Asked on Nov 03, 2014

How do I get rid of a large stand of bamboo cane?

Pam Ozbirn
by Pam Ozbirn
Bamboo cane is growing in next to my backyard. The stand of cane just keeps getting bigger and bigger until now there are shoots coming up in the sod. It looks like it spreads underground? Help!
  7 answers
  • This is a very difficult thing to do. The root structure is running below the soil surface and all the amount of digging will make it difficult for you to stop. If its a neighbors bamboo it makes it even harder as ideally you want to kill it off to stop it. You can bury a metal sheet down into the soil to act as a barrier cutting off the traveling roots. Then using weed killer and digging up the soil remove as much of the root structure that you can. Keep a close eye on the area as you will still see some shoots coming up where you need to act quickly in removing them. Bamboo is a very invasive plant and very difficult to control depending upon the species. @Douglas Hunt do you have any suggestions?
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Nov 04, 2014
    @Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com is correct that you have quite a chore on your hands, and that it will be more challenging if the bamboo is coming from your neighbor's. You can use concrete, metal or pressure-treated wood as the barrier. Make sure it is at least 18 inches deep. Keep an eye out for shoots and either mow then or apply an herbicide to leaves with a foam brush. If you see shoots in your grass, keep mowing as bamboo cannot tolerate repeated mowing and will eventually starve and die out. Do not expect this to be a one-step process. You will have to keep after it for some period of time, perhaps even years.
  • Susan York Morris Susan York Morris on Nov 04, 2014
    Agent Orange
  • Duv310660 Duv310660 on Nov 04, 2014
    Yes, even the "no spread" varieties will spread. Remember that bamboo is a grass - invasive to a fault! I finally got all of mine out, but you have to follow every shoot down into the soil and pull out those runners. You can try burying a structure to "wall off" runners coming from a neighbors, but the plant will try to go around what it can't get through.
  • Merry Harshey Merry Harshey on Nov 07, 2014
    Takes time and patience, but as duval.26 said that's the best way I know.
  • Patricia Patricia on Aug 25, 2017

    I cut the stocks an put salt in it an then put salt around bottom they have died