How to eradicate bamboo?

A couple of years ago we moved to a house which has a sizeable area of bamboo, probably planted by previous owners as a screen, for privacy. The risers of this bamboo grow to a height of about 6 feet, and the leaves are large, long, shiny, and tough. The problem is that the underground runners of this bamboo are spreading steadily in every direction! I know from experiences elsewhere that bamboo should only ever be grown in pots or planters (above ground or submerged within the ground), because even bamboos which are classed as "clumpers" (rather than "spreaders") will spread unless their roots are contained.

Not long after moving in, I began cutting every new riser at ground level, just around the periphery of the area which the bamboo has taken over, and then immediately adding a few drops of glyphosate to the wound, hoping that the glyphosate would reach the root system and help to eventually kill the whole network of roots. But this method had no effect at all on the area, and I think the reason is in the nature of the runners.

With great difficulty I have dug out a short section of a runner and found that it is as strong and as thick as an iron rod, which explains reports of it even being able to make its way through concrete! I also found that the runner is segmented into small "chambers", and that it seems a runner grows by developing more and more chambers" at its growing end. So even if glyphosate were able to pass down through the much longer chambers of the risers, I think it may not be able to pass along a runner.

Has anyone here been successful in eradicating a large bamboo patch like mine? See the attached photo, please.

I've read that spraying glyphosate onto the leaves from above is effective. That would be tricky given the height of the risers and the density of the patch, but I would be willing to put on protective clothing and a face mask and have a go around the outside of the patch if it would help to get rid of this invader.

All advice will be most appreciated!

 

I would spray it with the highest concentration glyphosate you can get...it will probably take a while with digging up runners in coming seasons but will knock it back significantly. Infuriating when people plant bamboo without any root barriers installed, creating a massive problem for the future.

 

We have many different bamboos in our garden. They were planted with "restricted" membranes which did no good. One of them was spreading and we cut back all the stems so that there were at ground level. This was then covered in many sheets of black plastic with some old corrugated iron on the top. Anything that was seen outside of this was then cut through with a spade. The plant was without light and moisture and the spread stopped and eventually the bamboo died. However we do still keep an eye out in case it comes back.

 

I had two clumping bamboos, no root barriers, in my garden neither after a couple of decades neither showed much sign of going "walk about". The Fargesia nitidia flowered a few years ago at which point I cut all the canes off and set about the mattress like network of roots with a mattock and an old pair of secateurs, it took a few evenings, but came out relatively easily. The remains were ferried to the top of the garden tipped into a hole covered with soil and an old dumpy bag and that was that.
The Phyllostachys nigra occupies about 1 m x 1 m square any shoots outside that get mown off if in the grass or chopped off with a sharp spade. Keeps me supplied with canes up to 3+m long.
@Skylark001 In your case you appear to have access to patch and plenty of space so how about hire a mini digger.
If that doesn't appeal then perhaps get hold of some ammonium sulphamate use 8 oz to a gallon solution and apply with a sprayer add a few drops of washing up liquid. Ammonium sulphamate is banned as a herbicide in the EU/UK, still used elsewhere, and available as a compost accelerator from Ebay/Amazon. Ammonium sulphamate is taken up via the leaves and the roots it will take 4 to 6 weeks. In the environment it fairly rapidly breaks down to ammonium sulphate, you will still need to remove the roots if you want to replant in that spot.
I used it in the 90's (preban), as DAX Root Out, to remove a rapidly spreading patch of lilac.
It was banned due to the costs of the tests required to gain approval making it uneconomical to continue sale as a herbicide.

 

@NigelJ , thank you very much for having mentioned a poison other than glyphosate. Is it better than glyphosate? Thanks too for the tip of adding a few drops of washing-up liquid in the sprayer: I was wondering how to make the solution stay on the surface of the leaves.

My patch of bamboo is situated on the side of quite a steep bank, which is also full of bits of small rock and large stones. Unfortunately, a small digger couldn't access the bank, and couldn't be used on it. But also, intensive gardening work gave me "frozen shoulder" in both shoulders some years ago, so although the treatment I received for that has enabled me to do manual work again I need to be wary of trying to dig up the roots myself. Perhaps if I can kill all the visible growth (using your suggested herbicide) I ought to try and find a young person to pay to deal with the roots. At 70 I also no longer have the energy needed!

Thanks also for mentioning that bamboo can flower! I didn't know that. I wonder if that explains why a much smaller and a very pale green annual bamboo-grass appears in a number of different spots in the garden here each spring. It could be that the previous owners were keen on bamboos and intentionally spread it around. I would hate for the large patch of bamboo to spread far and wide through flowering.

I recently had some drains attended to, and the contractor found that one drain from a downpipe simply emptied into earth in front of a rhododendron and several other plants, and that that drain had been heavily invaded to a distance of about 1 metre by dense fibrous roots, largely blocking the pipe! I know there are "waste-water" drains passing not far from my problem bamboo patch, so that gives me another reason to deal with the bamboo patch as I've read that bamboo roots seek out moisture which is "nutrient-rich".

 

A JCB...I'm not kidding! OH tackled a patch of Phyllostachys nigra that was intent on world domination and even with that there are one or two shoots that emerge each year, to be attacked on sight.

 

Not as bad as bamboo but we inherited a 15metre stretch of provençal cane planted to provide a screen tho why I don't know as the paddock beyond is ours too. Anyway, it's horrid - 4m tall, deciduous foliage that turned brown and tatty in winter and shoots that could stop a sit-on mower when they spread into the grass beyond.

OH strimmed it all to ground level with a petrol strimmer and a metal blade. He then dug out bits of the roots as and when he could, kept up the trimming so no foliage was feeding the roots and it was all gone over 3 autumns.

No chemicals, but you could use some to weaken the plants and roots if you reallly need to. Spray, with a few drops of washing up liquid added to help it stick. Give it 3 weeks to work and then strim and keep strimming till it's all dug out.

 

I would say different; the advantage it has is that it is taken up through the roots as well as the foliage.
The easiest way is as @noisette47 suggests hire a full size JCB and driver and that should be able to cope with the bank and the "difficult ground"
Whole cultivars of bamboos can flower together and this flowering significantly weakens the plant, currently some Phyllostachys nigra clones are flowering. It can take a couple of decades before they flower.