Planting bamboo: the right root barrier

Planting bamboo is easy when you choose the right root barrier. A rhizome barrier is essential to prevent excessive spreading. Suitable material, depth and diameter are just as important as instructions.

Prevent it from spreading

Bamboo is one of the fast-growing plants that can spread very widely in a short time. On the one hand, this is a great advantage. Because this means that the following factors are met:

• Gaps between the plants are filled in a short time
• quick privacy screen
• low maintenance effort despite rapid growth
• Wind is effectively slowed down

In addition to these advantages, there are also some disadvantages due to growth. For example, the bamboo can spread very far and undesirable. This also applies when lawn edging stones, paths or even walls and walls are delimitations. Because the roots can also spread through cracks or joints and even damage the walls.

Planting bamboo

The process itself is very simple as the bamboo is easy to care for. It can be planted from spring to early autumn and is also undemanding in terms of substrate. The earth should just not tend to compaction, otherwise it is prone to waterlogging. The bamboo does not tolerate this.
It is important to pay attention to the dimensions when digging out the substrate. Depending on the desired expansion of the plants, the pit and thus also the root barrier must be correspondingly large. For example, only a narrow strip is necessary as a privacy screen on the garden fence. A little more may be required for the border of the natural pool, whereas a round section is sufficient for the Asian garden.

Depth and diameter

The rhizome barrier should be set 65 centimeters deep. This will prevent the roots from spreading underground. In addition, a drainage layer can be placed under the bamboo, which prevents waterlogging.
A surprising amount of space is required given the distance to the roots. It should be one and a half to two meters. This gives the plants enough space to spread out. In addition, a comparatively large amount of substrate is available.
This has several advantages. These include:

• less maintenance
• larger water reservoir
• more nutrients

Nevertheless, watering must be done occasionally and excess plants or cuttings removed.

Suitable materials

The lock should be made of durable plastic. A suitable material is, for example, polyethylene. This should have a particularly high density. The abbreviation on the product is HDPE. The merits of the material are numerous. The most important factors are:

• easy to install
• flexible and therefore adaptable
• easy and quick exchange
• comparatively low price

This film is available in hardware stores and online. It is offered under different names. Like for example:

• Cover fleece
• Floor fabric
• Root barrier
• Root foil
• Root stop

Tip: The film should have a thickness of at least two millimeters. The width should be at least 70 centimeters.

instructions

Planting bamboo and preventing it from spreading takes just a few steps. The following guide shows how to do it.

1. Dig the planting hole: It should be at least 65 centimeters deep and one and a half to two meters wider than the plants. Loosening up and enriching the earth is also useful during this measure.
   
2. Compress earth: The soil must be compacted so that there is a flat and solid surface to support the film. For this purpose, for example, the placing and weighting of boards or a vibrating plate are suitable.
   
3. Lay out the foil: Since bamboo is a shallow root, the roots spread out laterally. It is therefore sufficient to spread the film upright along the edges. It is pulled five to ten centimeters wide on the surface and attached. This prevents the bamboo roots from spreading beyond this edge. The two ends of the film are then connected with an aluminum rail so that no growth can take place here either.
   
4. Insert drainage: Bamboo is often grown near ponds. In order to ensure the water drainage, a drainage layer should then be introduced. This can consist of coarse gravel and crushed stone.
   
5. Fill in the earth: When all these preparations are completed, enough substrate is poured in for the plant to be flush with the surface as it was before. Under no circumstances should the shoots be covered higher than necessary.
   
6. Plant bamboo: The plants are used. The earth is compacted and watered to encourage growth.

Tip: Depending on how big the planting hole should be, the use of a mini excavator can be useful. One can often be borrowed free of charge from hardware stores.

Retrofit the root barrier

It is not always known that bamboo can spread quickly and very far after planting. Therefore, the lock is not always present from the start. One possibility of modification is the subsequent insertion of the film.
To do this, a trench is dug around the bamboo. This should be 20 to 40 centimeters wide. Otherwise it will be difficult to lay out the rhizome barrier to the appropriate depth.
As soon as the foil has been laid out and the ends connected, the trench can be filled up with earth again.

frequently asked Questions