Can You Cut Bamboo With a Brush Cutter?

Thinning Bamboo

• Timber bamboo, such as Phyllostachys vivax and P. nigra, are used by homeowners as living screens. These plants work well for this purpose since they are tall and aggressive growers. However, they must be thinned out to maintain their health, or else these stands become scraggly. Cut dead, scarred or weak bamboo stems, or culms, at ground level with a reciprocating saw.

Harvesting Bamboo

• Another use for larger bamboo is as a timber product. Harvesting is similar to thinning, except that when harvesting, only healthy bamboo that is at least 5 inches in diameter should be selected. These will be tall bamboo poles so cut carefully to control when and where they fall. Cut at a node after the bamboo finishes producing new shoots in the late summer through the winter. Never remove more than one-third of a bamboo stand each year.

Out of Control Bamboo

• When bamboo becomes unmanageable, homeowners may be tempted to simply mow it down. This does not result in effective control, however, since the root system is hardy and extensive although it is easy to dig since it is shallow. Mowing can take years to control bamboo stands. Instead, dig out the offending culms. Dig a trench about 18 inches deep around the culms you want to keep and erect a barrier made of concrete, metal or plastic to contain them.

Eliminating Bamboo

• Removing bamboo that has gone wild requires digging each culm out of the soil and eliminating all root fragments. Any remaining running-type bamboo will send out aggressively spreading underground stems and continue to produce shoots, which will start the bamboo problem all over again. Care must be taken with all sizes of running bamboo, from the giant timber types to the extremely dwarfed running bamboo, as mowing will only cut them back to the ground, not kill them.