Elliott P wrote:
Greetings all. A new property of my family's is covered by a massive
stand of running bamboo. The lot is six acres rectangular, where about
*one and a half* acres of the total acreage is covered by a very dense
stand of running bamboo. It is 350 feet long deep at its longest
dimension The plants have been there for decades, as the property was
allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. It is our intention to
restore the property, inside and out.

Options for removal I've seen generally target small areas. However
this is a much bigger problem! My first thought is to hire someone
with a bulldozer to come push it all down, and then put it all in a
commercial wood chipper. This could get expensive though. What else
can we do? What problems does my scenario present? Hiring a panda bear
would probably not go over well with the neighborhood.


You could spray it. With Roundup. Or Napalm.

Attack it with a bush-hog, or, if too big, a stump grinder. My local power
company hired a crew with what looked like a stump-grinder on the end of a
60' cherry-picker. It turned large trees to sawdust on their right of way.

Put an ad on Craigslist: "Free Bamboo - You cut it you can have it" to cull
the herd to a manageable size.

One pass with a bulldozer ought to knock it to the ground. Then treat the
area with a herbicide or ground sterilizer.

On Feb 10, 2:34*pm, Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 wrote:
Evan wrote:
On Feb 7, 9:21*am, N8N wrote:
On Feb 6, 4:00*pm, Evan wrote:
On Feb 6, 11:54*am, Elliott P wrote:

Greetings all. A new property of my family's is covered by a massive
stand of running bamboo. The lot is six acres rectangular, where about
*one and a half* acres of the total acreage is covered by a very dense
stand of running bamboo. It is 350 feet long deep at its longest
dimension The plants have been there for decades, as the property was
allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. It is our intention to
restore the property, inside and out.

Options for removal I've seen generally target small areas. However
this is a much bigger problem! My first thought is to hire someone
with a bulldozer to come push it all down, and then put it all in a
commercial wood chipper. This could get expensive though. What else
can we do? What problems does my scenario present? Hiring a panda bear
would probably not go over well with the neighborhood.

The property is in Towson, Maryland.

Thank you in advance.

Are you allowed to clear cut the wooded/brush/bamboo area ?

Is it considered a "wet land" ?

You should check with your nearest conservation/environmental
authorities to make sure you are allowed to cut all of that
natural vegetation down without some kind of site plan/impact
study done and having a permit hearing...

Not saying that the OP doesn't need to do that (I've heard of dumber
things) but bamboo has never been native to Maryland to my
knowledge... *you'd think the enviro types would be happy to see it
go.

nate

@Nate:

It might not be "native" to Maryland, but it is growing there on
its own over a 1.5 acre area -- which makes it something
that might require permission of/supervision from the AHJ or
environmental/conservation authorities before you go about
removing it on your own...

The nativity of a species of plant doesn't impact its vital
role as a means of erosion control and as a water absorber...

Making major changes which effect erosion and water flow
properties of most lands requires oversight -- it is the size
of the area in which the OP seeks to modify that is really
at issue...

Were it protected land; water shed, riparian, wetlands, etc, the owner
would know by perusing the property survey or simply phoning the town
clerk. *Such information is generally on line too as it's public
record... they'd be able to say if there is a septic or utility line
buried. *Absent a body of water on that piece of land I seriously
doubt that stand of bamboo is in any way protected... I have a 1/2
pond that I mow right to the edge each fall and cut out most of the
catails. *I'd just hack that basmboo down and do whatever it takes
within legality (chems/fire) to be rid of it. *With the right
equipment it shouldn't take very long to cut, chip, plow, and rake
that small plot, no more than 4 eight hour days and like 40 gallons of
diesel. *If kept closely mowed whatever roots remain will die off
within a couple three seasons, I seriously doubt any defolient is
necessary, just keep mowing, even if twice a week... with my 7' mower
I can mow an acre in 20 minutes. *I mow 10 acres of lawn every week,
when weather is dry I can do it all in one day, and I have several
separate areas, and lots of edging, miles of edging.
With my brush hog I can chop down a 4 acre wildflower meadow in about
four hours, typically 4'-6' tall:http://i41.tinypic.com/18ndpg.jpghtt...om/2cygs4o.jpg
No problem with my finish mower either:http://i44.tinypic.com/25ujfgj.jpght...om/2yn19xu.jpg
After clearing wild turkeys have a feast:http://i44.tinypic.com/2134qps.jpg
I can guarantee I'd have that bamboo gone in three days, all while in
total A/C, dust-free comfort, with music blasting, wouldn't even work
up a sweat.

Hello all. I've been in talks with the local government (whom I work
for) about the legal necessities and ramifications of this job.

I've located the septic tank well within the bamboo. So looks like
I'll be using a chainsaw around there.

I got an email from a local government forester who referred me to the
Home Horticulture & Master Gardener Coordinator at University of MD,
Carroll County Extension. He gave me two links, one of which I've seen
already posted. The first one is by Frank Gouin (retired MD
Agronomist, who was the Bamboo guru).

http://bayweekly.com/articles/bay-ga...g-curse-bamboo
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/pubs...sandsedges.htm

I am leaning towards some means of chopping it down to ground level
(brush hog/saws), disposing the bamboo however (chipper?), and then
applying Roundup in the Fall, as described in the first link.

Also for the friends of nature here, even if we clear cut the whole
bamboo, there's still three acres of old growth deciduous trees behind
it to harbor plenty of animals and what not. One of the main reasons
for wanting to clear the bamboo is to prevent it from taking over the
giant trees back there. I think killing off an invasive forest for the
benefit of an old one, is a good trade off. But that's not the point
of this post.

Thank you all for all the tips thus far. I think this post will find
its way into Google searches and benefit many more people than just
me.