Containing Bamboo Roots

Excellent professional grade tools for cutting rhizomes and digging bamboo.

Containing bamboo roots.

We now sell the king of spades root cutting shovel 13 blade long handle and the bamboo slammer. Controlling the spread of a running bamboo is usually done from just inches below ground because running bamboo roots are very shallow. In order to start to get rid of bamboo you must physically dig up the offending clump. King of spades essential tools for bamboo maintenance.

After this you are not done in your efforts to control bamboo spread. Bamboos are usually desirable garden plants but if left to grow unchecked they can become invasive and spread beyond their bounds turning into a weed. There are two ways to contain bamboo roots the first is using physical barriers and the second is by cultural methods. Bamboo has thick underground roots called rhizomes which must be severed to contain its spread.

Removing the cane and shoots above ground will not in any way harm your plants. Contain the running bamboo with a physical barrier. For additional protection or more aggressive species a 36 deep bamboo barrier is the best choice. The first method is cutting the growing shoots near the plant in spring and the other method is cutting a grove in the roots during the summer.

The creeping rhizomes and roots of bamboo are virtually immune to the herbicides people normally use on unwanted plants. The growth of your bamboo actually takes place underground and these roots are what need to be addressed. The rhizomes which is the part that actually spreads usually stay fairly shallow less than 12 inches. The safest containment methods for running bamboo are 1 planting in containers or 2 installing a vertical 30 40 mil thick plastic rhizome barrier 22 30 inches deep around the perimeter of the area in which the bamboo is to be contained.

Trimming the constantly growing roots or rhizomes is of the greatest importance for controlling the growth of these beautiful plants. Many people have tried to control a running bamboo by cutting down the canes above ground which actually encourages the running bamboo to spread even more below ground. If you don t want the bamboo at all you can remove it manually or use special herbicides to kill it. After severing the rhizomes you can install plastic root barriers to prevent future rhizomes from growing.

Video produced by noah bell 2013. Make sure you remove as much of the roots as possible. This makes them easy to locate and prune if done on an annual basis. In general most bamboo will be sufficiently contained using a 24 deep bamboo barrier.

Bamboo roots are thin and fibrous think big grass roots and can go down 2 3 feet. There are two types of cultural methods that can be used. Digging timber bamboo with king of spades shovels and bamboo slammers.