How to Kill Bamboo

As attractive as a bamboo plant may look in your yard, the speed at which it grows is incredible. Not only can it take over your entire yard and ruin your landscape design, it can even begin to sneak in your neighbor's yard, and cause him a lot of trouble. It also absorbs the most important nutrients from the soil, including water, which affects the growth of other plants in your yard. Planting bamboo in your yard is probably one of those actions you are now deeply regretting. However, you can get some respite from it by finding out how to kill bamboo plants.

Natural Methods to Kill Bamboo

An important thing you must understand when you take up charge of eliminating the bamboo plant from your landscape, is that it requires a lot of patience and perseverance. It is a process that will last for days, weeks, months, and perhaps even a year, till the growth has completely stopped. Bamboos have a network of rhizomes that run under the soil, which means you have to eliminate the problem from the root. Here are some methods that tell you how to get rid of bamboo plants without having to use chemical-rich herbicides, which have anyway proven to be ineffective.

Digging
Digging through the soil to kill the network of rhizomes of the bamboo plant is one way to kill bamboo. These steps will help you in effectively killing bamboo.

• Before you begin, water the area around the bamboo plant, so that the soil is moist. This makes the digging and root elimination process easier.
• Use a shovel and begin digging around the base the clump of bamboo in your landscape. Once you reach the roots, you will have to manually remove them. Remove as much of it as you can.
• Be sure that the bamboo plant will grow back, no matter how much of the roots you remove. You will have to keep repeating this process time and again, till you weaken the plant and it disappears ultimately.

This method is most effective for a smaller clump of the bamboo plant.

Mowing
With the process of regular mowing is you can figure how to get rid of bamboo that has made your yard its home.

• Start by cutting the bamboo shoots as close to the earth as possible. You will need to use a saw for this purpose.
• Use a lawn mower, and mow over the area thoroughly. Use the lowest deck setting to clear out the area.
• After you finish mowing the landscape, water the area well. This will result in a new growth of the plant.
• As soon as you notice the growth, mow over the patch again. Continue doing this till the growth reduces and ends completely.

With this method, it is the initial step that is most time-consuming. If you keep following this up with the mowing method, the plant will eventually weaken and die.

Vinegar
Vinegar is a competent medium of weed control, and here we tell you how to get rid of your bamboo plant with the use of this natural herbicide.

• As explained in the first method of killing bamboo, you will have to first moisten the soil and dig around the clump of bamboo. Then remove as much of the root as possible.
• After this step, combine 1/2 cup of white vinegar, with 2-1/2 cups of water. Pour the solution into a bottle with a sprayer.
• In the area that you have dug and removed the roots from, spray the vinegar solution, and ensure that the soil is thoroughly drenched with this concoction.
• Take some old newspapers, and place them on the patch soaked in the vinegar solution. Place some heavy weights such as a few rocks or bricks on them, so that the paper remains in place. Doing so will prevent the plant from growing back.

This method attacks all those roots that you were unable to remove. However, if you do notice the plant growing back, repeat this method till all the roots are dead. An alternative to this method is to put just plain boiling hot water in the dug up trench, instead of the vinegar solution, to kill the roots of the bamboo plant.

Trying to kill your bamboo plant will probably destroy your passion for gardening and landscaping, because of all the time and effort it requires. Killing a bamboo plant is going to take a good amount of time, which can stretch beyond a year. Don't give up, you will eventually get rid of it, since you now know how to kill bamboo and eliminate it from the root, you will get some respite from this invader of your beautiful garden.