Would you buy a house with bamboo in the backyard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I didn't buy a house for that reason. You can never get rid of it and it grows fast.

Not true.

OP, we bought a house that had a ton of bamboo in the backyard with very extensive rhizome networks throughout the yard. I pulled it all up - a bit of a painstaking process but only needed to do it once. A few stray stalks would try to pop up after and I’d just pull them as quickly as I’d see them. I needed some leveling done anyway so a year later, i had a landscaping company come in and dig out a few inches, level, add a few inches of fresh soil and then sod everything. They pulled up the remaining bits of rhizome underground that I didn’t catch and were presumably resulting in the random sprouts. That all cost less than $5k, and the result was an impeccable yard that has never had bamboo since (that was over two years ago). Seems absolutely ridiculous to me that you would skip on a house you otherwise love due to this easy and relatively cheap fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Constant battle”?

Do you guys say the same about Tall Fescue since you mist cut it every week?

Don’t be ridiculous. Bamboo is great privacy.

And ants or spiders in the house are just like rats or raccoons.

But thanks for playing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, it was definitely in the planting beds, growing up near pavers, etc… I could see how if you missed a week of mowing/weeding, it would be everywhere and very time consuming to stay on top of.

The thing with bamboo is only shoots once a year. Between spring & summer. Cut off at the base when it starts to grow a new "stalk" & you should be good for a year. The growth only happens at the apical tip, so as long as you cut below that no more upward growth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, it was definitely in the planting beds, growing up near pavers, etc… I could see how if you missed a week of mowing/weeding, it would be everywhere and very time consuming to stay on top of.

The thing with bamboo is only shoots once a year. Between spring & summer. Cut off at the base when it starts to grow a new "stalk" & you should be good for a year. The growth only happens at the apical tip, so as long as you cut below that no more upward growth.

Meaning, bamboo is in the grass family but it does not behave the way grass does. There is no such thing as weekly mowing to contain the growth. Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

Looked at a house and the bamboo literally broke through the cement patio and started growing in the middle of it. It’s like the spawn. Ahhh!

[Anonymous]

I was under the impression that you needed to mow the little shoots that come up throughout the yard.

[Anonymous]

Get a quote to remove it now, before you make an offer. It costs tens of thousands to remove even a small yard of it. It spreads into your neighbors yards and angers them. It is a nightmare.

It does stay beautiful and green all year, and provides great privacy, and wild birds love it, but I repeat: it is a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

We bought a house more than fifteen years ago with bamboo along the fence in the back. I just run the lawnmower over any shoots beyond where I want it to be, and have not had any trouble with it spreading.

[Anonymous]

Our current house had a 12 foot deep forest of bamboo all across the property line when we bought the house. The tallest stalks were 35 feet tall. We removed all of it ourselves, which was a huge undertaking and then performed chemical warfare by dousing it with Round up. It has pretty much has been conquered in most of the property. The one neighboring property has bamboo along the fence and that is where we see the biggest issue. We go out a few times in the spring and spray it down with weed killer let it sit for a few days and then chop it down.

One issue we had to deal with is that it had been there so long that it completely depleted all of the nutrients in the soil. It took a lot of leaf mulch and years to get the soil healthy again.

If you decide to take it on, this tool from Black and Decker was great.
https://www.blackanddecker.com/products/lawn-and-garden/trees-and-shrubs/woodcutting/alligator-lopper/lp1000

[Anonymous]

I watched my neighbors battle bamboo planted by the previous owner. FIVE YEARS to get rid of it. Never.

[Anonymous]

Never ever ever. We have spent $20k on containment and it is still coming up every spring, closer and closer to our patio and porch. Nothing kills it. You have to go in there every spring and dig up all the shoots and pull the rhizomes. Hours of work a day. If you miss 2 days in a row, you’re screwed. Also mosquitoes LOVE it so our yard is very buggy, almost to the point of being unusable. We have it on all sides of our backyard.

Run away as far as you can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never ever ever. We have spent $20k on containment and it is still coming up every spring, closer and closer to our patio and porch. Nothing kills it. You have to go in there every spring and dig up all the shoots and pull the rhizomes. Hours of work a day. If you miss 2 days in a row, you’re screwed. Also mosquitoes LOVE it so our yard is very buggy, almost to the point of being unusable. We have it on all sides of our backyard.

Run away as far as you can.

That is a nightmare! Thanks for sharing your story. Sorry you’re dealing with all of that

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our current house had a 12 foot deep forest of bamboo all across the property line when we bought the house. The tallest stalks were 35 feet tall. We removed all of it ourselves, which was a huge undertaking and then performed chemical warfare by dousing it with Round up. It has pretty much has been conquered in most of the property. The one neighboring property has bamboo along the fence and that is where we see the biggest issue. We go out a few times in the spring and spray it down with weed killer let it sit for a few days and then chop it down.

One issue we had to deal with is that it had been there so long that it completely depleted all of the nutrients in the soil. It took a lot of leaf mulch and years to get the soil healthy again.

If you decide to take it on, this tool from Black and Decker was great.
https://www.blackanddecker.com/products/lawn-and-garden/trees-and-shrubs/woodcutting/alligator-lopper/lp1000

Thanks for the recommendation! That thing looks terrifying and amazing lol

[Anonymous]

Sure. I love bamboo.

I wouldn't plant it, but I'd be glad it was there.

[Anonymous]

is this about the pauline house in bethesda?