How do I remove Bamboo stalks AND roots
Joseph Cardani
has already damaged the neighbor's fence and invaded the neighbor's yard.
I would like to COMPLETELY kill the plant including the root system. If I cut down the bamboo
level to the ground, will this do the trick, or do I have to use weed killer or some other
chemical to do this?
Thank you in advance
Joseph Cardani
Thomas Jefferson University
J.K. Childers
>
> I am currently bidding on a home that has very tall bamboo plants in the back yard. The bamboo
> has already damaged the neighbor's fence and invaded the neighbor's yard.
>
> I would like to COMPLETELY kill the plant including the root system. If I cut down the bamboo
> level to the ground, will this do the trick, or do I have to use weed killer or some other
> chemical to do this?
PRAY. PRAY hard. PRAY now. PRAY long. Spend the next few years
eradicating every 'minute' plant you recognize. Then enjoy the plants
that still managed to survive. ;)
J.K. Childers
Rick Cook
>
>I would like to COMPLETELY kill the plant including the root system. If I
>cut down the bamboo
>level to the ground, will this do the trick, or do I have to use weed
>killer or some other
>chemical to do this?
>
it over several years until the rhizomes are exhausted. The good news is
that bamboo shoots are quite brittle when they first appear. You don't have
to cut them, just kick them over.
--RC
Ken
Or better yet, let them get to 3-4"high, cut them off with a sharp
knife, remove the outer layers and - presto! - the freshest, sweetest
bamboo shoots you've ever eaten! For free!
Or, offer it to anyone who will come dig it up. I *do* hate to see
bamboo just *killed*.....
Sabra
Jeanne Baer
"J.K. Childers" (childer...@anmd-usassdc.army.mil) writes:
> Joseph Cardani wrote:
>>
>> I am currently bidding on a home that has very tall bamboo plants in the back yard. The bamboo
>> has already damaged the neighbor's fence and invaded the neighbor's yard.
>>
>> level to the ground, will this do the trick, or do I have to use weed killer or some other
>> chemical to do this?
>
> eradicating every 'minute' plant you recognize. Then enjoy the plants
> that still managed to survive. ;)
>
> J.K. Childers
This has not been my experience at all. I grow only the most aggressive
runners and have never had any problems. While I have never wanted to
eliminate such a large area that I have resorted to chemicals, it's easy
enough to control otherwise.
Just cut it all down. When a new shoot emerges, dig it up with as much of
the root as comes easily. If started early in the season, this process
will pretty well get rid of the plant by season's end.
Now, considering that most mailorder bamboo nurseries charge at least $12
to $15 for a bare-root plant, why don't you put an ad in the paper
offering it for TWO BUCKS!!! CHEAP!!!! YOU DIG! You might get it all
done for you!
Gib Cooper
chapter of the American Bamboo Society. There may be a member in your
area interested in the type of bamboo you have, It is unfortunate the
former homeowner didn't install a rhizome barrier to contain the
bamboo, or, better yet, plant a clumping species of bamboo.
Good luck
Gib Cooper
Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery
28446 Hunter Creek Loop
Gold Beach, OR 97444
Tel & Fax 541/247-0835
"The Mail Order Bamboo, Books, and Hardware Specialists"-Ask to get on
our mailing list.
http://harborside.com/bamboo/
mjr...@deltanet.com
>Joseph Cardani wrote:
>>
>> I am currently bidding on a home that has very tall bamboo plants in the back yard. The bamboo
>> has already damaged the neighbor's fence and invaded the neighbor's yard.
>>
>> I would like to COMPLETELY kill the plant including the root system. If I cut down the bamboo
>> level to the ground, will this do the trick, or do I have to use weed killer or some other
>> chemical to do this?
>PRAY. PRAY hard. PRAY now. PRAY long. Spend the next few years
>eradicating every 'minute' plant you recognize. Then enjoy the plants
>that still managed to survive. ;)
>J.K. Childers
Adding to Childers,
Getting rid of that much bamboo is going to be like a campaign to
eradicate all of the flies or ants in your neighborhood. Not to be
discouraging but ....
I have a few stalks growing and I have been trying to get rid of them
for three years now. Childers is right that you have to keep digging
up and killing every bit of green that you see.
Maybe you can try to put some "agrofabric" and several inches of
mulch over the area after you dig it up to help. At any rate, good
luck.
M. Ryan
mjr...@deltanet.com
Frank Harbin
Two choices - learn to live with it for a very long time - or use ROUNDUP.
Bamboo is a grass - and will respond well to ROUNDUP. The product is not
soil active - so it leaves no product in the soil. It is non-selective of
course - so only put it where you want to be rid of plant material.
Good luck.
rwt...@delphi.com
<mjr...@deltanet.com> writes:
>>> I am currently bidding on a home that has very tall bamboo plants in the back yard. The bamboo
>>> has already damaged the neighbor's fence and invaded the neighbor's yard.
>>>
>>> I would like to COMPLETELY kill the plant including the root system. If I cut down the bamboo
>>> level to the ground, will this do the trick, or do I have to use weed killer or some other
>>> chemical to do this?
but also good practice.It takes years to get rid of it,I had rich moist
soil.I know that you can eat the shoots like asparagus,but they have runners
as bad as mint.All I can suggest is that you do not ever let it flower.
I also know that japanese beetles love it,so it can be a trap plant,just keep
yanking it out getting all the runners,E mail me if
f you need to.
Rick Cook
Actually letting the bamboo flower would solve the problem nicely. Bamboo
usually dies after flowering.
Problem is, some species only flower once every century or so.
--RC
Leonard Campbell
rwt...@delphi.com wrote:
>
> <mjr...@deltanet.com> writes:
>
> >>> I am currently bidding on a home that has very tall bamboo plants in the back yard. The bamboo
> >>> has already damaged the neighbor's fence and invaded the neighbor's yard.
> >>>
> >>> I would like to COMPLETELY kill the plant including the root system. If I cut down the bamboo
> >>> level to the ground, will this do the trick, or do I have to use weed killer or some other
> >>> chemical to do this?
>
> whiskey weed!! OH MY! I had the problem with my first garden,it was a pain
> but also good practice.It takes years to get rid of it,I had rich moist
> soil.I know that you can eat the shoots like asparagus,but they have runners
Do you know someone who owns a goat? Let the goat eat it when it shows a
couple inches of growth. Eventually the roots will lose their energy. But this
will take a while so have a friend who will loan the goat for at least one summer.
--
Leonard Campbell
so...@lr.net
Brian Sandle
rwt...@delphi.com wrote:
:
: whiskey weed!! OH MY! I had the problem with my first garden,it was a pain
: but also good practice.It takes years to get rid of it,I had rich moist
: soil.I know that you can eat the shoots like asparagus,but they have runners
: as bad as mint.All I can suggest is that you do not ever let it flower.
: yanking it out getting all the runners,E mail me if
: f you need to.
I've just noticed flowering on a bamboo plant. It would be
something like 30 years since that happened here, as I remember.
I've heard a rumour that bamboo flowers in synchronization in
different parts of the world. Has anyone seen flowering on their
plants?
I remember the bamboo leaves went dead after the flowering. I think
the roots still lived, though, or did it start again from seed?
And it seems strange for a grass plant to be flowering at the end
of autumn. (Christchurch, New Zealand).
Our bamboo is about 1/2 inch diameter and grows to something like 15 feet.
I have had some success removing it little by little with a pick which
goes in deep enough to cut some roots and prize bits out.
nz.general & rec.gardens
Brian Sandle.
Andrew Singer
> I've just noticed flowering on a bamboo plant. It would be
> something like 30 years since that happened here, as I remember.
> I've heard a rumour that bamboo flowers in synchronization in
> different parts of the world. Has anyone seen flowering on their
> plants?
I have read that synchronized bamboo flowering is a result of the fact that
many species of bamboo are the product of cuttings, and are therefore
going to mature (flower) at the same time as it's clone (parent).
> I remember the bamboo leaves went dead after the flowering. I think
> the roots still lived, though, or did it start again from seed?
I also read that although bamboo does suffer considerably after
flowering, it does not die (necessarily)...the roots are still alive and
will send up more culms when it is ready...apparently flowering is a
tiresome task for bamboo.
Andrew S.
asi...@oboe.aix.calpoly.edu
Derek Tearne
In article <4mcoq9$n...@orm.southern.co.nz>,
Brian Sandle <bsa...@southern.co.nz> wrote:
>
>I've just noticed flowering on a bamboo plant. It would be
>something like 30 years since that happened here, as I remember.
>I've heard a rumour that bamboo flowers in synchronization in
>different parts of the world. Has anyone seen flowering on their
>plants?
Bamboo flowers infrequently and in nature whole forests may have
been descended from seeds released from one of these infrequent
flowering (and descendants thereof). You can therefore have the
situation where much of the bamboo in a given forest blooms
at the same time. This could easily have lead to the idea that
all the bamboo in the world blooms at the same time (after all if the
entire forest covering several days march appears to be in flower,
why not the whole world).
--
Derek Tearne. -- http://webservices.comp.vuw.ac.nz/artsLink/ManyHands/
Some of the more environmentally aware dinosaurs were worried about the
consequences of an accident with the new Iridium enriched fusion reactor.
"If it goes off only the cockroaches and mammals will survive..." they said.
Brian Sandle
Derek Tearne (de...@nezsdc.fujitsu.co.nz) wrote:
:
: Bamboo flowers infrequently and in nature whole forests may have
: flowering (and descendants thereof). You can therefore have the
: situation where much of the bamboo in a given forest blooms
: at the same time.
So you infer it would flower a certain number of years after germinating?
This could easily have lead to the idea that
: all the bamboo in the world blooms at the same time (after all if the
: entire forest covering several days march appears to be in flower,
: why not the whole world).
:
I've had an email reply speaking of a plant flowering in February here in
Christchurch. Perhaps ours came from the same seed. Since I am intended
to eradicate this bamboo it would be interesting to find something of its
genetic history. I suppose that would be an expensive process? It has
been here at least 80 years. Checking BIOSIS I found that someone is
working with sea oats to determine the range of genetic potential in it
for stabilising dunes in various conditions.
I just vaguely wondered whether sun spot cycles could affect the
flowering? I understand the cycle is starting early. And in the sixities,
probably around the flowering time before, we had a sunspot cycle
associated with bad weather and high sea tides here. Seeding might save
plants from flooding, or the seeds may be carried to new ground in the
floods.
Brian Sandle.
ps
bsa...@southern.co.nz (Brian Sandle) wrote:
>I just vaguely wondered whether sun spot cycles could affect the
>flowering? I understand the cycle is starting early. And in the sixities,
>probably around the flowering time before, we had a sunspot cycle
>associated with bad weather and high sea tides here. Seeding might save
>plants from flooding, or the seeds may be carried to new ground in the
>floods.
I'd take a couple of aspirin and lie down for a bit...
***************pete****************************************
pe...@ihug.co.nz
Rick Cook
Derek Tearne wrote:
> This could easily have lead to the idea that
>all the bamboo in the world blooms at the same time (after all if the
>entire forest covering several days march appears to be in flower,
>why not the whole world).
There's a little more to it than that. Bamboo is usually propogated
vegatatively and all cuttings from a single plant have the same biological
clock. Hence all the vegetative descendants of a bamboo tend to flower and
die about the same time around the world.
Note that plants grown from seed, even seeds from the same plant, are more
diverse.
--RC
Brian Sandle
ps (pe...@ihug.co.nz) wrote:
: bsa...@southern.co.nz (Brian Sandle) wrote:
:
:
: >I just vaguely wondered whether sun spot cycles could affect the
: >flowering? I understand the cycle is starting early. And in the sixities,
: >probably around the flowering time before, we had a sunspot cycle
: >associated with bad weather and high sea tides here. Seeding might save
: >plants from flooding, or the seeds may be carried to new ground in the
: >floods.
:
: I'd take a couple of aspirin and lie down for a bit...
Is it really that serious?
Or does Pete mean that he doesn't want to think of plants being affected
by sunspots when the weather, the stock market and other things are.
rc...@BIX.com Rick Cook at
Galahad
wrote:
> There's a little more to it than that. Bamboo is usually propogated
> vegatatively and all cuttings from a single plant have the same
> biological clock. Hence all the vegetative descendants of a bamboo
> tend to flower and die about the same time around the world.
>
>
> Note that plants grown from seed, even seeds from the same plant,
> are more diverse.
>
>
`Little more to it'? Biological clocks are made by genetics and triggered
by light and why not other electromagnetic effects? See bionet.emf-bio.
Brian Sandle
Rick Cook
Brian Sandle wrote:
>So you infer it would flower a certain number of years after germinating?
Generally, yes. However note that it isn't absolute lockstep. Generally
once a clone starts flowering, all parts of the clone will flower whereever
they are, although the flowering may be spread out over two or three years.
I also believe that some species of bamboo flower almost annually without
dying. (The one native to North America, for example.)
> This could easily have lead to the idea that
>: all the bamboo in the world blooms at the same time (after all if the
>: entire forest covering several days march appears to be in flower,
>: why not the whole world).
>I've had an email reply speaking of a plant flowering in February here in
>Christchurch. Perhaps ours came from the same seed. Since I am intended
>to eradicate this bamboo it would be interesting to find something of its
>genetic history. I suppose that would be an expensive process? It has
>been here at least 80 years. Checking BIOSIS I found that someone is
>working with sea oats to determine the range of genetic potential in it
>for stabilising dunes in various conditions.
Probably not from the same seed, but from the same clone. Not many people
except specialists grow bamboo from seed. Usually people just get rhizomes.
I've got a couple of species here I've grown from seed and several more I
grew from rhizomes.
>I just vaguely wondered whether sun spot cycles could affect the
>flowering? I understand the cycle is starting early. And in the sixities,
>probably around the flowering time before, we had a sunspot cycle
>associated with bad weather and high sea tides here. Seeding might save
>plants from flooding, or the seeds may be carried to new ground in the
>floods.
Genetics aside, I don't know what affects the length of time between
flowering. Note however that many of the bamboos with long flowers periods
(like P. pubscens) are generally found in mountains and other terrain that
doesn't flood easily.
Also, bamboo seed usually isn't very viable. I consider myself doing well
if I get 10 percent germination.
--RC
Rick Cook
Brian Sandle wrote:
>`Little more to it'? Biological clocks are made by genetics and triggered
>by light and why not other electromagnetic effects? See bionet.emf-bio.
>
Chinese used to observe when some species flowered and died back.) It seems
to be tied to a span of time. Now it's possible that the span is actually
the time between significant sunspot events, but I don't know of any
evidence to that effect.
--RC
Ken
Actually, bamboo puts up its sprouts all at once. You would really
only need the goat til all of this year's sprouts were eaten - a
couple of weeks, maybe?
But why waste it? Go out every day and cut the shoots that are maybe
4" tall, and eat them. Give away the excess. Price bamboo shoots in
the store and appreciate them! (I would love to eat mine, but want
them to grow.)
I can't believe I'm contributing to killing bamboo!
Sabra
Brian Sandle
Rick Cook (rc...@BIX.com) wrote:
I searched AltaVista for bamboo NEAR die and came up with about 13
articles.
The following -
Taylor: Bamboo Forests and Panda Conservation in China
Bamboo Forests and Panda Conservation in China. Alan Taylor.
Originally published in 1994 as "Bamboo Forests and Panda
Conservation in China" Earth and...
http://www.gis.psu.edu/Taylor/TaylorHTML/TaylorPanda.html -
size 16K - 5 Oct 95
gives:
************************************************************************
[...]
Bamboo die-off's are natural. The twenty or so bamboo species eaten by
pandas grow and spread vegetatively most years by producing
finger-width shoots from extensive root systems [Campbell and Qin
1984b; Schaller et al. 1985; Taylor and Qin 1987, 1993a). But
periodically, each bamboo species flowers, sets seed, and then dies
back. The next bamboo generation emerges from seed that germinates on
the mossy forest floor [Taylor and Qin 1988a, 1993b]. The habit of
gregarious flowering followed by die-off, in bamboos, is unusual in
the plant kingdom [Janzen 1976; Simmonds 1980].
[...]
************************************************************************
So it appears that not only plants coming from the same cutting die
together.
*************************************************************************
Our understanding of how pandas adjust to changes in their food supply
pointed to a clear goal for panda conservation: maintain two or more
bamboo species within the range of groups of pandas so pandas don't
starve when a bamboo flowers and dies. The arrow bamboo dieback in
1983 did not cause widespread starvation because umbrella bamboo was
available to the group of pandas we were studying. In the Min
mountains in 1975 in contrast, several bamboos flowered simultaneously
and others had been removed and replaced by fields [Schaller et al.
1985; Johnson et al. 1988a] so pandas starved.
[...]
Managers have been urged to respond quickly to the habitat
restoration opportunity given by the arrow bamboo dieback. Bamboo
seedlings are slowly developing into mature bamboo, except in the
clearcuts where it has disappeared and is now being replaced by shrubs
[Taylor and Qin 1988a; Taylor et al, 1991b]. Bamboo seedlings will
soon be tall enough to strongly compete with planted tree seedlings.
The opportunity to easily reintroduce fir, spruce, and hemlock to
degraded forests with arrow bamboo is infrequent. It will not occur
until about AD 2028 when arrow bamboo is scheduled to flower again
[Taylor and Qin 1989b; Taylor et al. 1991b].
*************************************************************************
The article also speculates as to why synchronised die-offs occur. And the
time from 1983 to 2028 is quite interesting. It is 4 times 11 years 4
months, the average sunspot cycle.
Let us think of a sunspot cycle as a period with seasons like a year has.
Different plants flower at different times in that season. That might
account for there being only 8 years, rather than 11 between the 1975 die-
off and the 1983.
I would be very interested in any other dates you might have.
And in your previous article:
>
> Genetics aside, I don't know what affects the length of time
> between flowering. Note however that many of the bamboos with long
> flowers periods (like P. pubscens) are generally found in mountains
> and other terrain that doesn't flood easily.
Perhaps in multiples of 11 1/3 years, though.
>
>
> Also, bamboo seed usually isn't very viable. I consider myself
> doing well if I get 10 percent germination.
Taylor's article says how light is needed for the young plants (which
might be a reason the tall canopy has to die), also that shade is
needed (doesn't regenerate in clear-felled forest). When you say
germination do you mean getting to a viable plant?
Brian Sandle
Rick Cook
Brian Sandle wrote:
>aylor's article says how light is needed for the young plants (which
>might be a reason the tall canopy has to die), also that shade is
>needed (doesn't regenerate in clear-felled forest). When you say
>germination do you mean getting to a viable plant?
>
got that I've got a different set of problems to consider and I'm much more
successful with those.
--RC
Brian Sandle
Rick Cook (rc...@BIX.com) wrote:
: Brian Sandle wrote:
: >needed (doesn't regenerate in clear-felled forest). When you say
: >germination do you mean getting to a viable plant?
: I mean germination, as getting the seed to poke up a green shoot. Once I've
: got that I've got a different set of problems to consider and I'm much more
: successful with those.
Please excuse me a little more brainstorming. Have you ever seen soybean
seeds which do not swell when soaked? And have you ever bitten on a hard
wheat grain in Wholegrain bread? I wonder whether the micropyle varies in
size on bamboo allowing some seeds to absorb sufficient water to
germinate at different times. That might offer protection if one year
proved bad for plants with such infrequent seeding. Do the seeds which
will not germinate swell up as much as the others? Or even if they do,
have you ever tried to keep the non-germinating ones from one year and
try them the next? I wonder whether bamboo is clever enough to do that?
BTW I found mention of a 32 year cycle for Bambusa arundinacea mentioned
in the 1929 Encyclopedia Britannica. That is somewhere near 3 solar
cycles, if it were stated correctly.
BIOSIS gives a number of interesting responses to the search sunspots.
The hare cycle, which affects tree rings, shows a much larger swing when
it is in phase with the sunspot cycle.
Brian Sandle