Do they mind you getting rid of their entire grove?

If you can kill the whole thing off, you might as well wait until right after shoots are done growing, then take a lopper and cut everything down to soil level. If it is aureosulcata, it will keep coming back a few times, but you can water it to cause them to expend their energy so you can cut it down again either with a lawnmower, or your tool of choice. The will get smaller and smaller, and when they are small enough, you can dig out just those sections as all the energy will be concentrated into the growth points. When you let them regrow, the key is to never let them produce leaves which can allow the to regain their energy.

You can also tell your neighbor to install a rhizome barrier because she might not know that it's a problem for you. Cement really won't hold if you want to hold it out since it will wear down and rhizomes will create pressure. A properly installed rhizome barrier should keep the rhizomes out of your yard if that's what you need.

Thanks I just looked up video's on youtube on how to do that. Guess I know what my big summer project is going to be. This stuff is a real pain. One neighbor planted it now 4 of us are having it pop up everywhere! And she will not do anything to contain it or cut it back. She is dead set against it. Not only did we all ask her to do something about it but we all offered to help with the job. She says no!

Almost the same situation except the elderly person who graced us with this has long since passed away and his elderly wife doesn't live at the house anymore but the family still maintains the house but not this bamboo 4 neighbors (i have the majority because i wasn't living at home at the time and it just grew and overwhelmed my grandmother who was living her alone and could sporadically do yardwork at the time. 15+ years of this have taken up 1/4 of our yard and we have a large plot of land with a ravine and we are in the city limits where it can only get cut by the city if it interferes with the utility lines and that little strip only gets cut sporadically. This is aging and depressing me and i just turned 42! It sounds pretty in the wind and that's the only thing i like about it in my yard!

It's probably good to simply install a barrier, but make sure it's installed at an angle so that when rhizomes hit it, they go upwards without the risk of diving below. a 6 mil, 30 inch deep polyurethane barrier should work if you put it at the perimeter of your yard.

Just lop away the ones already in your yard, sever the rhizome connection from the main plant, and let the rhizomes in you yard rot away by mowing any survival shoots, and planting grass so if there are tiny survival shoots, they can be choked out.

stevelau-
Bamboo barrier is actually made from HDPE (high density polyethylene). I presume you meant 60 mil, not 6 mil....

This post was edited by kudzu9 on Mon, Jun 3, 13 at 2:24

stevelau-
Bamboo barrier is actually made from HDPE (high density polyethylene). I presume you meant 60 mil, not 6 mil....

http://www.lewisbamboo.com/barrierinstallation.html

Is it this web for the edging?
Bamboo can be make stake for plant support, it is valuable for someone. Hope the barrier can work.

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.

You need to get a profession to employ a root grinder. It took one afternoon for them to cut the culms down (mostly, P. nigra, vivax, viridis, and aureus). A second afternoon for the industrial root pruner. Next, it takes vigilance and determination. Good luck!