who here scoffs at the idea of rhizome barriers?

[sporkandbeans]

Man, those barriers are expensive. Lewis Bamboo sells some from $1.50-$2.00 a foot. I'd spend thousands of dollars wrapping all my groves with some 'peace of mind' barrier.

So far, all of my running bamboo has behaved itself. I'd like to use the method of digging a 12"-15" deep trench around a grove and just snipping the escapees a few times a year, but it's going to be a back-breaker at my place. I can't stick a shovel in the ground without hitting rock or roots.

I wonder what you guys with more established groves do..

[BruceLofland]

Scoff, scoff
I looked into rhizome barriers for my garden when I first started growing bamboo. It was going to cost a lot of money and be a lot of work, and then it still might not work. When I found out about rhizome pruning one a year, I was a convert.

My bamboo has been in the ground for 3 years right along my fence line with my neighbors, and it has not left my yard. I am glad I did not go the barrier route.

[bambooweb]

My groves are not established yet but I am using both the trench and raised beds methods. I also rhizome prune with a shovel around plantings that I am still trying to shape.

One method that I saw last weekend was filling the trench with sand to prevent someone from tripping over it and it looks better. Then three times a year pull something such as a pick through the trench and pull up the rhizomes and cut them off. The extreme version of this was wide sand walkways between groves that are loose enough to pull the errant rhizomes up but solid enough to walk on.

Bill

[Michael]

I have had some bamboo fall prey to the mower (bushhog type) and some to the disk. Most that come up where I do not want them go into pots to be sold or given away.

I am considering building a machine to "trim" the rhizomes. Something like a 30? disk I could weight down and cut about 14? deep several times during the rhizome growing season. Or maybe a used cable puller, which would be easier to turn and follow the curvature. I have several thousand feet to maintain at present and I could do more if I felt that I had a good way of controlling them. Roots and rocks are not a problem in my location, as I will be keeping it out of the organic pea patch. The swamp or state road will take care of the other side. I also have about 800 ft of neighbor/kin border I could plant in runners if this plan works.

I recently put S. lancifolia and S. kumusaca in some 30? dia x 30 width
tires (with the top sidewall removed) I buried for barriers in the yard.

Michael

[Roy]

I have had some bamboo fall prey to the mower (bushhog type) and some to the disk. Most that come up where I do not want them go into pots to be sold or given away.

I am considering building a machine to "trim" the rhizomes. Something like a 30? disk I could weight down and cut about 14? deep several times during the rhizome growing season. Or maybe a used cable puller, which would be easier to turn and follow the curvature. I have several thousand feet to maintain at present and I could do more if I felt that I had a good way of controlling them. Roots and rocks are not a problem in my location, as I will be keeping it out of the organic pea patch. The swamp or state road will take care of the other side. I also have about 800 ft of neighbor/kin border I could plant in runners if this plan works.

I recently put S. lancifolia and S. kumusaca in some 30? dia x 30 width
tires (with the top sidewall removed) I buried for barriers in the yard.

Michael

I always love it when this topic comes up. Here's Michael's "Road Control Method" in actual practice:

[arborgramen]

I have some mature groves of YG, Nuda, Bissetii, etc. and the single best barrier I have found is used, or "dead", billboard vinyls. I dig a trench around 24" deep and quadruple the billboard vinyls. I only do it to protect other plantings, otherwise I just dig what I want to give away or transplant and mow the rest. I am in Zone 6a and don't have to contend with many of the species you all have to, but the vinyls would be a very effective, low-cost or free barrier for folks in the cooler regions. I actually get the vinyls for free. If you use vinyls, be sure not to burn the scraps, as they are partially made with chlorinated plastic.

[rfgpitt]

I'm moving so did not select any particular poll item....

I did a special order of rhizome barrier several years ago after pricing (barriers have come down a little in $$$). Made an oval and that is where my Phyllostachys were going to take over. Then I started hearing reports of barriers being penetrated . I decided to root prune around each planting to keep them away from each other and about two feet from the barrier. I'm hoping that the majority of the barriers that failed had bamboo rhizome built up thick around the barrier, and that one stray should not be that determined. The one thing that I've not heard is how tree roots will effect the barriers over time

At my new house I plan to use 55 gallon barrels (way thicker than barrier) and do as Bill described with a combination of raised beds and trenches. I will have a hard time deciding what few to let grow outside of some sort of containment. I'm a chicken and even though I'll do raised beds/trenches, I still want a buffer to mow or remove escapees.

It does look like the lot I selected is two away from a water run-off pond, so I may have a nice source for water! Anybody know of a cheaper non-electrical way to pump water (sorry, I'm a city boy)?

[Roy]

I'm moving so did not select any particular poll item....

...snip

I didn't see "Sell your house and move!" That's the bamboo saying about running bamboo in Clumperville, USA.

I did use 24 inch aluminum flashing to control my P. nigra I had in fairly dense shade. The only problem with aluminum is that is will get get little pit holes in the aluminum and that will allow the rhizomes to punch through.

P. nigra is not that aggressive, so even after it breached my barrier, I just mowed around the barrier and the new shoots got "mowed down". P. nigra doesn't get very big this far south, so a lawn mower could cut new growth. Only when I decided to cut and mow the entire grove of P. nigra did it become aggressive. Took me 13 months to get rid of the final culm/sprig.

[mantis]

I always love it when this topic comes up. Here's Michael's "Road Control Method" in actual practice:

Impressive!

[Roy]

I always love it when this topic comes up. Here's Michael's "Road Control Method" in actual practice:

Impressive!

Perhaps it's the cars that are zipping along the highway that are clipping the new shoots and keeping the bamboo in bounds.

[sporkandbeans]

I love those pictures.

I'd hate to veer over and hit those in a little car.

[Iowaboo]

Someone mentioned them used as crash barriers before

[CadyG]

Come on, Roy. I like those "'boo thru the pavement" photos as much as anyone, but that shoulder of the road looks like a flimsy, thin patch that a dandelion could poke through.

A real road or highway job involves layers of graded gravel, sand, fines and macadam/asphalt. Anyway, on a well traveled stretch, the constant passage of cars and semi-tractor trailers would render any errant shoots into the same formless mark that the typical armadillo or skunk leaves on the road after meeting traffic ...

In ten years of growing 'boo on my 60'X115' property, I haven't had any escapees. I cut unwanted shoots and redirect rhizomes that "porpoise" above ground and can be pulled and bent in other directions.

[Roy]

Come on, Roy. I like those "'boo thru the pavement" photos as much as anyone, but that shoulder of the road looks like a flimsy, thin patch that a dandelion could poke through.

A real road or highway job involves layers of graded gravel, sand, fines and macadam/asphalt. Anyway, on a well traveled stretch, the constant passage of cars and semi-tractor trailers would render any errant shoots into the same formless mark that the typical armadillo or skunk leaves on the road after meeting traffic ...
In ten years of growing 'boo on my 60'X115' property, I haven't had any escapees. I cut unwanted shoots and redirect rhizomes that "porpoise" above ground and can be pulled and bent in other directions.

But those who have heard horror stories about running bamboo might think this:

Picture 1: "Look at how the rhizome has run up under the pavement (really the paved shoulder, but should hold the weight of a semi without buckling), and has pushed up the asphalt--middle of the picture to the lower left."


Picture 2: "New culm just busted through the asphalt shoulder on the highway. Just think what it would do to my asphalt driveway."


Picture 3: "One can see how the rhizome has gone under the asphalt road and has cracked the asphalt pavement and a new culm has shot up through the crack."



Visual evidence is pretty strong trying to convince individuals one way or the other. "Should I believe what my eyes and senses tell me or someone telling me that what I see is not true since they never had it to happen to them?"

[rfgpitt]

Typical lawn grass will do the same thing near the edges of asphalt. You can see in picture #1 that the rhizome stoped growing (or dove down???) several inches from the actual road - where it's thicker and more compact. This does show though, how it could go through barrier. I used 60mil thick and would have had my hernia operation a year or two earlier had it been beyond that. My 100' roll of 35" barrier was pretty heavy to carry around the yard. Not sure if 80mil could be penetrated or not.