground upside down.

I found a guy who killed off a clump of the big stuff by drilling a hole into each cane and squirting in neat Roundup.

Having said all that, I believe there are herbicides that will kill it when sprayed on the leaves but you can bet it/they can only be sold to permit holders.

Good luck!

[Planned LScape]

Yes Garlon would kill it- but it's dangerous stuff. It's a Schedule 6 poison that kills blackberries in 1 hit but a number of people have died from using it too

Probably better to remove all trace than quick fixes. Dig around, under, whatever it takes to loosen it for removal.

[Spencer74]

Thanks all... I have some new spring shoots so I will keep onto it and then excavate. Cheers

[Jedo_03]

Lord yes...
me and the missus tried for years to get rid of a large patch of bamboo...
Tried everything poisonous... Hacked... Chopped... Burned...
In the end we hired a bloke with a bobcat...
That worked...
Never seen a trace of them in the last 6 or 7 years...
cheers
Jedo

[Ashore]

Or you could get yourself a panda

[Jedo_03]

Aye - well, the chinese guvment might lend ya one or two...
But I think I remember reading somewhere that Pandas are kinda fussy about what TYPE of bamboo they will eat... only a few certain species of the stuff... Prolly they'd turn their noses up at 'our' variety of bamboo...
cheers
Jedo

[Terrian]

there is some stuff we use to sell at the garden supplies called 'Tree and Blackberry Killer', not cheap, 500ml was about $22, mix it with water (with some dishwashing detergant) and spray the bamboo, the stuff kills blackberry in one hit (have used it around here) but residue left in the soil may take a while (12 months or more) to break down enough to plant something else.

There are also some salt based (once a year pathweeder comes to mind) products that might work OK.