Most blog posts on bamboo removal talk about the process in the abstract. This one talks about a specific job. A property in Western Sydney came to us with established running bamboo that had been planted as a back-fence screen about a decade earlier, had crossed onto the neighbour’s side, and was lifting paving on both properties. The owner had attempted DIY removal twice and a one-day cut-back by a general arborist once before calling us. The full eradication programme ran 18 months. This is what those 18 months looked like.
Note: identifying details — exact suburb, specific property features, the customer’s name — have been generalised. The timeline, treatment schedule, and outcomes are accurate.
When we arrived for the initial quote visit, the situation was the kind we see often in established Western Sydney gardens. The original bamboo planting was Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea), the most common running variety in Sydney suburban gardens, planted roughly 12 years earlier along the back fence as a privacy screen. By the time we were called in, it had:
Spread along the entire 12-metre back fence to a depth of roughly 1.5 metres into the customer’s yard
Crossed under the fence into the neighbour’s property in three separate locations
Sent rhizomes through the lawn to emerge as scattered shoots up to 4 metres from the original plant
Begun to crack the concrete edge of the customer’s pool surround, where rhizomes had followed the edge of the pool shell
Started to lift two pavers near a sliding door, also from rhizome force
The customer had tried twice to remove it with a chainsaw and Roundup over the previous three years. Each time the bamboo came back within months. The third attempt was a general arborist who’d cut everything down to the ground in a single day, sprayed the cuts with general-purpose herbicide, charged $1,200, and disappeared. Within ten weeks new shoots were coming through.
The neighbour was approached — agreed in principle to joint treatment, was happy for us to work on their side under our customer’s contract, with the cost shared evenly. That cooperation made the whole programme dramatically simpler. Where we get neighbours who refuse to engage, the alternative is a root barrier installation (which we cover separately in our bamboo root barrier guide).
What we quoted
The Step 1 quote (rhizome treatment phase) covered:
12 metres of back-fence bamboo + the neighbour’s adjacent strip
4-month initial treatment schedule, with monthly visits to cut and treat new shoots
A follow-on monthly visit for months 5–6 to confirm the rhizome was failing before progressing to Step 2
The Step 2 estimate (root ball extraction) was indicative — we don’t fix the price until we get there because the extraction effort depends on how well Step 1 worked. The Step 3 maintenance estimate was also indicative, billed per visit as needed.
The total programme estimate, ranged for the conversation, was between $5,800 and $8,500 split across the customer’s and neighbour’s contributions, over an expected 18–24 month timeline.
The customer’s reaction is one we hear often when we walk through the staged-quote model:
The fixed-price quote we’d had before was $3,500. Yours is more, but it’s the only one that’s been honest about how long it takes and what’s actually involved. We’ll go with you.
Site plan of a Western Sydney bamboo eradication job showing rhizome spread and damage points
(That conversation isn’t from this specific job — I’ve paraphrased a comment we’ve heard many times — but it captures the typical customer reaction to honest staged pricing vs cheap one-day quotes.)
Months 1–6 — Step 1, rhizome treatment
The first six months of any bamboo programme look the same. The crew arrived weekly for the first month, then fortnightly, cutting every visible shoot to ground level and injecting concentrated glyphosate into each freshly cut stem within seconds.
Visit 1 (Week 1): full cutback of the visible bamboo on both properties, every cane treated. Total of roughly 280 cane stems cut and injected on the first visit. The yard looked dramatically empty after Visit 1 — the customer’s first reaction was satisfaction, the team’s reaction was “now the real work starts.”
Visits 2–4 (Weeks 2–4): new shoots already emerging. Visit 2 found roughly 90 new shoots; Visit 3 found 60; Visit 4 found 35. The downward trend was what we wanted — the rhizome was spending its energy reserves on shoots that were getting cut and treated before they could photosynthesise.
Visits 5–12 (Months 2–4): fortnightly visits, declining shoot counts. By the end of month 4, individual visits were finding 5–10 new shoots — a fraction of what was coming up at the start. The rhizome’s stored energy was visibly running out.
Visits 13–18 (Months 5–6): monthly visits, mostly checking for isolated late shoots. Some visits found nothing at all. The above-ground bamboo was effectively gone; the underground rhizome network was no longer sending up viable shoots.
By month 6 we were satisfied that Step 1 had done its work. The rhizome was sufficiently exhausted that Step 2 (extraction) was now feasible — a live healthy rhizome network is rigidly anchored and immensely difficult to extract intact, while a chemically-depleted one comes out manageably.
Step 1 Shoot Counts (representative)
280
Visit 1 cuts
90
Visit 2 cuts
35
Visit 4 cuts
<5
Visit 12 cuts
Months 7–9 — Step 2, root ball extraction
With the rhizome network now chemically exhausted, the extraction phase began. The work involved:
Hand-digging the rhizome network out of both properties, working systematically along the fence line and out into the yard wherever rhizomes had travelled
Manual extraction with shovels, mattocks, and root saws — no machinery, because the bamboo was in established garden beds (and on the neighbour’s side, the rhizomes had travelled under a brick path that we didn’t want to disturb)
Tracing each rhizome to its end before cutting and removing, to minimise the chance of leaving fragments behind
Loading all removed material into trailer loads for landfill disposal — never composted, never mulched, never left on-site
Step 2 took about 8 working days across two crews over roughly 6 weeks (the work wasn’t continuous — we paused between visits to check that no new shoots were emerging from rhizomes we’d missed). The customer’s pool surround damage was repaired separately by a paving contractor after Step 2 was complete — by that point the rhizome force was gone and the repaired pavers would stay put.
The actual extracted root ball mass surprised the customer. Once we’d dug everything out, the pile of removed rhizome and root material filled three large trailer loads — far more material than the visible bamboo had suggested. This is typical, and it’s the visual proof point of why cutting the visible plant is never the same as removing the bamboo.
Months 10–18 — Step 3, maintenance phase
Step 3 looks anticlimactic by design. Quarterly visits for months 10, 13, 16, and 18 — we walked both properties, looking for any isolated new shoot that might have emerged from a missed rhizome fragment.
Months 10 and 13 each found one or two stray shoots. These were treated individually by the cut-stem injection method (same technique as Step 1, just on isolated shoots rather than a whole plant) and noted in the job log. Month 16 found nothing. Month 18 found nothing.
18-month timeline of a real ASET bamboo eradication programme on a Western Sydney property
After Month 18 with no regrowth across two consecutive visits, we signed off on the eradication as complete. The customer was given a 12-month follow-up offer (free check-in visit at month 30 if any new shoots emerge — none have at the time of writing).
The total programme cost across both properties came in at roughly $7,200 — within the original quoted range, split between the customer and the neighbour. The customer’s share was around $3,800 across 18 months. Compared with the $1,200 paid to the previous arborist for a single-day cut-back that achieved nothing, the maths is straightforward.
What we learned (or had reinforced) from this job
A few things from this job that consistently apply across our bamboo work:
Neighbour cooperation is the single biggest cost-saver. Without the neighbour agreeing to joint treatment, this job would have required a root barrier install (additional $2,000–4,000) and would have taken longer because the rhizome source would have remained alive on the other side of the fence.
Step 1 shoot counts are the leading indicator of programme success. The declining curve of shoot counts visit-over-visit is what tells us the rhizome is running out of energy. A flat or rising shoot count would have meant we needed to adjust the treatment protocol or extend the timeline.
Step 3 is the step that competitors don’t do. A one-day cut-back operator might claim “we removed your bamboo” after Visit 1. They wouldn’t be there at Month 13 to spot the late stray shoot and treat it. That stray shoot is the rhizome fragment that would have regrown into the next infestation.
The customer’s confidence builds over the programme, not at the start. The first three months feel slow (“haven’t they removed it yet?”). By month 6 the customer starts to see the difference. By month 12 they’re recommending us to friends. By month 18 we have a customer for life.
A customer in Pendle Hill summarised the through-line of working with us this way:
“From the very start, the experience was seamless. I was dealing with Amy and her team, who were incredibly professional, polite, and easy to communicate with. They made the entire process stress-free and provided a fair quote. The team did a fantastic job.”
The short answer is no. The longer answer is that the timeline is set by the rhizome biology, not by our schedule. We can’t speed up the chemical breakdown of the rhizome by treating more aggressively in Month 1 — the rhizome already has all the energy it has, and we have to wait for it to spend that energy on shoots that get killed. We CAN slow the timeline down by treating intermittently or missing visits, but the minimum time to fully exhaust an established running bamboo rhizome network in Sydney conditions is around 6 months of consistent Step 1 treatment.
Before and after of a Western Sydney bamboo eradication programme along a back fence
The 18-month total includes Step 1 + Step 2 + Step 3. A property with no neighbour involvement and a smaller rhizome network could finish in 12 months. A property with a bigger network, multiple species, or harder access could stretch to 24–30 months. The 18-month figure is typical for a job of this size and complexity.
How You Get Permanent Bamboo Removal
Bamboo removal isn’t an emergency, but it is a commitment. At ASET Tree Removal, we run the programme honestly — staged quotes, realistic timelines, and consistent treatment that respects the underlying biology of the plant.
No pushy sales tactics. We have a friendly conversation, show you the lay of the land, and explain the different options available. You move forward at your own pace. People choose to work with us because we educate them on their options and help them feel confident about what will work best for them.
We’ll walk you through the realistic timeline for your situation so you know what you’ll commit to. We’ll explain the staged quote model so you understand exactly what you’re paying for at each step. And we’ll help you navigate the conversations that matter — including with neighbours, where joint treatment is the right path.
Our goal is straightforward. We want you to have a bamboo solution that works when you need it.
Get in touch with us today.
How We Work With You
Step 1: We Talk and Answer Your Questions
A friendly first call. We’ll listen to your situation and answer anything you want to know about the programme.
Step 2: We Inspect and Educate You on Your Options
A site visit to assess the bamboo, identify the species, map the rhizome direction, and check for neighbour involvement. We come back with realistic options.
Step 3: You Decide What Works Best
We talk through the options together. You choose the path that suits you.
Step 4: We Stay With You Through the Programme
We’re there for the full duration — every treatment visit, every check-in, until we sign off that the eradication is permanent.
Information in the arboriculture industry changes frequently. Linked content may change or become outdated. Please always contact us for help with your important property decisions.
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