Bye, Bye, Bamboo!

At the end of my last posting, yesterday, I said, “Maybe next time I can tell you all about Bamboo that we can’t get rid of or stop.” Today I got a comment from my friend Cookie over at The Cook Shack who said “Betcha it's that Japanese bamboo....” So I searched Japanese Bamboo ,on the web, first and…………



Virginia Tech Weed ID photo on the left and my photo of our problem Bamboo is on the right. Anyone notice any similarities? Dead on Cookie! You probably saved me a lot of searching as there are 1200 species of Bamboo in the U.S.

The plant on the left is Polygonum cuspidatum, commonly known as Bamboo, Japanese Bamboo, Japanese Knotweed, Mexican Bamboo and Rice Cane, is native to Japan and was introduced into the United States as an ornamental. Widely planted in the Northeast, it escaped from cultivation and became an obnoxious weed. Regardless of this fact, it can still be found in some nurseries.

I now know that I need to wait until the flowers are at their peak and then I can spray it with Roundup, which should also kill the roots. I have not been doing this, in years past and I have not touched it. It is in a lot of unattended places in the cemetery and hopefully this year “Bye Bye Bamboo.
Thank you Cookie! I really love this blogging thing.