Bamboo Weeds

You may have seen a cute bamboo plant. But....

Bamboo Weed is the bane of many people's lives, taking over their gardens, growing through deck and floors and even breaking up concrete. Here's how to be free of it.

You may have seen a cute bamboo plant in a container at a garden centre and thought that it would be nice to have your own little stand of this cane plant. It would be great to be able to pick your own bamboo stakes for free. So with no more thought you purchase the cute plant. A few years later you find you have released a monster into your garden.

Or perhaps you have inherited a stand of bamboo when buying a new home and you wonder later on if the previous owners only sold the house to be rid of the bamboo. Now you have the best solution in our Cut'n'Paste Bamboo Buster.

There are over 1000 species of Bamboo in existence. Some spread like wildfire and are much more of a problem weed than others and whilst many are not in New Zealand there are a great number of different types that cause problems for landowners.

Here are some photos of a typical clumping bamboo.

Bamboo Buster Cut'n'Paste die back — Bamboo Buster causes die back in neighbouring Bamboo like this.

It is vital to apply the Bamboo Buster Weed Gel IMMEDIATELY after cutting the stem.

Cut the plant as near to the ground as you can, this also avoids tripping hazards and improved the kill rate. See in the photo how the stem has been cut just above a node, that little ring, this gives you a flat place to put the gel where it can be best absorbed into the plants vascular system and into the rhizomes, roots, of the bamboo.

It can spread through the rhizomes into adjacent stems so if you only have access to outlying plants you can affect others nearby.

A cut piece of bamboo - ready for some weedgel — Green bamboo

a weedgel being spread onto bamboo — bamboo buster weed gel

No surfactants in Bamboo Buster Weed Gel — Bamboo Buster Weed Gel

Working as a team of two or three gets the best results. You must apply the gel IMMEDIATELY after cutting so speed and efficiency are paramount for the best effect. One cuts, one clears and one applies the gel.

Start at the bottom of the hill and work upwards, throwing the slash behind you as you go. One cuts, one clears and one applies the paste thus ensuring no stems are missed and the gel gets on ASAP. This way you can leave the slash on the ground to exclude light and cover the stump tripping hazards. Some people just mulch over the top and then replant when they are sure the bamboo is dead.

The dead rhizomes in the ground will just rot away over time, so don’t try to remove them.