Friday, January 4, 2008


There has been so much talk about bamboo lately, and for good reason. I don't even know a fraction of its uses other than for flooring, fabrics, and to use as a blow-gun of you are a ninja. It's one of those really strange things in this world that is almost impossible to kill, grows hearty and rapidly, and is strong. I happen to have some growing in my yard and part of my reason for this post is to warn people about it.

Bamboo spreads. Like poison ivy (the plant and the rash). After seeing the little patch of bamboo in my yard, several people have told me they wanted some. And I could easily give it to them. This patch came from my parent's house in the form of 5-10 roots about 10 years ago.

What people don't often notice is the 40-mil plastic barrier sticking out of the ground about 3 inches (it is hidden by edgers). Those 3 inches above ground are supported by 33 inches below ground. That's right, I dug a 3-foot deep trench around the bamboo patch and it took countless hours to pull up all the roots and rhizomes that had spread into the surrounding grass area.

Bamboo must be contained. Period. It is a HIGHLY invasive species. When planned for, however, it can make a beautiful natural fence or privacy screen. Too often, though, I see peoples' yards where the bamboo is simply spreading out of control, and there is not a lot you can do about that once it starts. Ask my parents. They started with 3-5 clumps of roots and shoots. Ten years later, they had a forest of bamboo behind their house and after several days (at a time and multiple attempts at this) of serious manual labor trying to dig that stuff out, it keeps coming back. The people they got it from were digging it out with a backhoe.

My basic point is that if you want any of my bamboo, you need to approach me with a 10-step plan of how you plan to contain it.

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