Cultivator, rippers, or plow???

[greggh]

I have some type of cane or bamboo that I am trying to get rid of. It is very hard to stop the growth. I have tried Round up, the heavy duty round up for posion ivy and oak and other types of vines, other products that act similar to round up. I finally found a web site that says that you need to dig it up and get rid of the roots (they look kind of like a bulb except very large with many tiny roots runing from it) and not to leave them laying around as they will re-root and grow.

Any way my question is which implement do you think would be the best to bring the roots to the surface to be picked up and burned? If the root is broken the part left in the ground will regrow. I just don't want to purchase the wrong implement that will probably be used for this task and then sit for years.

Sorry if I have not described this issue adequately. Thanks for any input.

 

[pitt_md]

I don't think you are going to get all of the root with any of the above listed implements. A tiller would be another option to use but there will be pieces left. Short of a major excavation of dirt you will be fighting this for a while. I have a patch of burdoc that I hit twice a year with roundup and it just keeps coming back. Its in my pasture so this year I took the tiller to it and reseeded the area. Time will tell if that does the trick.

 

[sunspot]

I don't know if you read the same web site that I did but it described taking a few years to kill of all bamboo.
After you dig out all the corms you can find, you need to take a daily walk to find new shoots and break them off below ground level.
What you are doing is starving the plant of sunlight.

To answer your direct question, I think I would use a Ripper.

 

[Baby Grand]

Smother it with tarps or black plastic sheet? If it's anything like Japanese knotweed, you should be prepared for an extended siege. Multiple, brief battles and long periods of waiting out new sprouts until one of you gives up.

 

[Cyberroc]

The only way to get rid of this stuff without excavating and hauling the entire area away is to cut all roots, cane, and shoots below ground level and continue to do so every week for at least a year.

The quick of it, if it were me and I had to deal with a huge area, I would doze the area, screen the dirt, watch for any returns (roots or shoots) and cut them below ground level. Repeat (Root&Shoot Watch) every week for 1 year.


Without the use of a Dozer Get a good pair of lopers, maybe a shovel, and whatever else you need. You need to cut every cane, root, and shoot below ground, no if and's or but's, everything. You leave one plant and it will feed and re-produce others, you need to cut ALL of it below ground.

You need to get anything you cut off of your property, sell the cane, don't care all roots, cane, and shoots need to be off your property. You cannot contain it otherwise, even in a steel drum, under a tarp, with no sunlight, these things will continue to grow as they store enough food and energy to continue to grow shoots that will continue to look for sunlight (food) until all stored food and energy is gone, should be less than a year...

Next step, follow up. You need to prepare yourself for weekly walks, don't trust this to just anyone, do as much of it your self. If you are leaving on holiday or for whatever and you will be gone more than 2 weeks, you need someone to do the walks for you. On these walks your looking for any shoots that sprout up or any roots that apear and cut those below ground level and get rid of what you cut.

Unless you can afford to pay someone to do this for you, it's going to take some work and follow up, but it can be beat. The good news is, other than your time, it should not cost that much out of pocket.

Good Luck!!!

 

[charlz]

How big an area and how big are the bulbs? Could you rip up the soil and then use something like a rock bucket every week to 'collect' all the bulbs etc.?

 

[Egon]

Have you considered cultivating the area on a regular basis for an extended period.

 

[greggh]

Thanks for all the replies. My main issue is which implement will bring the roots to the surface to be picked up? My thought was a ripper would tear through the root and leave part of it there to regrow.

Do you think a potato plow would bring the roots to the surface? A cultivator may not get deep enough to pull up the roots.

 

[Egon]

By cultivating I meant keeping the ground black using the implement of your choice. This may take a whole summer.

 

[pitt_md]

Thanks for all the replies. My main issue is which implement will bring the roots to the surface to be picked up? My thought was a ripper would tear through the root and leave part of it there to regrow.

Do you think a potato plow would bring the roots to the surface? A cultivator may not get deep enough to pull up the roots.

How deep are the bulbs/roots for this type of plant?