kathy king wrote in message ws.com...
Hate to say this but-we have had bamboo for 25 yeas and it is a great
privacy hedge and exotic--but is it the PLANT FROM HELL. Our entire
yard is lined with it. We have no barriers and it is coming up 50+ feet
away in our nieghbor's yard, pushes up our brick patio, and the only
way you can dig it out is with a hatchet and lots of muscle. We have
resorted to using the most nasty killers on it--and it only slows the
spread down. I question whether or not a barrior would be able to
control it. do your research!!!!!

You cannot kill it as long as it is connected to the mother plant.
You need to dig a trench around the perimeter of the mother plant that
you wish to keep severing all ties to the unwanted growth. If you
have no substructures (ie: water, gas, power, phone, cable, etc) you
can do this with a nifty device called a "Ditch witch", you can
usually rent them at any equipment rental yard, fairly expensive, but
cheaper than your back and sanity. Install your barrier. As the
rhizome in the ground outside the barrier shoots you need to let them
get to the point just before leafing out and cut out the shoot.
Eventually the rhizome in the ground will have no photosynthesis to
feed it and it will die out. If you cut the shoots as they spring out
of the ground, you will be killing it, but much slower than if you let
reach full size and starting to branch out. The culms do not provide
any real photosynthesis until it leafs out.

As long as the rogue growth is connected to the mother plant the
rhizome will continue to be supplied with energy to shoot and run.

More info here... it basically says the same thing :-)

http://www.americanbamboo.org/Genera...ingBamboo.html

There is a specialty nursery on the East side for bamboo I have seen
advertised--but I'd be VERY leary of bamboo in my yard. Nerver again!

Perhaps Chris can dig some of your plant for divisions. With a little
preperation on the front end of a project, you can avoid these
problems down the line.

BTW, Chris, if you are reading this... an ideal barrier should have a
bottom as well. About 36" down you should have a layer of coarse
gravel about 3" thick to prevent rhizome from diving under your
barrier.

another Chris
Chino,CA