I have used bamboo poles I cut in my garden for many years.
I turn the leaves under & never had a problem.
Shred & compost them should help, if there is any problem.
I have never had a problem myself.

Various species of bamboo can produce allelopathic characteristics but they do not affect all plants. Just as with other plants with allelopathic properties, a proper composting process pretty eliminates any risk.

Thanks for the two pieces of information. The prunings will be shredded along with any other additions to the heap, which increases the ability to generate heat.

I'm glad that I came across this thread. Our county runs a great compost facility. We take yard waste, trimmings and Christmas trees there and leave with mulch or compost. The compost is wonderful and never has been a problem. Recently I pulled up to the compost facility with a pickup truck full of bamboo, these were cut, leafy stems. I was turned away. I asked why and was handed a paper stating that : thistle & noxious weeds, bamboo, poison ivy, oak & sumac, diseased & infested plant material were unacceptable?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? The following week I got a hold of the chief and he said that bamboo doesn't break down. He said that the policy won't change. What do you think?

I'm skeptical. I don't know about the breakdown but I thought at least certain species could be invasive and hard to control once they get started. I would think shredding and composting would help that so maybe there really is a problem with how fast it breaks down. But if they are shredding it and mixing it with massive amounts of other material, I don't see how they would know.

Compost it yourself and find out!

Bamboo leaves are pretty much harmless and certainly will not lead to new plants or the potential of an invasive grove of bamboo taking over your compost pile!! It doesn't spread that way. Bamboo canes or poles are very durable but they will eventually breakdown and decompose just as any sort of woody tree material will although they should probably be run through a chipper or shredder before adding to your own compost pile. Intact, they could last for years in their current state.

FWIW, my area of the PNW runs one of the largest commercial composting operations in the country (primary from a 3 county area of yard waste pick up) and to my knowledge, NOTHING is prohibited from yard waste recycling. I have used both the collection facilities and the end product many times and have never seen any posted prohibitions nor encountered any issues with finished goods. This stuff is tested out and certified organic, btw.

The MD operation is likely being overly cautious or just does not run a high efficiency operation. A hot, actively maintained commercial operation should be able to digest and process anything without concern.

We have clumping bamboo planted near the road. We don't rake up the leaves when they fall and we have plenty of wildflowers that grow right there as well as St. Augustine grass.

Hi community

i live in Jaipur,India which is hot and dry 8 months in a year .We live on a small piece of farmland where we have planted and nurtured quite a few bamboo clumps.i have noticed that bamboo leaves compost a lot more slowly than the other `leaves that we put in our compost pits ,and was thinking of using them for mulch to reduce/check evaporation of water from the beds of the other `trees that we have planted- lemons,mangoes,custard apples,Indian gooseberry,guava etc.

My question is this: Are dry bamboo leaves susceptible to termite attack as we have a major termite problem ,and i don`t want the bamboo mulch to attract termites to the tree-beds in which i propose to put them.

Does anyone have an insight on this ?

Thanks

Sammy

I think it's about what breaks down fast enough to make the compost look nice and clean that everyone loves. Finding bits of bamboo bark that hasn't decomposed well might make some people upset.

Eg, in my case, I compost out of a small trash bin. Green leaves break down just fine in the time I give it. But certain oak leaves that I got in the fall and add throughout the year, thinking that it's so great to have it available, don't break down that well. In other compost piles, it should be golden to use those leaves, but in my little dinky container, it's not. So I won't be using them again.

I have plans to chip up bamboo canes for my garden walk way.

I suspect it is a suburban myth. I live in Annapolis, MD and shredded a stand of bamboo in my backyard into a fairly latge pile. It quickly composted itself and after two years the pile had complelly disappeared. I was astonished. Piling up unshredded bamboo is a different story.

How green are you chips, I have cured bamboo I cut 6 years ago & dried it, no chemicals & it still has not rotted away, but it brakes easy.

This is good to know,(Your post) as I have never shredded Bamboo.I want to use it as mulch & mushroom compost.

Thanks.

I found this and thought it was interesting. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017EGUGA..19.5927L/abstract By what it says here it makes good compost nothing wrong with it . And as far as bamboo breaking down ive composted bamboo leaves and they break down slower but they break down . They will compost better of course if you mix in green matter and keep it the right moisture. Ive also used bamboo leaves as mulch in my greenhouse for lettuce and its excelent mulch without even shredding it. As for the part of restricting growth it sure didnt restrict the growth of my lettuce !