This is a plea for help, advice, instructions, references, helpful websites, what have you. Lots of people on my side of town have bamboo in their yards, I gather, so I hope that someone who reads this blog will have some helpful information to share.
The back of our yard is full of bamboo. New sprouts shoot up all the time, but at some time in the past an occupant of the house must have started working on this because the old growth is limited to the area immediately around our chain link fence. A lot of the bamboo actually in our yard is already dead, and I discovered recently that a lot of it is surprisingly easy to pull up. Sometimes the stalk remains in the ground and sometimes the shoot comes up root and all.
I'd like to clear as much of the dead stuff out as I can. This process is often complicated by the fact that there is a power line running across the back of our property. There is actually a power pole in the back of our yard.
My immediate issue is how to properly dispose of the stuff I've already pulled out. Beyond that, I'd like additional advice about making my yard safe for Parker to play in, containing the stuff, etc. I also have fallen leaf issues as well. Not bamboo related, but I'm wondering how to get what looks like tons and tons of leaf fall out of the back yard.
8 comments:
This sounds like the riddle "How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time."
I may not be understanding your question. But, it sounds like the answer to this question is the same as the answer to this question. In other words, gather as much of the yard crap as you want to get rid of each week, pile it on the curb, and do the same the next week, and so on until it's gone.
Does that answer your question, or were you asking something else?
When I typed "How to get rid of bamboo" into the google search engine, lots of articles came up that looked like they would be helpful to you.
Maybe your search criteria are better then those I've tried. I've never found much more than the message board entries talking about Round Up. I'll try again.
I ask the question because these are really tall shoots. Don't I have to cut them up or something before I expect the city to cart them away? Also, what about those power lines? What about Parker tripping over the roots? How am I practically going to get these things from the back yard to the front?
I'd like to know what other people who've actually had the same problem have done, you know? Most of what I've read on the subject has been based on the questions of landscaping professionals who have been hired to work with bamboo and have never done anything with it before. I've also found the website of some sort of bamboo society--which adores bamboo, but doesn't care about getting rid of it.
Buy a panda?
I see the problem with the stump issue you mentioned. I don't have any answers. But, about the question about cutting them up before the city hauls them away...now, I don't think you have to do that. They have a big truck just for that purpose.
As for your question about the practicalities of getting the bamboo cut and carried to the curb, that may be a Sat. project that you and Michael have to do together. It may even be something you reach out for help on. If you plan it on a weekend when the kids aren't here, I'd be glad to participate in a "cut and carry the cane" day.
If Alabama ever plays Miami again, it'd be fun to have a "Burn the 'canes" party.
Oh I forgot one thing. About the power lines. If you are going to be cutting canes that are entangled with power lines, you will need to call Ala. Power and request that the lines be "de-energized" before you mess with them. If the lines aren't service lines specifically for servicing your house, but instead, they are general lines running across your land, the power co. will probably cut and dispose of them for you if you ask.
Good advice, Jim. I was wondering about that very thing (power lines). My parents have offered to loan me a tarp that I can use to transport the leaves.
As a proud graduate of the University of Miami, I must take exception to the "burn the 'canes" idea.
Or if you decide to press on with it, please notify me ahead of time. I will lock my doors and stand guard (with pepper spray) over my laundry room UM floormat against pyromaniacal mobs.
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