Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 09:03:51 -0400
From: Peggy Wilson
Subject: Bamboo
A friendly bamboo warning…
We had a small grove on our farm when we moved here in 1984, and loved it, as do the birds. However, it spreads rampantly by 1 -1½ inch woody rhizomes(?) that are on or just under the soil surface.
It can’t be stopped except with a bobcat, and that’s probably only temporarily. Our originally small grove has spread through a good part of our woods and is choking out all undergrowth and almost all trees except the largest. It has spread across a 2 acre field which we mow repeatedly in order to hopefully keep the bamboo from storing even more food to spread even further. That field is now useless for crops. Each spring, I spend several hours, at least 3 times, walking around the grove and through the woods (climbing/crawling at times) kicking over the new shoots, trying to limit its spread, collecting scratches and ticks galore and ruining work boots in the process. This has been only semi-effective, but it’s the only thing I know to try.
I have heard that you can contain bamboo by putting some kind of metal (non-rusting) barrier in the ground around it to a depth of 1 foot, but don’t know if it’s true. There are also non-spreading varieties available—I have seen them on the internet—but they are expensive. I know there are people, and I used to be one, who are excited about bamboo’s many uses, and it’s true that there are many, but I have found that its invasive nature outweighs its benefits on our farm.
Peggy