my guess is that you have "japanese knot weed"

A picture would make identification easier though.

~Chills

Hm..now we're getting somewhere....thanks for the info.

I'm new to the forum...how might I post a picture?

I did some searching, compared some pics I have and my "friend" is indeed the über-invasive Japanese Knotweed (oy!) -- many thanks to Chills for the I.D.

I'll be outside...digging....

Actually I'm sorry to hear that. Had it been a real bamboo I and others here would gladly have helped you with it.

It can be beaten, I did it in RI years ago. It did take a couple years though as it will keep sprouting from just about any left in the ground.

~Chills

Good luck getting rid of it! It's great if you've got a wide open area and you want to use it as a screen but it will completely take over your yard (and life). My father spent much of his life trying to kill it off and sad to say it has outlived him and continues to flourish and spread in my mother's yard.

I'm really glad I saw this post! I've got a potted clump of this "bamboo" that I was going to plant in my small garden.
....Now I know it is knotweed, I've decided "knot" to plant it. Boooo-I couldn't resist!
Great gardening to you, Justine

There is a photo on the bamboo forum of moso bamboo growing thru a fallen log and up into an abandoned shed...I'll take creeping charlie any day! I'm having mightmares of "Attack of the Bamboo"

Here is a link that might be useful: bamboo forum

We have been battling knotweed in our yard for three years by pulling, cutting, digging and covering with a tarp. We've made some progress, but the stuff is tenacious. This spring we are trying injections of round-up.

Here is a link that might be useful: cutting knotweed

Am I correct in assuming the variegated form is a much better behaved plant? Van Atta's sells it here in Lansing and they are a pretty responsible nursery, the last place I'd expect to sell a noxious weed. Has anyone had any experience with the variegated fallopia?

Drakens, Van Atta's had both versions last year, but the invasive kind was plainly labeled as such. I have had the variegated kind for three years now with no problem, and a garden visitor mentioned they have it in full shade and it doesn't run. I bought another for the shade after they told me that; that's how I know about what Van Atta's carries.

Louise

I tried herbicide and digging. I tried to pull up every bit of the roots, too. It took a few years, but I got rid of it. If I ever get it again I'll try injecting each cane with Roundup.

I was reading this with anticipation..........could this be the mysterious invasive plant in my yard. I looked at the Japanese knotweed picture and to my sadness it does NOT look like that. I have been trying to remove this from my yard for twenty years and the previous owner before also tried with no avail. We have it under control and it no longer takes up the length of the fence but it still pops up into my landscaping and lawn. I have had three different landscapers do their thing on killing it, with digging and spray. I know its bamboo but not the one in the picture.
uggggggggggggggg........makes me want to pull my hair out. What could mine be? I know I need a picture. It will be awhile until it grows for me to get a picture. The shoots are bamboo looking and it can grow quite tall like five feet or so and the leafs can get big....under runners too.

any help?

after doing a google search and finding a slide show of this plant, I have determined it is this plant........they even had pictures of it growing through asphalt!

one person had some success on ridding of it with cutting the canes down to two inches and pouring a half of teaspoon of roundup in the cane........

I am amazed at how difficult this plant seems for people. I have had it growing in my yard in Grosse Pointe Woods for 22 years and have not had that much of a problem with it. It does some spreading, but unless unattended for a couple of years, it has never been a problem. I either dig out the sprouts (only 8 inches or so below ground) or brush RoundUp on the leaves if they are in the grass. I have three clumps between my house and driveway, one next to the deck and 2 large clumps in side yard. It is fantastic in that it dies down every winter (but I leave the stronger dead ones for the birds to congregate) and comes up growing inches each day in the spring. It really fills out an area nicely, and has an unusual branching pattern that usually gracefully drapes down, but is odd to trim nicely if not shaped as it comes up and is left to do it's own thing until at mature height. It gets beautiful flower clusters almost always every Labor Day. People get nuts because bees and flies congregate around the clusters for 3-5 days, but they are up 4-8 feet and don't bother you unless you disturb them. I recommend them to anyone wanting to fill a difficult yard area, and do not have much time for maintenance. It actually takes several years for the root ball to produce the taller stems.

I can see that it would be a bad idea for anyone that lived next to fields or wooded areas, since it would be unattended and obviously become a problem. But I can't see being scared of using it.