The Damage Bamboo Plants Can cause

newsgroupmonkey_

GDB2222 said:

We have quite a bit of ivy in our garden, and it’s not too hard to control. If I cut it near the ground, the rest of it just dies. 

Yup, and if you do keep it under control, it's great. Plus some ivy (the stuff we have in the back garden) doesn't seem to be too unmanageable.

The stuff in the front though, was holding up the shed and one of our fences. Unfortunately, the shed started falling down which made us realise the extent of the problem.

In many ways, it was actually something that sold us the house - the driveway had a lovely entrance arch, covered in ivy. It wasn't until we moved in that we realised that the trunks of the ivy was so thick, it effectively WAS the arch as the rest of the wood had rotted away!

martindow

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

We're currently fighting a battle against Ivy. We're winning, because we've spent 2 years doing it. Fortunately, most of the problem is also 40 foot away from the house,

I'm not sure why you are battling ivy, particularly as it is 40 feet away from your house.  It is good for wildlife and an important late nectar source for bees as it flowers very late in the year. 

newsgroupmonkey_

martindow said:

newsgroupmonkey_ said:

We're currently fighting a battle against Ivy. We're winning, because we've spent 2 years doing it. Fortunately, most of the problem is also 40 foot away from the house,

I'm not sure why you are battling ivy, particularly as it is 40 feet away from your house.  It is good for wildlife and an important late nectar source for bees as it flowers very late in the year. 

There's ivy and there's ivy. We have a very well considered garden which covers most insects and small animals.

The problem becomes when Hedera gets to its variegated form (the 3 sided stuff and the berries). At this point, it becomes a pest (What is it they say about weeds? They're simply plants that are in the wrong place!).

Also, when it starts to get to 6 inches, the entire root system starts to take up most of the garden and beds and pushes up any driveway.

Not to mention it has had a huge impact on other areas of the property. Fortunately not on the house (we removed the stuff growing on the house and encouraged it in the beds instead). However, it has pulled down a rather substantial shed as well as much of the fencing around our property (and our neighbours). It unfortunately strangled one of the neighbours trees (larch, in case you wondered) and encouraged large amounts of wasps (you may be aware that it's not just bees!) which is a problem this house has always suffered with.

Minx1986

Does anyone have any advice on this topic... We purchased this property, completing in May, after having had an extensive survey done, and now we have found that over the fence in the neighbours garden is a huge, at least 2m sq clump of bamboo and it must be a running variety as it's coming under the fence, and up through our flower bed, and more worryingly, small shoots are appearing in our lawn (seperated form the border by a meter wide path)... It's only another 2 meter to our foundations... The neighbouring property is empty!!! I don't mind cutting it down and treating where it is invading in our garden... But how do I deal with the source/issue when noone lives there!!! 

Slinky

Minx1986 said:

But how do I deal with the source/issue when noone lives there!!! 

Sometimes it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.........

sheramber

 Is  it abandoned or just unoccupied?

youth_leader

I've just been out the garden with my torch - luckily the bamboo left by the vendor seems to be contained in a big tub.  Going to be very difficult to dig out but I will make the effort, those photos scared me!