I am not sure even cement will work! If you have running bamboo, it will take
work to rid yourself of it. It can be one of the most invasive plants if there
is nothing to restrict its growth. Cutting it down will do very little as far
as killing the plant-in fact, it may encourage it to grow back thicker, unless
you keep cutting every sprout that emerges, and eventually wear it out. After
cutting it completely down, it would help to dig up the plants, till up the
area and remove as much of the crowns, roots, etc, that you can. Then when
what is left in the ground sprouts, begin treating with a glyphosate (Round-up
type) product. You will need to be fairly diligent for a year or more until
you no longer see any root suckers. Good luck. NOTE: For those of you
considering planting running bamboo, please read! If you must plant bamboo,
consider the clumping forms, which are not as bad.
(May) I
am writing to you to find out different things concerning bamboo growth. The
house that I purchased has bamboo on the border of my property line and it is
growing like crazy. I was able to control it last year and I had a landscaping
firm come and cut down the bamboo on my property. It has grown back. I was
wondering since you are quite knowledgeable in plants and gardens if you could
tell me how I might contain the stuff. I am thinking about cementing my whole
backyard and I really don't want to do that. I was just hoping that you might
have an alternative. If you do have some alternatives, please reply.