Treating Bamboo (pleioblastus) in Lawn

oligopoly

Hi moved into a property last winter with clumping bamboo in the garden. I dug out the vast majority, then removed a tonne of earth, rotovated and then laid new turf. The odd shoot has come up this summer in the beds which I've managed to keep at bay by trimming the top and then spraying with weed killer.

But recently I've seen a few patches sprout in the grass. Just wondering if anyone has experience of treating them. I was thinking of getting an old, fine paintbrush and just painting the leaves with weed killer, as obviously don't want to spray and hit the grass too.

Thanks

 

Kiran

Let the new shoots grow up and then treat with a systemic weedkiller. That will kill the plant. You can also continue to keep it down by mowing which will weaken it and eventually it will die.  

oligopoly

I wasn't sure whether leaving it to grow before treating it could encourage more growth - ie. treat ASAP.

Baldytyke88

Paint it with weedkiller and then cut you lawn 4/5 days later, you could even dig down with a knife and cut the bamboo a couple of inches below the soil level after painting.

Kiran

oligopoly said:

I wasn't sure whether leaving it to grow before treating it could encourage more growth - ie. treat ASAP.

Letting it grow uses up more of the plants energy and also gives you a bigger surface area to treat. The green shoots will absorb the systemic weedkiller and take it down to the rhizomes.

Continual cut backs will also weaken the plant but it is a more involved process 

Eldi_Dos

If you do not mind the appearance, place small terracotta pots over the shoots as they appear, leave for a while lift off and trim the shoot then replace terracotta pot.
This will deprive the plant from being able to photosynthesis and the root will use up any energy stores trying to grow and will wither away.

Saves on chemical's.

FreeBear

Got clumping bamboo here, some of it well over 60 years old. Dug some of it out a while back, and have had to deal with bits running - The most effective way is to dig up the rhizomes as soon as they throw up shoots all the way back to the parent clump. Treating with weedkiller is rarely an effective control in my opinion & experience. To stop further running, one needs to install a root barrier around the clump.

My thread on bamboo removal -> https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6441703/getting-rid-of-bamboo

barnstar2077

Nothing is going to be better than physically removing it.  I had a six foot by six foot area of clumping bamboo in the garden, it took me 7 hours or more to get it all out, but it never came back.  

Has it definitely come back in the same area?  I would carefully dig up the area and remove the roots.  The ones on my bamboo were pretty shallow to be fair.  You could always cut the turf around it and roll it away from where you are digging, then, once you have taken out the bamboo and levelled the ground again, roll it back again.

Put anything that looks like root straight into your garden waste recycling, or at least store it in bags on a solid surface etc until you can dispose of it.