Removing Bamboo??? Recommendations?

[Goose IBEW]

I have a client who lives in an upscale neighborhood and asked about bamboo removal. I have to look at the job tomorrow. The only way I know to approach this is to remove 36" of soil to ensure that all the roots are taken and replace with fill dirt. I am guessing I can only offer a 60-80% success rate with this. What don't I know about bamboo removal?

 

[B Harrison]

Yeah, and I would plan on treating the remaining soil with something too.
I would also figure in a couple check up trips for the next two years, it will be a solid plan for a 100% removal.

 

[imagineero]

It's so variable, depending on species. Asking about "bamboo" recommendations is like asking about "tree" recommendations; there are just so many species. Some are incredibly invasive, enormous, spreading and hard to kill. Some are tiny, and stick to themselves. Assuming you've got an invasive one, you're on the right track, but I always sell bamboo removal as being a risky proposition at best. I chip it, and pay to dump it at the tip. It's easy to cut, chips down to nothing, and weighs very little... so getting rid of it is not such a concern. As for the roots, Grind or dig. Digging is better if you've got a digger and a dump. I don't sell that part of the job.

Shaun

 

[derwoodii]

cut to ankle height let it re shoot spray with something nasty and then leave spray again whatever re shoots then smoother with plastic sheet leave for as long as then remove root mass by hand or machine tell your client this will take about a year & so many visits depending species habit & growing seasons

 

[2treeornot2tree]

How i remove bamboo is to cut it down leaving a 6" stub. As soon as your done, treat the stub with staight roundup using a paint brush. Doing this will kill about 95-99% of it the first time. You will most likely get a few new shouts, cut and treat them the same way. Wait a couple months to make sure it is dead, and cut the stubs off flush if desired. Two pics of a bamboo job i did last week. Sorry the one pic is turned. Cant upload pics to arborsite for some reason since it was hacked.

 

[fin460]

What about tordon? does tordon kill it, or bamboo too much like a grass?

 

[2treeornot2tree]

What about tordon? does tordon kill it, or bamboo too much like a grass?

I heard it does, but i have not used it myself. I have always used roundup.

 

[beastmaster]

2 tree, have you evered sprayed them with round up while they were still intact? though you would go throu a lot more Round Up it might be easier if it worked. Then you could cut them at ground leval when their dead.
My method of cutting them to the ground then stump grinding the whole area, And finishing up with sifting the dirt with a pitch fork and a steel rake works good, but is labor intensive. Whats almost as bad is removing pampa grass that's taken over.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

2 tree, have you evered sprayed them with round up while they were still intact? though you would go throu a lot more Round Up it might be easier if it worked. Then you could cut them at ground leval when their dead.
My method of cutting them to the ground then stump grinding the whole area, And finishing up with sifting the dirt with a pitch fork and a steel rake works good, but is labor intensive. Whats almost as bad is removing pampa grass that's taken over.

It may work, but i would imagine you would need to use some kind of sticker agent. Plus if the bamboo is tall, your gonna have to wear a tyvek suit when spraying.

 

[derwoodii]

2 tree, have you evered sprayed them with round up while they were still intact? though you would go throu a lot more Round Up it might be easier if it worked. Then you could cut them at ground leval when their dead.
My method of cutting them to the ground then stump grinding the whole area, And finishing up with sifting the dirt with a pitch fork and a steel rake works good, but is labor intensive. Whats almost as bad is removing pampa grass that's taken over.

back in my day I was a pampas grass top gun I'll tell how to later

 

[Grouchy old man]

A low yield nuclear device detonation is the only way I know of that has any chance of success. I tried the straight Roundup in the stub method. All the bamboo did was mutate and come back as some kind of clumpy shrub with long skinny leaves. :msp_cursing:

 

[Goose IBEW]

Thanks for the replies. I gave a price for removal today. The bamboo is right up to the concrete around their inground pool, makes the area feel really cramped. It has jumped fence lines, and engulfed the surroundings Luke nothing I've seen. Lucky the wife there likes the secluded feeling so I gave an estimate of removal by the foot depth wise so they can choose how much they want out. The whole area is about 50' across and 30' deep. I will talk it over with them about treating the area with roundup and point out the need for followup work as far as maintenance goes.

This will be much more feasable than excavating. Thanks to all the replies.

 

[derwoodii]

pampas trick get in low under the nasty sharp leaf shirt and saw cut into and as low as you can, use and old chain here and as you go pull away the clumps it easy here as the stem thickness allows to saw away rather than mess and jam up saw if you attack from above

then you have a spongy stump like root mass left this is easier than you think to axe mattock out as a few hits it comes out in loose sections

 

[zogger]

Not sure of the species, tarzan jungle bamboo it looked like, but had to get rid of some in Atlanta for a lady once. OK, here it is, the bamboo was growing in her basement! Backyard and concrete drive away! Right up to the ceiling in the basement, just a few teeny ground level windows for light. I was actually there to haul out an old furnace, but couldn't get to it because of the bamboo. Those roots had to be relentless and grow around 50 feet and 7 feet deep to sprout out of the dirt floor basement, that was the nearest it was outside and they didn't have much of a backyard left that was usable.

I used an electric chainsaw to whack it all down, then hauled it and the furnace out, and told her to have someone pour concrete down there..or something....haven't been back...didn't wanna...