I recently moved to a property that used to be a bamboo
farm. About 1 acre of bamboo remains. It is of the Henon species and
about 20-25 feet in height and it appears to have some mite infestation.
I want to remove all of the bamboo, and restore the land to native plant
habitat. What is the most economical way to remove bamboo and its root
clumps? I have hand dug (and burned) a lot of bamboo, but frankly feel
overwhelmed by the task at hand because there is still a lot of bamboo on
the property. Any suggestions you can offer would be immensely
appreciated.
The American Bamboo Society website (page now archived) has information on getting rid of
unwanted bamboo, excerpted below. Henon bamboo is a name for a variety of
Phyllostachys nigra, which is a running bamboo.
REMOVING A RUNNING BAMBOO
If new shoots of bamboo are coming up all over your yard, it is a running
bamboo. To get rid of it, there are four steps:
- Cut it off.
- Cut it down.
- Water the area.
- Cut it down again.
- Cut it off. All of the culms (stalks) of bamboo in a clump or grove
are interconnected underground by rhizomes (underground stems) unless you
have cut them by digging a ditch or cutting a line with a spade. A bamboo
grove is usually one single plant, not a group of plants. Many people
have the impression that every bamboo culm is a separate “tree.”If the bamboo in your yard has come across from your neighbor’s yard,
separate your grove from his by cutting the connecting rhizomes, which
are usually quite shallow. If you don’t, and his part is healthy and
vigorous, the rhizomes in your part will still be supported by the
photosynthesis in the leaves of his part, and your efforts will be in
vain. On the other hand, if you do manage to kill your part with a
herbicide you may also kill his part. Lawsuits or at least hard feelings
can result.Therefore, be sure to isolate the portion you want to keep from the
portion you want to kill. Cutting rhizomes with a spade or a saw will do
the trick if you do it every year. If the growth is old, you may need to
use a mattock or a digging bar the first time. Digging a ditch and
putting in a barrier* is a more permanent solution.- Cut it down.Cut the grove to the ground. All of it. If there is any part you want to
keep, see (1).- Water and fertilize the area, to cause new growth.
- Cut it down again. And again.
- New shoots will come up from the rhizomes. Break them off or cut them off
with pruning shears. Keep doing this until no more shoots come up. This
will exhaust the energy stored in the rhizomes underground. Without green
leaves to photosynthesize and produce new energy, they will no longer be
able to send up new shoots. The rhizomes will be left behind, but will
rot away.That’s all you need to do. You need a saw, a pair of pruning shears, and
patience, and maybe a spade and/or mattock. The widely advertised
herbicides don’t work well on bamboo, probably because so much of the
plant is underground. Since cutting the bamboo down will do the trick,
and you have to cut the bamboo down anyway to remove it from your yard,
herbicides are a waste of time and money in this case.
The method described above sounds labor–and time–intensive for a large
area like yours. However, if you can cut it all down as close to the
ground as possible, and then repeatedly mow any new growth, you may be
able to kill it. Here is what the USDA recommends:
Eradicating bamboo is accomplished by first removing all top growth, and
then destroying the new shoots as they emerge. If the ground is level and
the canes can be cut off very close to the ground, mowing is the best way
to destroy new shoots. If the ground cannot be mowed, the canes should be
cut down and the area plowed to destroy new shoots as they emerge.
Several plowings or mowings will be necessary, but the rhizome need not
be removed; it will become depleted and die.
This information is from gardening expert Mike McGrath, via a
commercial garden supply business, and there is a possibility that his
suggestions of sheet mulching the area (also labor-intensive if you have
an acre to deal with) or using high-strength vinegar-based products (use
extreme caution with these, even though they are ‘natural,’ as they are
still quite hazardous) might help.