BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

How do you kill bamboo? Is there any herbicide known to man that will kill bamboo?

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We were just talking about BUYING some bamboo.

What kind do you have?

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If it is the running type ..Good luck..
It will take a act of God to get rid of it.

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Bamboo is tasty and nutritious. Bamboo makes a great material with which to work into various wood-type articles. Why kill it when you can harvest it?

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buy a koala?

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That was I discovered when I thought about using it to build a natural fence and did some searching. Evidently it runs amok.....

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Buy two and sell the results.

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I don't know what kind it is. It's definitely not clumping, cause it keeps running under the fence heh. I've harvested enough bamboo to build a complete house.

I have so many bamboo utensils in my backyard it's looking like Gilligan's island. And then the said harvested bamboo eventually rots and gets brittle. It's starting to push the fence down, harbors mice, let see what else, oh yeah dumps tons of leaves everywhere.

Oh, and did I mention it's in my neighbors yard? I guess the previous owner thought it would be "cute". Well the house has been on the market for about 4 months now. And I really wanna just drop some napalm on it. Or poison the goddamn stuff. It's driving me crazy.

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I LOL'd.
feedthecharactermonster

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Do not under any circumstances let running bamboo take hold in, on, or around any parts of your property. Dear god. There is a clumping variety, but even then I wouldn't trust it. Put it in a big pot!!

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Yes, I've read on other forums that I'm basically screwed. I was just hoping that some of you other bad ass property owners, had a well lets just say, a "Grandpa's secret recipe" or something in regards to bamboo destruction.

God I hate bamboo.

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ah don't you mean panda?

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I'm not familiar with bamboo but have you tried Roundup or something similar?

Of course than you are going to have a large dead spot.

Years ago they sold a product called Pramitol. Spray it on and nothing would grow for at least 1 year.

Is it something you can dig out?

What have you tried so far?

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DT, I would think even if you did manage to completely eradicate it from your yard, the problem would return as it spread back from your neighbors yard, yes?

Have you considered taking a tiller to the yard?

And got any pics?

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Pure salt will kill almost anything. But that is a true scorched earth policy.....

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I've tried injecting concentrated glyphosphate directly into it's veins. Didn't even phase it. Tried painting glyphosphate on leaves, didn't do diddly squat.

It's in the neighbors yard next door, so I can't till it. When the new neighbors move in, I'm gonna ask them if I can PAY to have it removed. I think that would be the only legal way of offing it. But if it catches a cold and gets sick before then...

Then again a TON of it hangs over the fence too, so technically almost a 1/4 of the stuff is on my property per sey. Some stalks are about 30 ft tall. I'll try and get some pictures.

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Over fertilize it and over water it...seems to work on most other plants.

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:thumb.aspx:

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Funny thing is, it always seems to grow towards me. I never saw the previous neighbor EVER in the yard trimming it. Come to think of it, I don't think I ever saw them in the yard. Here is a bamboo action shot:

You can see a few cut nubs where I have cut stalks from years past.

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How about an unfortunate accident with a flame-thrower??? The neighbor's house is vacant? Have the spouse at the ready w/ the hose for fire control!

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Nice thought ..Will not work...
Maybe a low yield nuke...??
But it stil probably won't work, that stuff is tuff...:s10::signs1:

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welcome. Nice handle/av.

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Try using 24D , Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid.
Mix it with Roundup and diesel fuel. The diesel fuel keeps it from blowing astray while spraying it on the bamboo .
If the mature plants don't respond to that , then you will have to cut it all down then spray the new shoots as they come back , that will kill it . May take more than 1 spray though to get it all as they resprout , but it will killl it .

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If this stuff won't kill it, nothing will.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Arsenal-PowerLin...18132008r33955

Looks mighty pricey to me. I bought the regular Arsenal brand 15 years ago at the feed store and it was $60 a quart back then. The herbicide is the best. I sprayed it on weeds around some standing water 20 feet from a big oak tree. The tree died.

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That's what I'm talkin bout, thanks man.

Does it need to get on the leaves? Or can it stay on the stalk? Some of the leaves are 25~30 feet high, I can see it now, I spray this stuff and a gust of wind lays waste to my yard.

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Yes spray the leaf , on a calm day and the fuel will keep it from blowing to other plants or your yard . It will kill whatever it comes in contact with .Dont have to cover all the leafs but spray what you can get to .

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If the house is vacant and up for sale, maybe a call to the realitor can get you permissions to cut the thing to the ground.

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Yeah, I think I'm gonna go the ardous legal route first. But I will test a few things on the stalks that do grow in my yard as well.

They will need one whole truck for heavy trash day.

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Don't use poison in your yard to get rid of it.
Cut it down and cover the ground with sun blocking black plastic until it dies out.

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Above ground herbicide won't kill it. Not even 24D. Don't use that shit. No telling what you might kill, (plant life, bugs, critters, kids, relatives, neighbors, etc.) and it'll grow right back anyway. You have to kill the root. You'll either need to cut it down and cover it for at least a year like Zilver suggests, or you will need to increase the acidity in the soil with high strength vinegar after you cut it down. You can purchase 20% grain vinegar on the net, but it's nasty stuff. Probably better to go with 10%. It'll lower the soil ph for a while but can be brought back up later. I doubt household vinegar is strong enough for that big a job.

To keep it off your property just keep it mowed down.

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2/4D, otherwise known as Agent Orange from the Vietnam Days

Is very, very, very bad juju.

Here in the NW we have another wicked bad "runner",

Known as Convulvulus, or Morning Glory, which came over from Europe.

I had a house whose backyard was overrun with said beast,

And I fought it for 18 months, digging the runners out by hand,

Only to discover that if you left a 1/4" piece of runner in the ground

It would explode into a whole new infestation.

Well, I had a choice between insanity, alcoholism, or selling the place.

Then the mental heavens opened.

I mowed/weed whacked the whole yard, then leveled the dirt good.

Then I laid down the most heavy duty commercial grade weed blocker

I could find, and put 2" of 1" minus gravel over it as ballast for

The walkways and drainage for the raised beds I intended to build.

Then I built a raised bed garden over that.

It was my "Victory over Convulvulus" Garden.

Worked absolutely slick, no chemicals,

Huge improvement in garden, lots of fresh veggies

And herbs and cutting flowers.

Neighbors on all three sides were still overrun with Convuvulus.

Was still going strong when I had to sell the place 5 years later,

And was a strong selling point in the deal.

So there you go.

scyth

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

Put up a sign "Free Bamboo. You cut it. You haul it."

Only thing is, then you'll have to ask about getting rid of all the hippies who respond.

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I battled that stuff a year or two in West TN, the previous owners planted if along a stream to keep the bank from washing away and it took over everything.

Trimec 992 is a broad leaf weed killer that will only kill weeds, not grass, It will kill bamboo but its better to cut it down first and spray it when it sprouts back up. Use double the amount suggested, I use around 5 to 6oz, sometimes 8 per gallon of water. Tractor Supply sells Trimec, if you could find a surfactant to bond the spray to the leaf it will work better, Trimec is taken to the root via the leaf, so spray the leaves only. Diesel will act as a surfactant, but watch out for the EPA police. Keep spraying it everytime it pops back up, I killed about 2 acres of it. Keep in mind it is very hard to kill when it is as big as in the pictures, I ran the bush hog over it and hand cutters then sprayed it as it came back.

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Plant kudzu over it.

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You called?:bear_w00t:
I read the thread cause I thought it said Bamboo Association. Need glasses. I was a member of the ABS, make some stuff out bamboo here and there. Love bamboo - it's the second best grass there is!:wink:
You should leave it alone, maybe in 30 or 50 years or so it'll flower for ya! many usually die afterwards.

If it's not too far gone, and you'd like to keep some, google 'rhizome barrier', which is what the previous owners should have utilized.

Looking at the picture I'd guess a phyllostachys (but I'm no botanist), in which case , from another forum I see them recommend something called imazapyr, at a 1% solution, if ya gotta go chemical.
But I think a rhizome barrier along the fence line will save trouble in the future as far as it spreading more onto your place from the neighbors.
Maybe call your local cooperative extension, see if they have any ideas.

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Smothering :

Method used to remove bamboo is smothering with tarps. However, note that the bamboo may be able to outflank the tarps by spreading beyond their perimeters. Therefore, employing tarps can result in the bamboo's popping up somewhere else in the yard -- clearly not a desirable result!




Cutting:

Cut the bamboo shoots down
Apply water to the area
Cut down the new crop of bamboo that will result
Repeat the above, as needed

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

You mean a Panda. Koalas eat eucalyptus.

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You're right. Thank you. (See post #18)

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Do goats eat bamboo ?

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Round-up wil kill just about anything. I had a plant that was bugging the hell out of me, a Aloe Vera mutant relative that was not Aloe at all really, planted by a previous stoner resident on the property. I made the mistake of letting it sit about for a year and due to a repaired sprinkler system it went nuts and took over, then got covered in a parasitic weed. Fun. I wish you could have seen this thing yourselves...

This thing became a haven to mice and creatures everywhere. Where cockroaches would launch their nightly raids from. Neigbours caringly helped it's growth by throwing cat litter and beer bottles into it.

One day I had enough, cut it back and had a gardner help me cut it right to the ground. I zapped the newly cut stalks with roundup. I then walked around with roundup daily for the next week or so zapping all the shoots or pulling out ones that were easy to do. The grass all died off, but slowly made a comeback with a little encouragement.

The plant made one last bid for freedom but I blew it away before it got started once more.

Cut the bamboo to the ground, remove as much of the material you can. Wear pigskin gloves or similar you can get nasty spines in your hands that can itch. (Like splintered fibreglass). Spray each large cut shoot with a generous dose of roundup just on the newly exposed bit, give the whole lot a general spray at the end.

Bide your time for a repeat performance. It will die. The lawn will take time to recover. Don't fertilise or anything until you are sure it's all gone.

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

I planted a runner type on purpose because we needed a privacy barrier higher than legal fences badly. My trench to contain it has not proved deep enough and I have to cut escapees and their root connection regularly.

However, it does the job I wanted it for great. It is 15 - 20 feet high, 3 feet thick, cuts noise and wind and blocks any view into our yard from a street up a slope from us.

Redbirds nest in it, the dog eats leaves off it... but I realize it could take the whole yard if not managed agressively.

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I have known several people with the same problem. They all got rid of theirs the same way:

Bulldozer.

Clear it off, take about 2 ft. of topsoil off. Use fill dirt to fill the hole back up. Problem solved.

...but ya gotta dump it somewhere.

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

I've heard that bamboo roots are relatively shallow. So all you have to do is dig a trench that's 1-2 foot deep and put a barrier in it to prevent the roots from spreading. Where there are no roots, the plants can't grow. No chemicals needed.

Or I could lend you a goat.:111:

I recently planted bamboo, and am hoping that the worst horror story about bamboo growth comes true. My goats are always hungry. I've seen them decimated acres of blackberries and still want more, I figure that it's time to give them a new challenge. :shine:

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

since we have a plant killing thread......anyone have experience with killing honey locust trees

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Agent Orange is 2,4,5-T. Bad juju. 2,4-D is a fairly harmless chemical. You would have to drink a quart straight to kill you. Just take reasonable precautions and you'll be fine.

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Bamboo shoots are food over here in Japan. Not sure if there are different varieties or not.

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When I moved into the new place, the backyard is more like a mountain. This was COVERED in ivy...and Ivy keeps coming back over and over again...

Solution...Machete...Tiller...Spade...

Till that earth! Lotta hard work.

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

"water" it with diesel or kerosene - once a week. It'll kill off any other plants or grass near it as well, but it'll kill the bamboo dead eventually. Might be illegal in the US, I don't know.

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

Does bamboo grow well in colder areas? Does it overwinter well?

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Some varieties grow here in Ohio. Not sure about further north.

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I believe this thread is totally wrong for this forum, " Survival Prep".

SURVIVAL PREP to me means preparing to survive a WTSHTF situation.

In a true WSHTF situation, running bamboo would be about the best plant to have on your land.

IT IS A VERY PROLIFIC FOOD, SHELTER AND Fuel SOURCE ! ! !

And you can use it to conserve water too.

What more would you want in a WTSHTF environment ? ? ?

You would do better posting this in a "1950's, Ozzy and Harriet, let me cut my lawn, American Pie dream, everything is fine" thread.

Those times are over, at least most of us here believe.

We are headed for a potentially very dark period of trials and tribulations in this country and world.

But the original poster and many other posters act like BAMBOO is just a nuisance weed.

Nuke it with some roundup and mow your lawn, sell your real estate and the world is beatiful.

BAMBOO is a great gift from GOD, especially in a WTSHTF situation.

And your post is totally silly in a SURVIVAL PREP THREAD !

What are you "PREPPING" for, a photo shoot with Better Homes and Gardens ?

Just my humble opinion.

Re: BAMBOO ASSASSINATION
 

Jim has it right. Diesel will kill it and most anything around it.

Don't know where you can find it now, but we used to get a white granulated product called Spike. (got it on the sly from a timber company employee) That's some damn bad stuff too. A couple handfuls around the base of a hundred year old tree, and after the first rain, you'll have a dead hundred year old tree. Never seen anything like it.

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we used to spray weeds all the time with diesel......but now if we do and get caught its a DNR issue and fine and cleanup and verification of cleanup and intent to pollute, so if you use diesel at all be sure and "accidentaly spill" instead of spraying it so if caught the fines are lower and the intent to pollute is negated, cause you just had a spill and were trying to clean it up and were on your way to call the athorities,

personally i would,nt spray or use it in a populated area due to the obvious odor......in a rural area i would make sure to spray it when i knew the next few days were going to be dry to avoid the runoff

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Got that right Tazzman. I've been known to get "all thumbs" around fencerows and such at certain times of the year.

Another accident involving diesel was stump removal. 3/4" Spade-bit as deep as you can and leave a 2 liter bottle of diesel upside down in the hole. (Accidentally leave the cap off) Do this a couple of times over a week or so, then set the stump afire. It'll burn a couple of days and won't even leave roots behind.

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Bamboo spreads by rhizomes under the ground. what may look like many plants, in most cases, is only one. you need to install a barrier to contain it or it will take over everything. to give you an idea, i read a while back that the largest living organism recorded was a bamboo patch somewhere in asia. i can't remember the exact number but it covered something like 24 square miles.

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I know the young shoots are a standard in Chinese stir fries, but could you tell me more about fuel uses? I have to cut down excess regularly but never considered it as 'firewood'. Is it used that way in its natural range?

I also knew it was used for housing, bridges, and even a fiber in clothing, or various varieties are, but never heard of the fuel angle before.

edit - I checked wikipedia

no wonder I have trouble catching the moment of young tender shoots! LOL

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This is the Worst Possible Advice. :452:

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Probably. Gorse will kill a goat though. Bamboo will send a shoot under the street and appear on the other side.

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This sounds promising for silver.

2 kinds of anti-bacterial action in one fabric. :adore:

But I don't think I'm up to charcoal making on a small scale so using my excess bamboo as firewood seems out.

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Well the only thing I can see THIS bamboo useful for is making punji stakes. It burns with a very sooty flame, and leaves a lot of silicon or strange ash behind. It's not a good burning fuel. I've burnt a few bundles of it, and once it is not green anymore, almost goes up like flashpowder. Also once dessicated rots out and becomes very brittle after about a year or so. Due to the climate here on the gulf coast, also gets spotty mold over it's surface. I guess I have a bad species growing out back. But trust me, it's not the hard, build worthy stuff you'd see Mr. Miyagi building his dojo out of. Oh yeah, and I haven't tried gnawing on any "shoots" or so to speak, I don't find it being much of a food source or anything for that matter. The nubs are too tiny, it's not something you'd see tied up in chinatown, thats for sure.

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Me too, Dave. Mine does what I wanted. Here it is evergreen, makes a very tall noise diminishing, wind diminishing privacy barrier, but is a royal pain to control and I have found no use for the escapees I must cut.

It did turn our deck part of the yard, a small area, into a quiet restful green walled haven. The breeze through it makes a very peaceful sound.

I think the bulldozer post is likely the winner for actually getting it out once it is in. Maaaaybe old discarded carpet plus some plastic, layered, over cut down stubs might light and water starve it before it cut through. But it is good at cutting through.

The poison options sound pretty harsh to me.

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Have you tried dosing it with Copper Sulfate crystals?? I know that most plants will not survive exposure to copper. However, it too might be a scorched earth technique that might render then grown inhospitable for a few years.

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Care to explain why?

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Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

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:4_1_72: That'll fix it.

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I know a gardener who got stiffed on a 3 month maintainance bill. When the people went on vacation, he planted kudzu starts in all the flower beds. It's amazing how fast kudzu grows!

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Mulch it with black walnut leaves. That seems to kill everything else.

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Sprinkle it with MSG.:s9:

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One of my neighbors planted bamboo along the property line, luckily only one plant, I filled the biggest pots with water, brought to a near boil and drenched it. within two days it went from green to beige and is just a stick now.
If I had let that thing go it would have overrun my land.

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Bump............

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trust you TA :biggrin:

nice one.

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[QUOTE=specsaregood;1632994]

Have you considered taking a tiller to the yard?
QUOTE]

I once tilled some horseradish. Next year it came up like grass. I guess I chopped up the roots and spread it around to get ready for a come back.

Maybe not tilling would be a good thing.

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The 100% certain way I've heard to kill ANY plants is to spray with diesel fuel, or thin some motor oil with gasoline until you can spray that. If you only use gasoline or kerosene, they may mostly evaporate--but the oil/diesel is heavier and "sticks".

You just use a small spray-bottle and spray a bit directly on the leaves; you don't need to soak the plant, or spray the ground at all. Spray a bit on, wait 2-3 days and then if it doesn't appear to be successful, spray a bit more--plants do not build up a "resistance" to the stuff so if you under-do it, you can just come back later and put a bit more on.

Is it illegal? Yes, most certainly (at least in the USA).

Does it work? Yes, most certainly, and much faster than anything legal you can buy. Most plants will show distress in under twelve hours, and many will show it in only one or two hours. Even Roundup can take 2-3 days to kick in.

----

It'd be nice if there was products to target specific problem plants (like bamboo or kudzu) but either there isn't, or it's not legal for "ordinary people" like you to buy. That doesn't mean you have to admit defeat however. :biggrin:

-end-

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I think the best you can do is to contain it.
It looks like it is coming in from your neighbors yard under the fence.
I would dig a trench right by the fenceline, 2-3 feet deep,
cut ALL roots in the trench,
then put a barrier of thick plastic vertically in the trench and fill it in.
Most bamboo rhizomes grow in the top 2' of soil, by isolating the yards you will have a much smaller and weaker beast to tangle with.

Once it is isolated, you could just mow down then shoots every spring.
No shoots = no culms = no leaves = no food
it will probably die over a few years of mowing.

Think of it like this,
the bamboo organism is mostly underground, alot like a mushroom.
What you see above ground is only a small part of the whole organism.
So, cut it in half, and make sure the half on your property never sees the light of day again.

I have bamboo in my yard, contained in a circular bed lined 3' deep with 30mil hdpe sheet. I love it. I had no trees at all and after three years growing I now have a 30' tall 'shade tree'. It would take 30 years to grow a tree that tall,.