Bamboo can be quite a beautiful plant. Bamboo shoots can give your garden a beautiful look and also provide shade and privacy. But an expert on invasive plants thinks that bamboo should come with a warning because it grows so quickly and can damage building foundations and break through brick and mortar. Like Japanese knotweed, bamboo can be dangerous to homeowners if it gets too close. Some people even say it got into their homes.
Because bamboo grows so quickly, it has been able to sneak out of people’s gardens and move to other parts of the yard. If it gets into a crack in the concrete or gets close to a house in other ways, it can cause damage that may be hard to fix.
Experts say that the roots of some kinds of bamboo can grow up to thirty feet deep. This means that the roots can hurt houses even if they aren’t right next to them. Because bamboo can be dangerous, it is not always a good choice for home gardens. Experts on invasive plants think that it might not be worth the trouble.
Bamboo can do a lot of different things, which makes it a good invasive species. Because the roots of the plants can get so big and tangled, they can choke off pieces of land. They can also break through brick and mortar and damage the foundations of buildings. Bamboo can also grow well in many different types of soil and climates. It also doesn’t need much care, which makes it a popular choice for people who aren’t good at taking care of plants.
Nic Seal, the founder of the British company Environet, thinks that more people should know how bad bamboo can be for their property.
Seal told MailOnline, “It’s time for garden centers and plant nurseries to take some responsibility for the growing problem that gardeners all over the country are facing because they bought bamboo in good faith without being told of the risks.” “The truth is that most bamboos spread quickly, and I think gardeners would buy a lot less of them if they knew that when they bought them. We often see whole gardens full of bamboo rhizomes. The owners have tried desperately to keep up with the problem by cutting back or mowing the new shoots as they appear.
He also said, “But once it’s on the run, the only way to deal with it properly is to dig up the root ball and dig out every lateral rhizome, which often means chasing them across boundaries into neighboring gardens.” I’ve even seen bamboo growing between a house’s skirting board and wall. It came from the garden next door and used a weak spot in the house’s foundation to grow there.
After getting advice from a plant expert, Kate Saunders put bamboo on her South West London property. She tried to stop it from spreading through her house, but she couldn’t.
Saunders said, “I would tell anyone who is thinking about planting bamboo to think twice and only plant it in pots or containers above the ground.” “And be ready to do a lot of work to keep it under control.