Can Bamboo Be Removed Before Laying New Turf?

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Yes, and it is one of the more sensible combinations of work there is — with one caveat about timing that is worth understanding before you book both for the same week.

Why Turf Over Bamboo Fails

Turf is about 25 millimetres of soil and grass. A bamboo shoot coming up under it goes through without noticing. Within one season a new lawn laid over untreated rhizome has canes coming up through it, and by the second it is a bamboo bed with grass around the edges.

There is also no way to correct it afterwards. Excavating rhizome out from under an established lawn means taking the lawn up again, so the cost of getting this wrong is the whole turfing job twice.

Why the Two Jobs Suit Each Other

A bamboo excavation leaves exactly what turfing needs: open ground, stripped of growth, dug over to a good depth, with the old surface gone. Most turfing jobs begin by creating that condition. Here it already exists.

• The stripping and clearing has been done as part of the excavation
• The ground is already open to 30 to 50 centimetres, which is deeper cultivation than turf preparation normally gets
• One visit, one team, one set of access arrangements
• The levels can be established during backfilling rather than corrected afterwards

The Timing Question

That is the counsel of perfection and it is not always practical. Where turf has to go down straight away, the compromise is:

1. A thorough excavation with the spoil properly sifted rather than simply turned
2. Backfill with clean imported topsoil rather than returning the excavated material
3. Turf laid as normal, and the area watched carefully through the first season
4. Any shoot that appears pulled immediately — and repeated mowing, which bamboo tolerates very badly, doing much of the work for you

Settlement, Which Catches People Out

A deep excavation backfilled loosely will settle, and a new lawn settles with it into a shallow dish. The backfill wants firming in layers as it goes in, and the finished level left slightly proud of the surrounding ground.

The Honest Version for a Boundary Case

Where the bamboo continues in a neighbouring garden, turf over the excavated area will have rhizome arriving under it from next door. A barrier on the boundary is part of the job rather than an optional extra, and without one the new lawn has a supply of shoots that does not stop. We would say so before laying anything.

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If bamboo removal and turfing are both wanted, say so at the quotation. Sequencing them together saves a second visit and gets the levels right first time.