Rhizome barrier

Other things that involve bamboo

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bambootony
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Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

Hello Bamboo group,
I thought I would show how I keep the running Phyllostachys I have in-boundrys.
This is how I have done it and in no way am I an expert.
There have to be easyer ways and I'm sure that most here have their own method.
I just thought I would show my method as I have access to these FREE materials.
After picking a location I dig a ring the size I want putting the sod inside the circle and the fill dirt in a pile outside the circle.
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I have been using "used" corrugated galvanized roofing. I use sheet metal screws to hold each piece to the next making a ring.

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bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

Next I put the barrier in place.
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Using the big chunks of sod, I place them inside the barrier to start to make the shape I want.

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40 miles N.E of st louis
bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

Filling only the inside of the ring trying to make this one as round as possible.

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40 miles N.E of st louis
bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

Then I skim off the sod from the middle and place in the outer ring.
I do this mostly to get rid of the un-wanted sod. but could be used to make the area less destroyed by digging.
It would be more important if I had good grass.
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bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

I normally use a wider piece of tin, but there must be an old cistern where I dug so I had to cut these piece of tin down to clear the concrete in the ground.
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bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

After digging the middle to loosten the dirt I place the Bamboo along with some organics
to help bring the worms back and some potting mix into the hole.
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bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

After leveling with the fill dirt, I add mulch.
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bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

Now my Phy Vivax have a new home.
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Notice the striping on the same side of the nodes on this new culm.
3 on the bottom 2 on the next and 1 on the top node.

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Matt in TN
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by Matt in TN »

Looks good!
"The Way is in training" - Miyamoto Musashi
Alan_L
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by Alan_L »

Tony -- I'd expect rhizomes to escape from that, so you'd better be prepared.
bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

Alan_L wrote:Tony -- I'd expect rhizomes to escape from that, so you'd better be prepared.
Please explain how you think this is possible....
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needmore
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by needmore »

2 ways

1) - unless you almost butted the sheet metal screws against each other at the joints, the rhizomes will at some point push through the joints.

2) - shallow barriers such as yours will encourage rhizomes to deflect deeper than they normally would and go under the barrier.

Really, those sheets of metal should be a minimum of 30 inches deep and slanted properly or you will actually promote deep running. Your ideas are pretty sound but bamboo rhizomes will run deep when forced to and I think that you are not deep enough and will end up with escaped rhizomes that are too deep to prune for several feet out - BUT just keep mowing and you should be fine except in any area where you can't mow far enough out, the rhizomes will get there but you'll actually contain them by mowing, rather than with your deflectors.
Brad Salmon, zone 12B Kea'au, HI
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movenosound
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by movenosound »

You have a nice containment method going there. I especially enjoy the 'free' part, and I assume that is your motivation here, instead of using the commercially available rhizome barriers, which can get really pricey. That said, going to have to agree with Alan_L, the rhizomes are going to be out of that metal circle by the end of fall 2011, if not by the end of this year. Not trying to criticize your method, but rhizome is pretty incredible at escaping. I have seen it travel down two feet, and make really significant attempts at scaling barrier that continues above ground from a few to several inches, what I believe the 'ankle breaker' rhizome activity is all about. A rule that I have been told to follow is that in any barrier material, if there is any kind of seem, such as where your metal overlaps, even though it might be flush against one another when you put it in the ground, rhizomes will ultimately find these weak points in the barrier, and literally grow through them. The more rhizome density that a contained area might have, the more intense the attempt to escape. With the bamboo that I have been growing, there are six, soon to be seven, that I have to manage within a certain area. So far, I have had an easy time controlling them using a six to eight inch trench backfilled with bark mulch, or simply wood chips. The rhizomes seem to have a preference for the mulch-trench as a path out, and all of the escaping rhizome that I have found have been in that level, none have made a dive under the trench. I check the trenches periodically, most important time being late fall, as the last thing on my horticulture to-do list before I put it aside for the winter. Pull back the mulch and it is pretty easy to find the runners. Some of other peoples' posts lead me to believe that I might end up finding myself in a serious grudge match with this method. Someone here has stated that they observe that when you cut a rhizome, especially for containment, they have experienced the bamboo sending multiple rhizomes from the buds further back on the cut rhizome, essentially the Hydra experience, you cut off a head and two replace it. So far I have been uncovering as much of the rhizome as possible, and bending it back into the area I am trying to fill with bamboo. In the future I plan to allow a certain amount of escape from the planting, and then cut away the escapee for a new planting, though I don't know if the root development will support that...
bambootony
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by bambootony »

Hello movenosound and needmore,
Thank you for the tips and advise!!!!!!
Like I said in the first part of this post there are many here with much more experience.
I suppose on very mature groves these are valid points.
The tin I used is 10 inches deep on this area, trying to keep as much lean on the tin as possible so the rhizome does not dive. Normally I use 16 inch.
I have dug from 10 + year old groves and have not found any rhizome deeper than 5 or 6 inches.
My plan is to put retaining wall blocks around and fill in with 3-4 inches of mulch later on.
Hopefully the rhizome will shootover the tin and through the bricks making it easy to spot.
Certanly this has to be better than just letting the bamboo run.
Should keep the rhizome in-bounds for a few years......
I have 15 foot of area to mow before the fence line, then an open lot 30+more feet that the neighbor mows.
I suppose if I go back to my standard..."Nothing lasts forever" I can justify my attempt to contain the bamboo for now....
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ghmerrill
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Re: Rhizome barrier

Post by ghmerrill »

One other concern with small barriered areas like that is the sheer pressure that builds up in there from the rhizome growth after a few years. Its amazing how a bamboo can explode a pot if not divided, the same holds true within a barrier.
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