Our Containing and Removing Bamboo web page provides a few options, including the proposals by those two landscapers. Using herbicide may be more effective or time-efficient in some cases (especially when digging rhizomes out can damage the roots of desirable plants nearby), but more than one herbicide application is probably going to be needed if the bamboo regrows a bit after each treatment. Eventually, it will succumb, as it would with manual removal, though the latter approach generally takes longer and can involve disturbing more soil. (Soil disturbance, like digging out or grinding-down rhizomes, can encourage weed seeds to germinate.) When herbicide is used, the timing of removal focuses on early autumn, so the systemic chemical more easily "hitches a ride" down into the roots with the sap flow, as the plant sends some energy stores into roots for the winter. Manual removal can start anytime, but would be most practical after the bamboo starts growing new culms (stems) in spring so you can better tell where the patch has spread.

If you want to completely get rid of bamboo, then installing a rhizome barrier won't be necessary, since your goal is to have no bamboo left after removal efforts succeed. If you can't get rid of it all because part of the clump is outside your property, then installing a rhizome barrier is helpful to keep it from creeping back onto your property. In that case, it may be more practical to get the barrier installed, then work on removing the bamboo on your side of the barrier, so you're not fighting new culms while trying to get rid of what's already there.

You can't really grind out the roots of bamboo the same way a tree trunk can be ground-down, since the root system is spreading and more able to resprout in various places (even if cut into pieces) and resume spreading compared to the root system of a tree. If the company proposing this has had success with that method, then that may work, but if they are not experienced with removing bamboo, cutting it down without grinding stems below the surface may be simpler, cheaper, and less destructive to the rest of the landscape. Keep in mind that any machinery used to help manually remove the bamboo is going to compact the soil, something which takes time to remediate and which could harm any trees, shrubs, or perennials in that area of the yard.

On the one hand, the cost of manual removal will involve paying for someone's time in repeated sessions of cutting/digging, versus the cost of chemical removal being the herbicide itself and the applicator's time on several visits. They might wind-up having similar costs in the end, but if the herbicide approach works faster, then manual removal will wind-up costing more overall. It's up to you; different herbicide options may be presented, and some can persist or move in soil or groundwater for longer or more easily than others, a consideration for runoff contamination (especially if digging out rhizomes causes erosion until the site can be mulched or replanted) and any desirable plants whose roots infiltrate that area.

Miri

Your response was absolutely wonderful…so informative. I still have a couple of questions but feel confident that you will be able to answer them. The landscaper who wanted to use an herbicide said it would be applied in the growing season from late spring to early summer. In the link "Containing and Removing Bamboo” the recommended time for applying a systemic herbicide was mid-Sept to mid-October. Which should I believe? 

When I compiled that web page, I was basing the herbicide recommendations on sources outside of UME, though I don't recall at present whose suggestion was autumn versus spring/summer. It's possible either time would work, though more study may be needed. In general, systemic herbicide applications for perennial plants (excluding those that go dormant early, like Lesser Celandine) is recommended for late summer or autumn since that's when the majority of sap flow is carrying materials from the foliage into stems and roots for winter storage before the leaves fall, so the chemical seems to "hitch a ride" into the roots, where it's needed, more efficiently that time of year. Using herbicide to control Tree of Heaven, for instance, is focused on making applications around (or just before) the time the leaves are changing color in autumn.

I don't have more specific tips for when to cut new growths as I am not aware of research to determine the precise timing of cut-backs, but any removal of above-ground growth will help to weaken the plant. Usually, the more promptly the removal can happen after new growth is discovered, the better, since it denies the plant an opportunity for more photosynthesis, which only serves to help "recharge" roots with energy for future growth/regrowth. Bamboo may seem quite daunting to eradicate, since it's so pervasive, but like any plant, with enough suppression of photosynthesis, eventually the plant weakens too much to stop regrowing. The more established (with an extensive rhizome and root system) the plant is when eradication efforts being, the longer that process might take, but combined with using herbicide, it should be successful provided you have access to the whole patch/colony of the plant. Every time new growth is produced, it's using-up stored energy, and by keeping the plant from getting energy from photosynthesis, it will be depleting energy faster than it can replace it.

One advantage to removing new shoots as they appear is that the growths are more tender and easier to cut/kick over than they will be when more mature and starting to produce leaves. So, even if the timing of removal for new culms is not that exacting, the physical effort to remove them once they've reached a few feet high or are starting to expand leaves or secondary branches will be greater, potentially dulling saws faster and taking longer to cut down per culm.

Miri

Thanks. You are a marvelous source of information. I am truly grateful. Joanne 

You're welcome!