I've read somewhere on Y!A, that you can actually burn bamboo (roots) to completely get rid of it. Is this true?? I believe I have the clumping type, and have been trying for 6 months already to remove....One of our options was to rent a bulldozer, but it's costly, and am afraid of running into any pipes...Can I really, truly, burn these things out????
Bamboo is a grass. Roundup works to kill grass and since it is systemic there is minimal hazard using it. A bulldozer will fail because it will not get the roots out deep enough to stop the bamboo from coming back. Running a dozer is fun, so use this as an excuse to play with one anyhow.
The roots are not the problem, its the RHIZOMES you must completely remove to stop it from coming back. Fire couldn't hurt... I've used a blow torch to kill wandering rhizomes and they seem to die completely.
