Question from a Westchester Landowner: How can I control invasive bamboo? Its coming onto my property from my neighbors property on the other side of the stone wall. I mow it down, but it always comes back.
Our Answer: Mowing invasive bamboo can work if its done repeatedly, at a short height, for several years. But this could be hard for you if there is a stone wall and because the infestation began on your neighbor's property. You'd have to work together.
The best answer seems to be from the CT Agricultural Experiment Station. They recommend cutting the bamboo down, then following up with 2 herbicide treatments. The result was basically a 100% success. Here's the excerpt from their report.
“In 2012, we began an experiment at three locations to examine whether cutting followed by herbicide sprays would control dense, established bamboo stands (Table 1). All clones were cut to reduce height of culms, reduce leaf density, and weaken starch reserves in roots.
The much shorter (1-6 ft tall) new culms that grew after cutting were treated with 2% glyphosate foliar spray (5oz/gallon of a 41% concentrate, 2.0% solution) in late August or early September and again two weeks later. The foliage was sprayed until wet using glyphosate. Sites were visited on June 6, 2014 to locate surviving and/or new culms.
At the MRT and OFR study sites, all old culms were dead and a several new culms emerged. These new culms were treated in a couple of minutes with an additional herbicide spray – all died and no new culm emerged. At Merritt where a quarter-acre stand was treated, several culms remained green on the lower stem and there was a single new stunted culm cluster. The Merritt plot suggests that running bamboo can be effectively treated by cutting and applying herbicide in a single growing season. While control was nearly 100%, treated areas should be checked after herbaceous plants have died in late October to spot any small Phyllostachys that may have emerged. These can then be easily killed with a spot treatment of glyphosate."
Here is the chart from the article showing the timeline and results of their work:
Our Answer: Mowing invasive bamboo can work if its done repeatedly, at a short height, for several years. But this could be hard for you if there is a stone wall and because the infestation began on your neighbor's property. You'd have to work together.
The best answer seems to be from the CT Agricultural Experiment Station. They recommend cutting the bamboo down, then following up with 2 herbicide treatments. The result was basically a 100% success. Here's the excerpt from their report.
“In 2012, we began an experiment at three locations to examine whether cutting followed by herbicide sprays would control dense, established bamboo stands (Table 1). All clones were cut to reduce height of culms, reduce leaf density, and weaken starch reserves in roots.
The much shorter (1-6 ft tall) new culms that grew after cutting were treated with 2% glyphosate foliar spray (5oz/gallon of a 41% concentrate, 2.0% solution) in late August or early September and again two weeks later. The foliage was sprayed until wet using glyphosate. Sites were visited on June 6, 2014 to locate surviving and/or new culms.
At the MRT and OFR study sites, all old culms were dead and a several new culms emerged. These new culms were treated in a couple of minutes with an additional herbicide spray – all died and no new culm emerged. At Merritt where a quarter-acre stand was treated, several culms remained green on the lower stem and there was a single new stunted culm cluster. The Merritt plot suggests that running bamboo can be effectively treated by cutting and applying herbicide in a single growing season. While control was nearly 100%, treated areas should be checked after herbaceous plants have died in late October to spot any small Phyllostachys that may have emerged. These can then be easily killed with a spot treatment of glyphosate."
Here is the chart from the article showing the timeline and results of their work:
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