How tall must your bamboo be to obscure their view?

a. it might take 3,4 years for a bamboo to reach the height you need. No screening until then.

b. even then, a good cold snap might top-kill it so much that you'd lose your privacy until it grew tall, and leafed out, again.

When the bamboo escapes into their yard, they can push over the shoots for the couple weeks they come up in the spring. They may not like it, but it sounds like that's not something that would bother you. :)

We are having a zoning fight in San Antonio for exactly the situation you describe: developers in-filling new homes in estabalished neighborhoods by sub-dividing residential lots.

Yes you are responsible if it goes into their yard. My suggestion is to dig a trench 2-3 feet deep, more like 3 and about 8 inches wide. Fill it with cement. put this on the outer or fence line of your yard, do the same about 3-6 ft out making a huge enclosure. Then buy the biggest boo you can and some smaller boo, and mix them so you have cover high and low.. get speciman boos if have the money otherwise will be a 2-3 year wait before you have anything significant to block them out.. get some Moso and some ph a.a.f or if you want the same color maybe dulcis. Dont think clumpers will make it in NJ so you looking at runners. Bissetti fills in nicely down low, Moso or Henon will fill in up high..

You may try a Fargesia like Fargesia robusta as they are rated down to -10 or even -20... but I don't know how tall they would get in your area (the Fargesia are clumpers and usually need partial shade).

First off, to answer your question if you plant a plant that significantly impacts your nieghbors then you could be in trouble for it.

Now, regarding your situation, if the land is actually your back yard then the development is very much illegal, if its your land then you can go out an bulldoze the buildings down, then send the bill to whomever built them, however, I get the feeling that you bought property in a new development and that you bought it for the surroundings that you did not buy. If you were up against park or something zoned for different use then it shouldn't have been used, but a reasonable person should be able to tell that if you buy into a development that abuts and area that is undeveloped then chances are the undeveloped area will be developed soon. Thats how development work, even manhattan was once very sparsely populated.

Its important to remember that if you like the screen of greenery that is behind a prospective property that you should asertain as to weather it will be around for a while after you purchase the land or not, Idealy you want to either purchase a portion of the forrest behind you or have it locked up in a national forrest or a park or landtrust.

Now, them dumping on your property is a differnt matter, if they don't use chemicaqls on there lawn then personally I would welcome the additional compostables,however if there lawn abuts yours and they just dump on your side of the fence without your permission then something does need to happen. I'll bet that if you have a ferrest border with them or a bamboo grove that they will dump into it, and if you dislike them you should check often and give them guff afterwords.

In CT we had the same housing impact/encroachment situation. We planted 125 feet of Yellow Groove bamboo as a barrier (you'll see it discussed in other forums). For your sake (and to avoid trouble with your nice new neighbors!) invest in a barrier. We trenched 36 inches down and purchased a thick (like a flexible board) barrier to sink vertically, creating a "tub." Otherwise, what's left of your space will be taken over by boo. New England Bamboo is one source, I am sure there are others. Our yellow groove provided excellent coverage by year 2, this year--25-30 feet high and the neighbors? --what neighbors?

Really, my advice is do it right and you will have added value to your property and saved yourself grief.

hello,
what kind of flexible board do we need to get ? we have nosy neighbors and its only getting worse! we will be getting some bamboo in the next couple of months and its a running kind. we have about 200 feet or so we need privacy for. we are willing to do the hard work our selves but we want to do it right the first time.
another question i have is once we make this barrier towards the neighbors, as long as we mow the grass in front of the bamboo will that keep it beat down enough?
i know that the bamboo we are getting is a tall one, growing to about 30 ft tall.
what else do we need to know ?
thanks
zz

No, but you are responsible for runaway inflation. If you could get that taken care of the rest of us would be very grateful.