Like many unsuspecting homeowners, Leah Jones thought nothing of the bamboo growing in the back garden of her terraced home in Plymouth.
In fact, she embraced its exoticism, decorating the shoots with fairy lights to make it the backdrop to a family seating area.
What Jones didn’t appreciate was the potentially destructive nature of the plant, the spreading tendrils of which can cause untold damage to gardens, patio paving and just about anything else that gets in its way.
Having been overlooked by her surveyor, the problem remained undetected until Jones’s father-in-law mentioned bamboo could be an invasive plant. It was then that the penny dropped; plenty more pennies would follow.
‘When we bought the house we had no idea of the problems bamboo can cause, and our surveyor didn’t mention it,’ said Jones, who has been left facing a bill that could rise to as much as £7,000.
A hastily commissioned bamboo survey revealed the plant had snaked its way across the entire width of Jones’s garden, which was crisscrossed by an underground network of runners. Some were even visible against the wall of the neighbouring property.
Jones and her family, who must now shoulder another heavy financial burden with the ink barely dry on their mortgage contract, is one of countless homebuyers across the country to inherit a problem that is unchecked, ungoverned and unrelenting.
What to do if you think you have invasive bamboo
- Do a little bit of digging – literally. Invasive species of bamboo should be relatively easy to spot
- Take a trowel and start to explore where the root ball sits. Bamboo should not be planted too deeply into the soil, so this should not require a professional gardener
- The thing to look for is if the bamboo has runners – horizontal roots. If it doesn’t, you should be fine. But any runners longer than 25cm will likely need immediate work
- If so, sever the runners. This can be done a couple of times a year to keep the bamboo contained. You could also consider repotting into a strong ceramic pot, or creating a proper barrier
- If the runners are longer, with bamboo clumps of over 5-10sqm, seek professional help. Consider getting in machinery to remove the root ball. But the main thing is to take help immediately. Consider checking for runners every year
In contrast with Japanese knotweed, which sellers are bound by law to reveal, there is no option for purchasers to go through the courts if they discover bamboo after parting with their money.
‘Nobody wants to inherit a stressful and expensive issue when they buy a property, but this is frequently happening with bamboo as there is no legal framework to protect buyers,’ said Emily Grant, operations director for Environet, a UK-based company that specialises in the removal of invasive plants from residential and commercial properties.
‘We’ve seen cases where clients have moved into their new home and they’ve barely unpacked before their new neighbour has knocked on the door asking what they’re going to do about the bamboo which is spreading on to their property.’
As Jones has discovered, the price of that cocktail of legislative shortcoming and blissful unawareness is substantial.
Eliminating bamboo, which involves removing the ball of roots at the base of the plant together with its network of underground stems, known as rhizomes, costs roughly £4,000.
It is a painstaking process, with little room for error: if the rhizomes are severed rather than eradicated, new shoots will emerge from the nodes growing along their stems, allowing the plant to take hold again.
Nor does the problem end there.
The intrusive nature of the work, which involves using a mini excavator, typically leaves homeowners with a barren landscape of soil, rubble and other debris.
In Jones’s case, making good the damage to her patio, artificial lawn and landscaping could set her back another £3,000. Given the potential damage to her home – not to mention other nearby properties – she has little choice but to pay.
‘It’s going to cost us several thousand pounds to have the bamboo removed next month, with major disruption to the garden, including removing the artificial grass, lifting the patio and excavating all the root balls and runners from the ground,’ said Jones.
‘We feel we have no choice but to tackle the problem. There’s a high chance it will spread into neighbouring gardens if we leave it, or cause damage to our own house.
‘I also want to avoid having problems when we decide to sell the property in the future. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t buy a property with bamboo in the garden – I would insist that the seller have it removed first.’
While surveyors are becoming more alive to the dangers of bamboo – which according to Environet affects approximately 2 million homes in the UK – the onus remains on purchasers to be vigilant.
‘In our view, mature bamboo which is planted directly into the ground should be flagged on a property survey, recommending the buyer undertake further investigations to find out whether it’s spreading and what it would cost to remove,’ said Grant.
‘In addition to potential damage to their own property and garden, buyers need to consider the risk of a legal case from a neighbour if the bamboo encroaches into their property.’
