How far will bamboo roots spread?

[Matt in OC]

I have a large clump of vulgaris vittata that's around five years old. We're having some bathroom work done and noticed that very fine roots are growing up around the toilet flange! I'd say this is a good 15 feet away from my clump of bamboo. Is it possible that this from the bamboo or is something else growing under the house? 

[AZPalms]

1 hour ago, Matt in OC said:

I have a large clump of vulgaris vittata that's around five years old. We're having some bathroom work done and noticed that very fine roots are growing up around the toilet flange! I'd say this is a good 15 feet away from my clump of bamboo. Is it possible that this from the bamboo or is something else growing under the house? 

I would say entirely possible! I planted a 15g size clump of bamboo I received for free and wanted to use it as a privacy screen near my grill area. I took it out about a year later after learning of running bamboo and it’s horror stories. It had made a huge root mass around it in only a year. 

Now for the interesting thing. This last fall when I was having work done on my pool pump because of a leak. I found the same bamboo looking roots about 8-10 feet from the clump and I’m guessing it found the water leak and traveled there? I wish I took pictures. 

[Brett in Mission Viejo]

Vulgaris Vittata is a clumping Bamboo and generally will not run amok like a running Bamboo. That being said, if you have a fence or barrier that is not deep enough, they can pop up in your neighbors yard over time. They also are a nice mulch producer of bamboo leaf litter, which can be a mess or good mulch depending on your viewpoint. I had two to three  30 foot high nice clumps as a neighbor screen 15 years ago. They do crave water so I am not surprised they are seeking it out. I thought my clumps were under control for 3 years and then my neighbor brought over a couple of nice 4 inch diameter emergent culms, and I decided then that Bamboo was not what I thought it would be for my purposes. But if you enjoy the tall Yellow/Green contrast look and will put up with the maintenance then go for it. 

[Allen]

Could be bamboo.  Main bamboo rhizomes are shallow and you can contain them around the house with a shovel chopping down 2' or so.  But you'd need to do this 2x per year.

 

 

[Matt in OC]

Thanks for the responses so far! Yes, it’s a clumping bamboo and there is concrete slab between the clump and where these roots are. I do have closer dirt and water to them than this bathroom and haven’t noticed anything coming up there. 

[Missi]

Uh oh one of my vulgaris vittata clumps is near my well pump.  

[metalfan]

The lady who had our house before us kept some bamboo in pots and when she left, she didn't want to take them so she threw them out in the woods. One is some sort of white runner, it pops up EVERYWHERE, and I do mean EVERYWHERE. The other is Black Bamboo. Its not quite so invasive. But we had no idea...until we started seeing bamboo and went looking and found the old pots and tags. I tried to cut the white one down whenever I saw a new clump emerging, for years, but lost the fight.

[Brett in Mission Viejo]

Unconfined running bamboos can destroy whole neighborhoods, seriously! They can run underground in all directions for many yards before they pop up. We had a neighbor on our block that let his escape and it took several years to finally eradicate it from our yard and other neighbors yards. I had to dig up my entire backyard for months on end. Under threat of legal action, the neighbor finally hired a bamboo eradication specialist and they were lucky to get it all out.

[Matt in OC]

Yikes! I made sure to not get a running bamboo because of the horror stories I've heard. If these really are bamboo roots, I'm really surprised that they spread this far. 

[Palm Tree Jim]

23 minutes ago, Brett in Mission Viejo said:

Unconfined running bamboos can destroy whole neighborhoods, seriously! They can run underground in all directions for many yards before they pop up. We had a neighbor on our block that let his escape and it took several years to finally eradicate it from our yard and other neighbors yards. I had to dig up my entire backyard for months on end. Under threat of legal action, the neighbor finally hired a bamboo eradication specialist and they were lucky to get it all out.

Brett,

What exactly is a bamboo eradication specialist?

 

 

[Brett in Mission Viejo]

Jim,

 

That was my term based on my observation and not necessarily a formal job specialty. I chatted with some of the workers and this company had lots of previous experience with bamboo removal. The key to successful removal is to get all of it out the first try, i.e. every culm and all rhizomes. Roundup is not an effective alternative. A house down the street from me had a running bamboo problem and they had several repeat removals over a year or two period since it kept popping up because they did not get every single last rhizome.