Bamboo clearing.

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DocDoesFarming
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Bamboo clearing.

Post by DocDoesFarming »

We have quite a lot of land at the back of the house I would like to use however because the farm hasn't been used for many years Bamboo has grown quite a bit. Bamboo roots are a right nightmare to get rid of by hand, so after cutting this mini forest down what can I do to to remove it all and get this area ready for planting in the near future?
Would hiring a digger be worth it Or am I out of luck and I should just build my chicken house there instead?

Also with the amount of Bamboo around here maybe I should learn weaving.
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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by Zasso Nouka »

Bamboo roots can be really tough, if it's moso dake (the big edible one) then you'd probably be best off hiring a digger as it's roots are so thick and tough they can damage a rotary attachment on a tractor. If you are going to keep free range chickens then that could make an ideal location for them to range in. You'd need to fence the area off and maybe thin it out a bit but they will keep it clear of underbrush and will even clear thinner bamboo varieties.

If it's one of the thinner varieties then clearing become a lot easier and might be possible with a tractor after you've cut down all the live stems, what type of bamboo is it ?

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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by gonbechan »

Zasso is right, thinned bamboo will give your chickens cover from kestrels, hawks, eagles etc.
You could get a couple of guinea fowl to manage snakes and rats, then all you would need is a very sturdy fence to keep out land predators.

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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by Eric in Japan »

Hire a digger if you want to use it for farmland/garden.
As long as you have a digger coming, consider putting a barrier down along the edge as well. Have it dig a trench 60cm deep along the edge, and bury plastic roofing panels. That should keep most of the roots out for quite a few years.
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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by DocDoesFarming »

Zasso Nouka wrote:
Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:27 am
if it's one of the thinner varieties then clearing become a lot easier and might be possible with a tractor after you've cut down all the live stems, what type of bamboo is it ?
I think it's moso dake because of how thick it is in some places. The thought never occurred to me about using it as cover though. I could look into that if we decide to do free range.
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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by Zasso Nouka »

DocDoesFarming wrote:
Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:24 pm
I think it's moso dake because of how thick it is in some places. The thought never occurred to me about using it as cover though. I could look into that if we decide to do free range.
We have moso dake on our land and it's easier to control than some of the thinner types, plus you get tasty bamboo shoots at this time of the year and the thick poles can come in handy for all sorts of things and according to the prestigious Sam O'Nella Academy chickens originated within bamboo forests



If you do use it for free ranging your chickens import an electric fence energiser from abroad or buy a foreign made one from someone like FarmAge rather than buying one from a home centre. It will cost you more but the build quality is way better.

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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by DocDoesFarming »

Zasso Nouka wrote:
Wed May 01, 2019 6:00 am

We have moso dake on our land and it's easier to control than some of the thinner types, plus you get tasty bamboo shoots at this time of the year and the thick poles can come in handy for all sorts of things and according to the prestigious Sam O'Nella Academy chickens originated within bamboo forests
As a mulch, Bamboo powder is supposed to be nice so I was thinking of renting one of those chippers to clear some stuff. Turns out the minimum you have to rent the thing for are 3 days so I was looking at 5-6万 for 3 days plus them to delivery the thing, I gave that idea up.

I've got loads of things I want to build with all this Bamboo I cut down. Outside wall cladding for the bigger house (whether that ends up look nice of not depends on my DIY skills), makeshift rain gutters for the back of the houses (save some money on buying guttering), fences and herb (none druggy) garden plant boxes for the wife.
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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by Zasso Nouka »

For that price you could buy an import model on Yahoo Auctions, there's a second hand one over in Ibaraki that you might be able to see before buying.

Joyful Honda (or Rakuten) has a range of sizes of bamboo splitters so you can consistently get the same sized sections. I've used them before when making hoops to stretch agricultural insect netting over and they work quite well. The one thing to bear in mind is that the cast iron ones can be somewhat fragile if repeated struck with a hammer in the centre of the splitter. So either get a steel one or only hit the handles and attach a block of wood to the centre if you find you need to hammer there.

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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by Ibaraki llama »

I’ve been clearing a lot of bamboo with my clearing saw. I ran into the same problem as doc in renting a chipper. I want to use the bamboo for mulch, so we ended up buying one that could handle bamboo plus thicker branches. I figured it’s going to be an ongoing process over the years as we have a lot of bamboo and trees on our property. Bought one for 10 man, new, I’ve used it a couple of days and it’s pretty good.

I’ve also had to pull some of the bamboo roots out in places where I want to put in some temporary driveway paving. Not much fun. I’m still going to see if I can kill off the roots in places I don’t need the land urgently just by lopping off anything that sticks its head out of the ground from time to time.

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Re: Bamboo clearing.

Post by Zasso Nouka »

You can also weaken the root system somewhat quicker by letting shoots sprout and then chopping them back just under where the first side branches are. This doesn't work with moso dake as they are too tall but can be effective with smaller varieties. The idea being that each pole you leave actually drains energy from the root system rather than feeding it and so weakens it more quickly.

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