Getting rid of bamboo

[Hoy]

Gřte, although I live at the coast and never have experienced temps below -16C here (happen when the fjord freezes -twice in25 years-, it is a much smaller fjord than Stephen's) I have seen bamboos where temps drop to beyond -20C.

John, the spring here starts in January/February and lasts till May!

[johnw]

John, the spring here starts in January/February and lasts till May!

Hoy  - Here it lasted until yesterday!

johnw

[Hoy]

John, the spring here starts in January/February and lasts till May!

Hoy  - Here it lasted here until yesterday!

johnw

Here we have fall from May till December.

[johnw]

Here we have fall from May till December.

Ah, but you cannot beat us at winter.

johnw

[maggiepie]

Here we have fall from May till December.

Ah, but you cannot beat us at winter.

johnw

Unfortunately true.

[Stephenb]

John: Couldn't get into my greenhouse for at least two months last winter as the door was frozen solid, the sun doesn't shine on it until late in February. However, it didn't matter as the soil and pots remained moist...

Trond: Did your fjord freeze over the last two winters or have there been colder years down there?
 

[gote]

Hardiness is a rather complicated issue. If there is 10 cm of snow, a sudden cold night of some -25° is unlikely to freeze the soil at all. However, a week of constantly -5 with no snow will do it.

Another issue is that the water will give off some 4 kJ/kg when dropping from +1° to 0° It will however give of over 300 kJ/kg when freezing. The ice will only give off 2 kJ/kg. This means that the act of freezing will be buffering the drop of temperature a fact that will save roots in cold spells of limited duration.

In my area, the building norms assume that the soil can freeze to a depth of 1.1m. It rarely does of course but 20 cm is not uncommon.

It is also a question of the dynamics of the winter. An early sharp frost will do more damage since plants are not yet prepared. A late frost in the spring can be even more damaging. A long mild autumn will be beneficial for some plants which will be well prepared for the winter cold but other plants such as Helleborus orientalis will start on the new year and be cut down when the winter ecentually arrives. I hae lost some Hellebores this way.

I am afraid that the Fargesias I have planted did not know that hey were hardy. They were killed by the frost and that is a fact.

Cheers
Göte

 

[Hoy]

John: Couldn't get into my greenhouse for at least two months last winter as the door was frozen solid, the sun doesn't shine on it until late in February. However, it didn't matter as the soil and pots remained moist...

Trond: Did your fjord freeze over the last two winters or have there been colder years down there?
 

Although the last two winters were very cold, especially the last one,  the fjord didn't freeze over.

What matters is  the temperature, the amount of fresh water atop the seawater and how windy it is. If we get a fair amount of rain late in the fall (or much snow) and no or little wind (which is rare) then the light freshwater lies as a layer atop the denser salty water and the freshwater easily freeze when we get cold weather. However, if the wind blows the two layers mix and it don't freeze.

[Hoy]

Here we have fall from May till December.

Ah, but you cannot beat us at winter.

johnw

Don't think I want to

[Roderick]

I grow quite a number of vigorous bamboos, but made a mistake with a couple as they rapidly formed patches many metres across in the wrong place.  They are gone now!  The first I dug out and had approaching 1/2 ton of rhizomes.  The next was growing through a Miscanthus giganteus plantation.  We cut the miscanthus very short in winter, covered it with six inches of hedge shreddings from the local tree surgeon and sprayed the exposed bamboo with normal Glyphosate.  Not a leaf re-appeared when it had died back.  The Miscanthus enjoyed the mulch. The dug out one was not fully removed so I used the lethal hand shake on it.  For this I don Nitrile gloves and pull a knitted thermal glove onto my right hand.  This I dip in spray strength Glyphosate and form a fist so it does not drip.  With my dry left hand I organise the weed to die, then grip the bundle of stems or leaves near its base with my right hand and draw my hand up sqeezing and scrunching if it does not wet easily.  The damp bundle can now be safely placed on the ground amongst other plants. Some small weeds can be killed by placing one finger tip on them.  It sounds slow but actually considering couch can be killed within other plants it is very time effective.  Hedge bindweed does not need unwinding.  I take a proportion of leaves between gloved finger and thumb and moisten them.  Its very a relaxing way of spending an hour or two.  Its better than digging out bamboos!

Roderick

[Gene Mirro]

The easiest way to kill bamboo is to cut it down and immediately apply concentrated Roundup to the stumps with a small brush.  If you use the dilute premixed stuff, I make no promises.  There is no risk of killing other plants, and there is no manual labor required, except cleaning up the trimmings.

To kill horsetail, spray the foliage with Roundup at four times the normal concentration, during Summer.  You will have to do this several years in a row to get complete kill.

[Pascal B]

The outer layer of horsetail contains silica that prevents absorption of the Roundup. Crush the shoots first to break this surface and then apply the Roundup, a stronger solution is not needed. Eventhough Roundup is broken down within 2 weeks, there is no need to apply more than necessary.

[Maggi Young]

The outer layer of horsetail contains silica that prevents absorption of the Roundup. Crush the shoots first to break this surface and then apply the Roundup, a stronger solution is not needed. Eventhough Roundup is broken down within 2 weeks, there is no need to apply more than necessary.

It is always advised to use some method of crushing.... perhaps by  thwacking with a stick...  horsetail to breach the outer surface before applying weedkiller.  This is more effective... and safer, than using the chemical at extra strength.