How To Get Rid of Bamboo-Naturally

Twenty years ago, I planted bamboo in my front yard- and I guess you can now imagine what it looks like. Wouldn’t that be great to put a panda in yard? 

I dug it up and thought I had gotten all the bamboo out- replanted native plants and guess what- I think I have more bamboo than ever! Have to start all over again and dig up my newly planted yard- So frustrating! The sad part about the whole thing, I want to put my house up for sale- what is all this going to do with curb appeal? 

So What do you do? 

1.) Dig up bamboo. Loosen the tangles rhizomes 

2.) Lop thru the thick rhizomes- and get rid of them or the bamboo will come back 

3.) Starve the bamboo to death by cutting off all new growth before it reaches 2 feet (about 1 week) According to EHow- this might take up to a year. 

4.) Pour straight glyphosate herbicide directly onto freshly cut stumps. When it dies you will still have to dig them out of the ground 

5.) Use sun- cut the bamboo to the ground- spread a thick layer of high nitrogen (lawn) fertilizers over the entire area and cover with clear plastic sheeting. Secure the sheeting down and it will cook the bamboo. 

6.) Monitor new growth by destroying immediately new shoots by cutting them down. 

The American Bamboo Society recommendation 

1. Cut the bamboo shoots down
2. Apply water to the area
3. Cut down the new crop of bamboo resulting from #2
4. Repeat the process
5. 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.

Another recommendation using Vinegar-Salt and Ivory Dish Soap 

• The seeds from this grass can remain viable for up to 7 years, so the key is to stay on top of it and keep it from setting more seed (usually in September). Try spraying an “over the top” mixture of 1 cup salt, 1 gallon of vinegar and 1 tsp of Ivory dish soap (to get it to stick). This mixture is non-selective and can kill other plants and grasses, so apply it with care. Don’t expect to see any changes for at least 24 hours, maybe even several days. Be patient. If you can’t find 20-30% acid vinegar at a local feed store, you can strengthen regular 5% vinegar (the kind sold at grocery stores) by boiling it down to half its original volume. An effective commercial alternative is Ornamec-a herbicide available at many hardware and garden centers

My Conclusion- I don’t want to use Glyphosate as it is extremely toxic, so will try the old fashioned dig and pull method, with starvation. The curb appeal will come- when I spread the plastic over and can cover it with bark- hopefully that will work!