Q&A for How to Get Rid of Bamboo

There is a cyanogenic glycoside named taxiphyllin found within bamboo shoots.

Invasiveness is based upon a plant's ability to spread by seeds. Bamboo is not an invasive plant, as it is spread by the rhizomes in the root system.

You can burn bamboo, however, it is not recommended to burn bamboo as a heating source or inside the home.

Yes, ingesting bamboo will generally lead to cyanide poisoning in humans.

After digging out as much of the plant as possible including the rhizomes, you can either apply a weed killer or go a more natural route like pouring boiling water over the roots. Be sure to monitor and remove any new growth over the next several weeks.

Bamboo is notoriously hard to get rid of. After hand pulling as much of the plant and roots as possible, cut the canes as close to the ground as possible, then simply pour a weed killer of your choice into the root space.

I recently dug out an area of running bamboo with an excavator, it was about 900 square feet and I'm still not sure I got all of the rhizomes. However, I built a harp screener and ran the excavated dirt over it to separate the dirt from the roots and rhizomes. I then took all of this to my burn pit and lit it up. Bamboo is without a doubt the most invasive, fast growing and destructive plant I have ever dealt with. Getting rid of it completely requires a lot of attention and patience.

I wouldn't do that. I have a bamboo growing around my oak tree. Basically I follow the roots and carefully determine which root is the bamboo. Be careful, but bamboo roots usually look like a creepy alien in the ground.

I advertised mine, and was inundated with calls from people willing to dig it up and take it away.

Gas kills everything. Brake fluid is safer, but be careful to only get it in the shoots, as nothing will grow on the ground if it hits soil.

It will certainly burn away if you light it! The best method for bamboo removal is to repeatedly dig out every root you see and mow over any new growth in a consistent cycle.

Yes, bamboo will grow through any little crack it runs across. It will even grow under floors and come up in your house.

1 cup of distilled vinegar per gallon of water. You can add moth balls to the mix to make it more effective.

Yes, but it takes time. A friend of mine dug up a 6" section of one. I had forgotten about it, but it was sending out underground runners. A few years later, it popped suddenly with several new stalks. Now I have to get rid of some of it, it's out of control!

The rhizomes and the bamboo shoots are like batteries in the sense that they work like energy storage - small roots feed from moisture and nutrients in the ground, and they are also fed from the main plant. Until the energy stored (in mother plant and rhizome) is depleted, it will continue to grow and search for more energy.