BAMBOO. I'm fighting it daily, Suggestions please!

Mer Serkel
by Mer Serkel
It’s growing from my neighbors yard he doesn’t know/care about it but I’m fighting it daily. I’m Cutting daily & spraying with roundup brush killer when I have it or vinegar & salt mixture. Suggestions please

  5 answers
  • Mogie Mogie on May 13, 2018

    The creeping rhizomes and roots of bamboo are virtually immune to the herbicides people normally use on unwanted plants. In order to start to get rid of bamboo, you must physically dig up the offending clump. Make sure you remove as much of the roots as possible. Even if you think you remove all of the bamboo roots and rhizomes, it will return.


    You can either diligently kill bamboo plants as the plants reemerge or you can get rid of the bamboo by mowing it down frequently. If you opt to get rid of bamboo with chemical controls, as soon as you see new bamboo shoots emerge, spray them with the strongest herbicide you can buy. If you allow a bamboo shoot to grow for too long without treating it, you will have to start over in your control bamboo spread. If you would like an organic method of eliminating bamboo plants and shoots as they emerge, you can also use boiling water on the shoots.


    As with the chemical method, you must treat any bamboo shoots as soon as they appear. If you decide to get rid of bamboo with the mowing method, mow over the area where the bamboo was as frequently as you do your lawn. Use the lowest deck setting on your mower. Regardless of the method you use to kill bamboo plants, expect that it will take you two to three years of treating the infested area before you will completely control bamboo spread.



  • William William on May 13, 2018

    Best method I know is digging and cutting. Digging a trench and pouring herbicides, salt, vinegar will slow them and eventually stop them. Hot water with salt poured over new growth can help.

  • Laura Cooper Laura Cooper on May 13, 2018

    Your municipality probably has a neighbor negotiation service that is free. If you talk to them, they can probably help you find a mutually beneficial arrangement with your neighbor and his bamboo

  • Erin Erin on May 13, 2018

    Shame on your neighbor for planting something so invasive!