How Do I Eradicate The Bamboo In My Garden?

There are a few ways to remove bamboo, only one is 100% effective. Any of the other ways can cause additional problems that may end up far worse than the initial problem. Often people will tell us that their stand has been in the same place for 10 or more years, and only recently started to become a problem.

The reason for this is that bamboo is a warrior plant, it has a strong survival instinct. Bamboo also has clever ways to thwart any effort on your part to remove or destroy it. This holds true about nature as well, when conditions are not favorable tot he bamboo (like a hard winter or a drought), the bamboo struggles and begins to travel over and under the ground.

If you deny it water or nutrients, the shoots, buds, and rhizomes will travel to find what they need. If you try to poison it, it may go crazy trying to keep ahead of your efforts by sending up dozens of new shoots, sending rhizomes under your driveway, walkways, house, and fences.

Neighbors have sued for the lack of containment of another neighbors bamboo. This is far more costly than removal. We have seen walkways and driveways jack hammered up and replaced in order to extricate the plants that have cracked the paving and started to pop up through asphalt, cracks in concrete, and under foundations. Of course, these problems, again, are far more costly than the proper removal cost.

What If I have Already Started My Own Removal Efforts?

Stop! Call us, and we will come by to give you a free estimate and consultation. However, please read our conditions for this service below.

Do You Give Free Estimates For Your Services?

Yes, there is no cost for our estimates and initial consultation. However, there are conditions. Bamboo removal is not cheap, it is hard, back breaking work requiring expertise and specialized (expensive) tools. But the cost of the problems caused by bamboo are far higher.

When we give a "free" estimate, we are taking time from a paying job to visit you, take our time to explain all the details, and offer you a course of action that you can attempt yourself, or pay us to accomplish.

Once we have offered you a cost breakdown, we request that you keep us informed about what your plans are. We have expended the time and effort to visit you and we feel it is just common sense to stay in contact until your issues are resolved.

We ALWAYS quote the BEST way (albeit the most expensive) to remove your bamboo, which is digging out the main plants, following the rhizomes, and removing as many as possible.

Often we will call people a week after our estimate and they say, "...oh your quote was too expensive and we just started hacking away at it...", or "...we put an ad for people to come and dig it...", or "we are trying to smother it...", or something like that.

More often than not, the homeowner has created new problems that will have to be resolved in the near future, but beside that, we may have offered a cheaper solution and in the meantime the customer has destroyed any value the stand may have afforded someone else. If you want someone to come and take the best plants, the easiest to dig, and then leave you with the runners under the ground, we will do that, but it is not a good idea in any case.

How Do I Transplant Bamboo?

Transplanting involves digging a large chunk of root ball out of the ground. If you transplant bamboo when it is sending up new shoots, the chances are they will not survive. Dig bamboo either very early in the spring before there’s any chance of shooting or wait for the growth period to be over late in the autumn. You should look for a clump of culms that has come up in the last year or so and which includes at least three or four healthy-looking culms. A good size for the clump would be at least two feet in diameter. Bamboo roots (rhizomes) are tough but must not be allowed to dry out even for a few minutes. You may have to use a very sharp shovel, ax or saw to separate the roots from the rest of the grove. If you will be transferring the division by truck, then water the leaves and roots well, wrap the whole thing in burlap and get it into the ground as quickly as possible.

To be continued...

Please feel free to email questions for this page

bruce@seattlebamboo.com

or call Bruce and Simonne: 206.724.1977