On 13/09/2011 21:22, Jake wrote:
On Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:04:00 +0100, "john western"
wrote:

Neighbour has just taken over house with small garden with over three years
of rampant *all over the garden* Bamboo growth to deal with. Has had the
garden cleared and the Bamboo all strimmed down.

He needs to create a garden with *minimum* maintenance. Obviously the
strimmed bamboo will just shoot up again. Will regular ongoing strimming
discourage it enough to kill it?

What would you recommend for an ongoing 'Minimum Maintenance' design of
garden in these circumstances? Thanks.

Sounds like your neighbour has an invasive type of bamboo (some are
easily contained, others are not!). Chopping them down was a mistake
but we have to deal with that.

Wasn't there a thread on almost exactly this topic under a month ago?

Digging out the roots will be difficult to say the least and the
regular trimming approach will be partially successful at best.

Worth establishing which species and cultivar it is first. Some people
will pay good money for a decent sized specimen plant.

The nasty invasive couch grass on steroids don't count.

You neighbour needs some herbicide (oh, if only Roundup were still
around but I'd suggest Tumbleweed) and a brush.

Any generic glyphosate formulation will be OK, but it is probably
already too late in the season now to get any useful effect. Best to try
in spring/early summer when ti comes into growth again.

Allow the bamboo to regrow a bit and form leaves. When dry weather is
forecast for a couple of days, paint the leaves with Tumbleweed and
leave for a week or so to allow it to start attacking the top growth.
Then get the tumbleweed and brush handy again and chop off a stem a
couple of inches above ground and immediately (that's important) paint
the cut end liberally with Tumbleweed. The bamboo sap is drawn down
quickly after the stem is cut and the idea is that the Tumbleweed will
be sucked down with it. Repeat this with all stems. Then be prepared
to repeat the treatment as new stems emerge. It may take a while but
eventually your neighbour will manage to kill it off.

Others may offer differing solutions but that's my suggestion - take
your pick of any alternatives offered and have fun.

It's probably already going dormant now with it being so cold so the
glyphosate will be much less effective than when in full growth.

The OP would do well to look for the earlier thread.

Regards,
Martin Brown