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Bamboo - what to do?
lsimeons
Posts: 1
Hello
Looking for some advice on some bamboo we have at the end of the garden. We have a very small garden and the previous owners planted some bamboo at the end of the garden a couple of years ago. This year it has shot up and I am really worried it is one of the dangerous invasive types. There seems to be two plants, one withe slightly thinker leaves. Please see pictures. Really looking for some advice whether to keep or remove and if so, how to remove?
Thank you so much in advance for any help
Best
Louise 
0
Posts
We have bamboo in our garden. New growth are the tall shoots and ours does the same.
If you don't like having too much bamboo you could cut back some of the smaller leaved one, like you would a shrub or hedge to keep it a manageable shape (I do this).
The middle picture, my father in law has in his garden, and it does pop up occasionally a little distance from the main plant but he just chops it back (he has a very large gravel garden so its easy for him to trace back and deal with it).
Another thing you could do is to trim off the side shoots up to a height of 5-6 feet so that you have two features, nice stems and foliage above to provide a barrier at the end of your garden.
If you are worried about bamboo spreading you can dig down in front of it and put in a barrier which should help or even stop it spreading.
Hope this provides you with some help.
Last edited: 20 August 2017 10:44:37
Was at RHS Wisley last week and was intrigued to see how they managed the bamboo in their small model gardens. The bamboos appears to be the clumping kind, but understand that those like to creep but at a much slower pace. It appeared Wisley keep them in check by simply going around and cutting back any culms to ground level. Did also see some creepers that were growing just below the surface and again, evidence that these were also being cut back to stop them taking the bamboo to places it wasn't meant to go. Guess this is the key, with regular (at least 2/3 times a year) maintenance to stop it going all over the place.