Needmore Bamboo Co.
 
               
           
               
         Jim Mihelich, a bamboo friend from Michigan Bamboo holds up a freshly dug culm of Phyllostachys aureosulcata 'Spectabilis'.  This bamboo shares one end of a raised bed flower garden and each fall I remove any culms/rhizomes that have spread beyond their designated area.  This single 15 foot culm was attached to multiple branches of a single rhizome that extended 18-20 feet through the flower bed.   The bed is watered on a regular basis and contains a sandy soil mix, so rhizome spread to this extent is not the norm but clearly possible. If this grove were growing next to a fence, these rhizomes would have extended into the neighbors yard and left unchecked they would have had the beginnings of a nice grove!
               
       
               
   

As you can see, leaving the bamboo in a pot is not an effective control method, there are plenty of ways out! This Phyllostachys virella planted only a few months earlier went through the side of the pot and also out of the drainage holes.
 
    Controlling the Spread of Bamboo
     
     All of the varieties of bamboo that I offer have the potential to become invasive & out of control unless you are committed to selecting and applying one of the many containment methods that can be quite effective.    The containment methods are usually a combination of rhizome pruning and/or deflection.   The key to controlling the spread of bamboo lies in understanding its growth habits, determining which containment method is appropriate for you, and being diligent about patrolling & controlling beginning in year 1!
    The rhizomes of a running species of bamboo contain dormant buds at each rhizome nodal ring.   In the spring when ground temperature warms up some of these dormant buds will 'wake up' and begin to swell.    These buds break the surface of the soil and are known as the bamboo shoots and it is these shoots that quickly develop into the new culms.  About 45 days from when the shoots first appear they will have reached their ultimate height and will be in the process of leafing out.
     Shortly after the bamboo begins to leaf out, other dormant rhizome buds will begin to 'wake up' and these will become new rhizomes branching out from the previous year's growth area.  Over the course of the summer these new rhizomes will continue to spread out into new territory and will continue growing until freezing temperatures plunge them back into dormancy.   In the following spring, buds on these new rhizomes will begin to shoot and the cycle starts anew.   
      In general, your bamboo will be actively spreading from late June through October in most of climate zone 6 and in the following spring the new shoots will begin emerging.   Controlling spread is done by limiting rhizome spread to desired areas and by not allowing new shoots to survive when they emerge 'out of bounds'.  There are multiple ways of limiting rhizome spread and new shoots can be snapped off, mowed down, or harvested for dinner.
    
Rhizome Barriers/Deflectors – Although rhizome barriers can be effective, I am not a big fan of them due to the fact that they are not 100% reliable, and you will at some point in the future end up with the equivalent of a root bound plant which will ultimately lead to an unsightly planting.   Additionally, barriers are expensive and difficult to properly install.   I do recommend using barriers to anyone who plans on planting bamboo on or near a property line, and if you are planning on planting running bamboo in front of a fence on a property line this is the only responsible way to do so!
     These products work by deflecting the rhizome up and away from the area where the bamboo should not be allowed to spread.   There are commercial products available which are basically very thick pieces of plastic from 30 mil up to 80 mil thick, manufactured from weather resistant materials.   Be very careful in using barriers other than the commercial rhizome barrier products as few materials are effective over time, and do not use pond liners, plastic trash cans etc.  Proper installation along with annual perimeter patrolling and rhizome snipping is required when using these products.   Please contact suppliers of the barrier products for proper installation procedures.

Trenching – Basically you dig a trench about a foot wide and a foot deep around the perimeter of the area in which the bamboo will be ‘allowed’ to grow.  Using this method you will be able to see the rhizomes as they cross the trench into the area beyond, and you can simply snip them off and pull them out of the ground. You will need to establish a regular ‘patrol’ of the trench to keep up with the sneaky rhizomes! The trench may be filled in with sand, pea gravel or another material that is easy to ‘probe’ around in but this is a bit more work as you have to feel for the rhizomes instead of merely looking for them as with the unfilled trench.   Personally, I do not like the idea of an open trench in my yard and I prefer raised beds to trenches.

Rhizome Pruning – A rhizome can not live long-term without having culms (above ground bamboo 'canes') to provide energy for sustenance & growth.    Rhizome pruning involves severing new rhizomes at the point where you wish to contain the spread of the bamboo grove.   By severing the rhizomes from the grove combined with not allowing the severed rhizomes to establish new culms of their own, the spread will be confined to the point where you prune the rhizomes.  The severed rhizomes will eventually rot in the ground, but some people prefer to pull them out, which I find unnecessary and it tears up the lawn/surrounding area.
     Bamboo rhizomes prefer to grow in the richest, moistest soil and so they are usually within the top 8-10 inches of the soil and rhizome pruning can be done with a garden spade by making overlapping cuts around the perimeter of the desired grove area.  When you encounter a rhizome with the shovel, sever it at that point.   It is best to do this in late fall after the rhizome growth cycle has ended for this year and again in early spring for additional insurance.   Some people prefer to rhizome prune all summer long to stop them from progressing very far but this causes new rhizome buds to awaken and grow thus creating even more rhizomes to prune.   I prefer doing it once in the fall and again in the spring.  Keep your eyes open for and terminate any 'out of bounds' shoots that may be coming up on severed or rhizomes 'missed' during the pruning.

Raised Beds - Planting bamboo in a raised bed is another effective way of controlling the spread as it makes rhizome pruning easier to employ.   The new rhizomes will protrude beyond the borders of the bed and be easy to spot.  As with any other containment method you need to patrol, looking for shoots that come up on rhizomes that may manage to escape detection - don't allow any culms to establish outside of the raised bed.

Eat the Shoots – If you are able to patrol an area of about 15 feet in all directions around the bamboo grove, the easiest containment method is to look for new shoots in the spring that have come up where they were not invited and eat them! First find the rhizome that they are attached to and sever it with a shovel. Next, cut the shoot off at ground level and then pull the severed rhizome out of the ground. Bamboo shoots are very tasty in stir-fry dishes! If eating them is not your thing, simply kick them over or mow them down and remove the rhizome as above.


      The Needmore Bamboo Co. assumes no responsibility for the spread of the bamboo plants that you purchase from us. We’d love to provide you with this wonderful plant to add to your landscape but we want you and your neighbors to have a positive bamboo experience. Please select and implement a method of ‘patrol & control’ that is appropriate for you. It is vastly easier to control bamboo using a regular ‘patrol & control’ method that has been implemented when the bamboo was first planted than it is to bring an out of control grove back to within its intended boundaries.