Big fan of running bamboo. The way they take over an ecosystem is impressive. They send roots in all directions much further than you would expect to find all water possible. Then they shoot up 5-10-15 meters high within 60 days!! Then they create a blanket of leaves to soak all the sun. And to top it off they drop the leaves to cover the ground just to make sure nothing else gets a chance to grow. Many of the variants are edible and some produce sufficiently hard material for fences, huts, tools and furniture. That is all.
How do you contain it to an area?
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It depends on what kind of containment you require. If you need to contain the roots you have to install a rhizome barrier of some kind. But the rhizomes cant extend further than about 20 feet (6 meters) from a mature culm/stalk and the new shoots can be kicked or mowed so you can also contain it that way. I mean that way it can never leave its original area until you stop mowing or kicking the new shoots which only tries to come up twice a year afaik.
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