We've got Phyllostachys Heteroclada and Nigra in our backyard,
surrounded by plastic barriers that are 30" deep. The ends of the
barriers overlap a few inches and are joined together by a metal strip
and bolts. This was installed by a contractor.

I'm finding that the seal isn't very effective - small roots have
worked their way through the overlapping area where the strip is, and
this opened up enough space to lets some rhizomes escape. The strip has
bolts every 3-4" but apparently this isn't close enough.

I can't see any easy fix to this, other than just digging inside the
barrer near the seams and removing the rhizomes and roots. What I
thought might be useful would be some sort of long, narrow saw that I
could run along the inside of the barrier to cut the rhizomes.

Are there any tools or methods that might help make this easier? I
think one mistake the contractor made was not making sure the barrier
angled outward. Not much I can do about it now...at least, not easily.
The barriers are about 1 1/2 feet from a fence line, so it's tough to
work on.

MikeLottridge wrote:
> We've got Phyllostachys Heteroclada and Nigra in our backyard,
> surrounded by plastic barriers that are 30" deep. The ends of the
> barriers overlap a few inches and are joined together by a metal
> strip and bolts. This was installed by a contractor.
>
> I'm finding that the seal isn't very effective - small roots have
> worked their way through the overlapping area where the strip is,
> and this opened up enough space to lets some rhizomes escape. The
> strip has bolts every 3-4" but apparently this isn't close enough.
>
> I can't see any easy fix to this, other than just digging inside the
> barrer near the seams and removing the rhizomes and roots. What I
> thought might be useful would be some sort of long, narrow saw that
> I could run along the inside of the barrier to cut the rhizomes.
>
> Are there any tools or methods that might help make this easier? I
> think one mistake the contractor made was not making sure the
> barrier angled outward. Not much I can do about it now...at least,
> not easily. The barriers are about 1 1/2 feet from a fence line, so
> it's tough to work on.

I suppose you are long past any warranty that might have been in place.
It looks like you have no choice but to fix the seam or replace the
barrier. I believe 40 mil thick barrier is the optimal thickness. Some
suggest the barrier be a minimum of 36 inches wide/deep.

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Travis in Shoreline Washington