What is the most cost effective method for stopping bamboo?

Tom Roche
by Tom Roche
We have a grove of bamboo that is overtaking our back yard. We chop it down and it grows back even more. The grove started down hill but has worked its way up into our fun zone. I've thought about trenching a demarcation line by building a retaining wall to keep it at bay.

  5 answers
  • Beverly Lambert Beverly Lambert on Jul 22, 2017

    Trench with a metal barrier is my best advice, just make sure you go deep enough

  • 16999903 16999903 on Jul 22, 2017

    good ideas....bamboo is relentless!

  • RC Leach RC Leach on Jul 22, 2017

    The metal barrier needs to go 15" deep. I call it Damnboo.


  • Amanda Amanda on Jul 23, 2017

    First, ensure that it's bamboo and not Japanese Knotweed. It resembles bamboo (around here we call it Michigan Bamboo). Knotweed is highly aggressive and invasive. The more you cut, the more it regenerates, as it has an extensive underground root system. And it grows fast, and I mean FAST.


    If it is Knotweed, good luck! If you do manage to pull it up, burn it immediately. Don't throw it into the compost, don't put it in yard waste. It will regrow wherever you throw it (and has been known to start taking over landfill space). You'll have to try to get all the root system, so you'll need to dig carefully as to not unintentionally cause other areas to spring up.


    Having Knotweed in at least 5 sections of our yard, I know how frustrating it can be. For the most part we've learned to live with it in some areas. It hasn't spread since we quit messing with it.