I've found that a pickaxe blade is better at chopping through rhizomes than an axe, and a demolition bar is essential for prying, especially to avoid breaking shovels. However, if you want to make your life a lot easier and be able to take out any bamboo in a minute or two, there's no substitute for a bamboo spade. There is only one place I know you can get one, and I never thought I'd ever pay this much for a fancy shovel ($160), but I fell in love with it the first time I used a friend's, and immediately ordered my own. This is a shovel that is all steel, weighs about 20 pounds, and operates on the slide hammer principle. It not only works great on bamboo, but on any other large rootball plants like shrubs and giant grasses. I have no connection with this product other than my close affection for it. Here is a link that might be useful: Bamboo spade

That is a very nice job! Since you didn't show photos of this part, how did you connect the barrier ends? I know some places sell a stainless "clamp" that gets screwed on, and some places sell a double-sided tape. I'm just curious which you used. Also, I suggest next year that you bend the plants over to the ground and tarp over them for the winter. That will keep all green leaves and give them a faster size-up. Finally, once your plants green up via new shoots/leafs or by leafing out on the existing culms, please post a follow-up photo. It's hard to find photos of bamboo grown in colder places (I think I had the same low temp in St. Louis as you did this winter) where there's total leaf loss, then showing how the plant came back the next year. Seeing that sort of thing would have made me much less nervous during my bamboo's first winter. =)

Okay, time for me to come clean...I talked about this about 2 years ago. I've done it, but it is dangerous and there are better, cheaper and faster ways to do it. Some sagely advisors from this forum tried to talk me out of it, but I didn't listen. 1. It will work...for about 30 seconds or so. It is the same thing as trying to use a chain saw to cut through rootballs of trees (which also have soil/dirt/rocks in/on them). Even a small, trace amount of dirt is enough to dull the blade. 2. Blades aren't cheap...18-28 bucks at my local HD. You are gonna go through ALOT. Dull blades are NO FUN to sharpen...takes for ever. Changing blades gets boring. 3. You are gonna burn up the saw eventually. (I burned through two of em). 4. It just ain't safe. Ever see a chainsaw kick back off a rock? Ain't pretty. Now that I am older, and perhaps wiser, I've opted for 12 inch sawzall blades. You can buy a pack of 5 at my local HD for 16 bucks or so. There are also 'slammer' shovels that I hear are very useful. I've also used a 40 lb. jackhammer with a modified clay spade (made it a reverse "v" and sharpened). Works well too, but you have to sharpen the spade every so often. but found that it was just easier to use the sawzall.

Is the area that you want the bamboo to grow, in full sun or shade? Does it have room to spread without becoming a problem? Would a clumping bamboo be a consideration as opposed to a runner? How tall does it need to be? SouthEast Texas is covered with groves of P. aurea, a common bamboo which does well in wet and dry conditions here. Dig it yourself, is the cheapest way. It grows all along roadsides and creeks and rivers. I would wait until the plant is dormant, and the temps are cool but not freezing, around late January of early February. I have transplanted runners at all times of the growing season, but it seems to do better when done before the shooting season which is early Spring for runners. As with any plant, if you get enough of a rootball with undisturbed roots, then it can be done at anytime of the year, but may get setback somewhat. Three more very hardy running bamboos are: A. gigantea 'Macon' MACON RIVERCANE A. gigantea ssp. gigantea RIVER CANE A. gigantea ssp. tecta SWITCH CANE Which all would do well as barriers. Kt