Well said! I've also had bamboo on my acre and a half homestead for years (not quite 180 years yet, though!) and I've never had a problem. A little foresight, information and effort is all it takes to have a good experience with bamboo. I've got 24 or 25 species and I love it! It always amazes me how people find out that I have bamboo and feel compelled to tell horror stories of ignorant people who had bad experiences. I've seen this before, actually. I ride motorcycles and I've observed that many people spontaneously offer horrible stories of motorcycle wrecks they've seen and heard of (again, mostly ignorant people doing dumb things and having problems).

Sorry about the rant! The bottom line is - runners do outperform clumpers (at least in zone 6 in Ohio they do anyway!) and it's sad how many people are scared to plant and enjoy them. It's nice to hear a positive statement about bamboo control!

It's a good idea...but I can almost guarrantee that metal sheets will have rusted through
in 180 year's time ;-)

Josh

Agreed! The key is that most people who have runaway bamboo either don't know how it spreads and that they need to do something to prevent this, they forget to do it or get lazy, they move away and the new owners know nothing about how to contain the bamboo, or they rely on in-ground barriers completely, never checking for escapes or failed barriers.

Most barriers can and do fail given enough time, so diligence is important.