The Root of a Bamboo Problem is… the Roots!

Q: Alas, my side-door neighbor planted bamboo several years ago. Now a dozen or more clumps have erupted in the ivy of my landscape. I’ve chopped them to the ground regularly so now the canes that come up are small, but they never stop. I tried Roundup on the leaves but didn’t see much change in them.

A: Let’s root down to the root of the problem. The chopping failed because you never got deep enough to damage the roots. Likewise the Roundup didn’t work because it was not transported down to the roots. I’ve had several people tell me they’ve had good success with cutting all the bamboo canes down to 1- to 2 inches above the first node. Pour a product that contains glyphosate plus triclopyr 1/2-inch deep in the cup formed when you cut above the node. The herbicide will be sucked by the bamboo as far as it can go down into the root system. Depending on the extent of the system, you may not get all of the clumps, but you’ll get most of them. Dead bamboo — what a concept.