Ron Hardin wrote:

What's the one that grows up to 3 feet a day and can be used to
choke out trees?

Paul Bunyan, he chokes them with his bare hands.

On the serious side their are a number of different bamboos. Talking in
generalities, there are two types of bamboo, clumping and spreading
(running). The clumping can be controlled. The spreading is difficult
to control unless grown in containers. Spreading bamboos have the
capability of sending rhizomes out distances roughly equal to the height
of the tallest bamboo. For example, a ten-foot tall bamboo can send
rhizomes out 8-10 feet before sending up a new shoot. Bamboo rhizomes
are generally shallow, less than one foot in depth. If the bamboo has
nowhere else to spread, it can send its rhizomes deeper. Water is a
natural barrier. Streams or consistently wet sites such as bogs act as
barriers that the bamboo will not cross.

Bamboo does all its growing in less than three months. Bamboo that is
five feet tall and 1/2 inch in diameter can be the same age as bamboo
that is 100 feet tall and a foot in diameter. Moso bamboo will
eventually stand 70-75 feet tall. During growing season, the moso
grows three feet in 24 hours. Some people claim they can hear it
growing. The world's record was one of Japan's commonest bamboos
(Phyllostachys bambusoides), which grew almost four feet (121 cm) in one
day.

At 36m (118 ft) Dendrocalamus brandisii is the world's tallest bamboo.

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