Why bamboo is hard to get rid of
Bamboo is a grass, and a very vigorous one. The canes you see are only the top of the plant. Underground, a dense mat of rhizomes stores energy and pushes new shoots up every warm season. In the sandy soils of Perth's south-east plain, those rhizomes travel easily, which is why bamboo planted as a quick privacy screen in a Canning Vale or Harrisdale backyard can end up coming through the lawn, the paving and the neighbour's garden.
Cutting the canes to the ground buys a few weeks. The plant simply sends up more shoots from the rhizome. Lasting removal means getting the rhizome out.
Running or clumping?
Knowing which type you have tells you how big the job is.
Running bamboo spreads by long horizontal rhizomes, often just below the surface, that can run several metres before sending up a cane. It is the type that jumps fences and pushes up through pavers. Removal means tracing and digging out that network, not just the patch where the canes are thickest.
Clumping bamboo grows outward from a central clump more slowly. It does not usually invade the neighbours, but an old clump can become very large and dense, with a root mass that takes serious effort to dig or grind out.
If you are not sure, a photo of the stand and of any stray shoots is enough for most contractors to tell you.
How bamboo is removed
A typical removal runs like this:
- Canes cut at ground level, bundled and loaded out.
- Rhizome mat dug with hand tools, a small excavator or a stump grinder, depending on the size of the stand and the access.
- Runners chased, following rhizomes outward and lifting them as far as they go.
- Soil checked and the area levelled or backfilled.
- Regrowth managed over the following months, as pieces left in the ground send up shoots.
On a sandy block the rhizome comes out of the ground relatively easily. In heavier clay around Byford and parts of Armadale it is harder work, and the timing of the job matters; clay is easier to dig when it is moist but not waterlogged.
Keeping some, containing the rest
Plenty of people like bamboo as a screen and want to keep it, just not everywhere. In that case, the usual answer is a root barrier: a strip of tough, high-density plastic sheet installed vertically in a trench around the area you want to keep. The bamboo outside the line is removed, and the barrier stops new rhizomes crossing.
The barrier needs to go deep enough and stand a little proud of the soil so rhizomes cannot hop over the top. Its depth and the material used should be on the quote.
Bamboo and fire
On hills blocks around Kelmscott and Armadale that back onto bush, a dense bamboo stand full of dead canes is a fuel load next to the house. If you are on bushfire prone land, read our bushfire guide for what the state guidance says about clearing around a building.
Disposal
Bamboo canes are tough and fibrous, and live rhizome pieces can sprout if they end up in mulch or garden fill. For that reason, bamboo waste is best disposed of rather than chipped and spread around the garden. Make sure the quote says where it is going.
For planning prices, see the cost guide. If old tree stumps sit in the same area, ask for stump grinding on the same visit.