← Species guide
Running bamboo
High riskPhyllostachys and related running species
Increasingly planted as a garden screen, running bamboo behaves like knotweed: its underground rhizomes travel metres under fences, patios and drains, and removal is expensive. Clumping types are far safer, but sellers rarely say which is which.
How to identify it
- Hollow segmented canes with prominent nodes, 2–5m tall
- Lance-shaped leaves in high, papery sheaths along the canes
- Fresh shoots like pale asparagus spears in late spring
- Rhizomes — thin, hard, yellow-orange runners — just under the soil, metres from the plant
Why it matters
- Prises up patios, paving, drains and pond liners, like knotweed
- Crosses property boundaries, creating neighbour disputes and, increasingly, surveyor flags on sales
- Dense canes shade and crowd out garden planting
How to control it
- Identify whether it is a running or clumping type before acting — clumping bamboo is generally manageable
- Never cut canes and leave the rhizome; it regrows strongly
- Excavate the full rhizome system, or cut repeatedly and treat regrowth with herbicide over several seasons
- Install a root barrier 1m deep along boundaries if excavation is not possible
- Never tip canes or soil with rhizome fragments into green waste or over a hedge
