Texas Gardening: Bamboo? Help for a friend., 1 by lily13

lily13 wrote:
We bought our house almost two years ago. The neighbor's bamboo had invaded our back yard to an extreme. I had a trench dug, 18 inches deep, and six inches wide, then filled in with concrete across the entire 65 feet length of our property border. I then spent over a year digging out an area for a pond, that was highly packed with roots. I had to use a pick axe on some of it!

That being said, I did leave a small 5' X 5' section enclosed all the way around with concrete. I harvest this area for bamboo stakes that I use for hollyhocks, brugmansias, tomatoes, etc. I have had some of these stakes actually sprout new leaves.

There is also one tiny spot in the very back corner of my yard that I allow a small sprig or two to grow, just for the sheer sadistic pleasure of cutting it down.

The picture here shows the bamboo growing on the other side of the fence, behind the pond. Actually, it is not bad to look at, and if contained within a concrete border, it can be very nice around a pond.

Sheral