Why bamboo becomes a problem
Bamboo was a popular screening plant in Melbourne gardens because it grows fast and gives quick privacy along a fence. The trouble is that many of the plants sold were running bamboos, and running bamboo does not stay where it was planted.
- It spreads underground. Rhizomes run horizontally under lawn, paths and fences, and send up new canes metres from the original clump.
- It moves into neighbouring yards. Bamboo is a common cause of friction between neighbours, especially along shared fences.
- It lifts paving and gets into pipes and joints. Rhizomes find gaps in old paths, edging and garden walls.
- It is very hard to kill by cutting alone. The plant keeps feeding new shoots from energy stored in the rhizomes.
Clumping bamboo is better behaved but can still get very wide and dense over time.
How bamboo is removed
Cut and clear the canes
Canes are cut at ground level and removed. Older clumps can be very dense, and the canes are hard and splintery, so this is slow work in a large stand.
Dig out the rhizomes
This is where the job is won or lost. The rhizome mass is dug out with an excavator where access allows, or by hand in tighter spaces. On running bamboo the contractor follows the rhizomes outward, often well past the visible canes. On heavy clay this is hard going; on sandy soils the rhizomes come out more easily but spread further.
Check the boundary
If the bamboo came from next door, or rhizomes run under the fence, a root barrier along the boundary helps stop it coming back. Barriers need to be deep and properly joined to work.
Follow up
Some regrowth is normal in the following season from fragments left in the soil. Cut or pull new shoots as soon as they appear so they cannot feed the rhizomes, and the regrowth will fade.
Bamboo around Melbourne homes
Bamboo screens are common along side fences in established suburbs, where they were planted to block a two-storey neighbour or a unit development. In the inner suburbs space is tight and digging is mostly by hand. On larger outer-suburb and peninsula blocks, old clumps can cover a big area and an excavator is often the only practical way to get the rhizomes out.
If you want a screen to replace the bamboo, a clumping variety in a contained bed, or a non-invasive hedge, avoids the same problem in ten years' time.
Costs and booking
Bamboo is priced on area, density and access rather than height. Planning bands are on the Melbourne tree removal cost guide. If you are also removing trees or stumps, ask for tree removal or stump grinding on the same quote.
We ask the contractors we work with to hold the licences and insurance the job needs. Ask to see them before work starts.