Our neighbor has passed away over the summer and the new owners of the house have told us they are getting rid of all of the bamboo. He said he doesn't care if he has to dig up every square inch of the yard. He won't stop till its all gone. Apparently he hates the stuff as much as we do. My husband offered to help him out. So come spring its digging time and the end of the bamboo forest!!! Yeah!!!! All of the neighbors are thrilled that after all these years the bamboo is finally getting dug up. This stuff has ruined 7 properties. It not only spread to 2 yards to the side (on each side) of the property but to 3 properties directly behind it. As soon as one of us sees a sprout we try to get right on it and dig it up but you know there are times when sprouts are missed, neighbor is sick or goes away for a few weeks and before you know it you have another big tall patch of the annoying stuff. Since the main source of the bamboo was never taken care of it just keeps getting out of control. I'm sure even after the neighbors yard is completely dug up we'll still see an occasional straggler. But it shouldn't take long to rid all yards of this nuisance once the main source is gone.

Hi friends, I'm struggling with a similar problem and could really use some advice. I apologize for how long this is, but it's kind of a specific circumstance. My fiancée and I just moved into a little apartment with a lovely little deck that we'd love to be able to use and have friends over on. Unfortunately, the frame of the back door that leads out onto the porch is also the entry point for what appears to be a pretty large nest of honeybees. We have no way of knowing how old this nest is because we moved here from out of state (I've just started grad school in the area) and only discovered the bees when we were moving in (mid-august). The bees certainly aren't aggressive, but I have a crippling fear of all things-with-stingers because of a bad experience when I was very young (I've been stung since then in my life; I know it's not terrible, and that as long as we leave them alone it's highly unlikely, but when is fear ever rational or easily controlled?). I'm beyond disappointed we can't use our porch for this reason��"even opening the back door before they've gone to sleep causes a lot of stress and anxiety��" because it's one of the reasons we chose this place, but much MORE IMPORTANTLY than that, as the weather is starting too cool down here, they are finding their way into the warmth of our living space now and then. THAT I am completely unwilling to deal with in any capacity. Bees are completely unwelcome inside my house. We simply CANNOT tear apart our walls from either side because we do not own this building (nor are we financially-eqipped or have the time to do so), and while our leasing-management was great about sending an exterminator (twice) when we complained, all he did was spray around with some general pesticide that of course didn't even get into hive or probably kill more than a couple of bees if any. From the research I've done, no exterminator is equipped to handle this anyway. We're only going to be here for a few years while I complete my degree, so at this point, I'm not looking for ways to get rid of or move the bees, but ways to minimize our interactions with them so we can just deal with them as a temporary problem and I can function a bit better, with less anxiety issues (since our leasing-office seems disinterested in actually taking care of them, they can deal with every tenent they ever have complaining about them, I guess). We can't locate how the bees get inside the house so we haven't been able to seal it, but if there's some sort of spray or something we can use generally on our walls and in the area to discourage them from coming this direction, that'd be great. Recommendations, traps, or other ways to lure them away from the door/minimize their presence on our porch would also be great, but at this point, the only thing I NEED accomplished is to keep them from coming inside. I am unopposed to any methods that involve killing them. I truly wish I didn't have to, but there's simply no way we can get them moved. When they're outside, that's their business, but bees that come inside my house and violate my safe-space feeling have forfeited all empathy I have for them.

Bamboo is not difficult to control and possible to eradicate if you know how and have some patience. With this simplified basic info about bamboo you can understand how control and eradication methods work: Bamboo spreads by rhizomes located in the top part of the soil. Rhizomes are not roots (roots grow off them). Rhizomes store the energy that is used for bamboo to grow back once it has been cut down. Bamboo culms (the 'trunk'-like part) do not leaf out until the culm is mostly full-grown. Like all plants, bamboo needs these leaves to create 'energy' (that gets stored in rhizomes). Both bamboo rhizomes and culms are relatively soft when new. Control method: 'rhizome pruning'. Since bamboo spreads by rhizomes located near the surface, you 'prune' the rhizomes. This can be done with a strong spade. (I use a solid-steel spade from A.M.Leonard; King of Spades is good; Mid-Atlantic Bamboo sells specialized versions.) You just sink the spade into the ground, cutting through the rhizomes, and repeatedly do that in a line. If a rhizome is too difficult for the spade, use loppers. The easiest time to do this is when the rhizome is new and thus soft. I've seen recommendations for doing this in July and September, although I just do it once a year. If you miss a year (as I have) you can still rhizome prune, it's just a little more difficult as the rhizome is harder. You can leave the extra rhizome in the ground; separated from the mother plant, it might send up tiny shoots, but you just cut them off with hand pruners when they appear. Eradication method: Cut down all the culms with loppers or a cordless reciprocating saw. If little shoots grow back, cut them down--you don't want them to have leaves for photosynthesis. In the Spring when the culms shoot, resist the temptation to cut them down right away. Let them grow to their full size, and then cut them down before they leaf out. Why? The bamboo doesn't have a magical energy source--it only has the energy stored in the rhizomes. Our goal is to use up as much of that energy as possible, without letting it recharge through photosynthesis. So make the bamboo use up a lot of energy growing those culms to full size. Some people even water and fertilize it, to encourage it to spend as much energy on growth as possible. The culms will still be relatively soft at this time and easier to cut down. Repeat the process until it dies. Inspect periodically to see if little shoots with leaves have appeared.

I just replied to someone elses post on the same subject. Mow them down low then mow them again and again. It will take the rest of the summer to get rid of what you have, but if your neighbors have it right next to your yard, you're fighting a loosing battle unless you get them to do the same.