Expert issues warning against incredibly dangerous plant sold at major garden stores: 'This ... stopped me from buying'
A popular gardening influencer is warning their followers not to use invasive species of bamboo in their yards and to use safer, native varieties instead.
TikToker Joey (@joeyplantstrees) shared a clip in which a woman said she was planting bamboo on two sides of her property, which would eventually be "walled in" by the plant.
"Don't. Don't do that," Joey says in response to the clip. "We have native species of bamboo. … Use those instead. They're just as useful."
"... I get the appeal. They grow fast, they sequester a lot of carbon, and they provide great habitat," Joey continues. "I get it. But we don't need to be planting invasive species when we have native species that do the same thing."
The species of bamboo used by the woman in the first clip was clearly not native, but as Joey points out, there are several species of bamboo native to the U.S., particularly the southeastern portion of the country. Arundinaria appalachiana, Arundinaria gigantea, and Arundinaria tecta are more commonly known as cane, but they are all native species of bamboo.
And just like other native plants, these native bamboos also attract local pollinators, including hummingbirds, which can help their entire local ecosystem thrive.
"You can get them at nurseries and use them for anything you would use a nonnative bamboo for," Joey says. "With the added benefit of not being a menace to your neighbors."
An invasive species, whether it's bamboo or another plant or animal, is any that gets introduced to a foreign ecosystem and ends up posing a threat to its new locale. Typically, this happens because the invasive species is capable of spreading quickly and outcompeting native plants and wildlife for vital resources like sunlight and water.
Many species of so-called "running bamboo" are considered invasive in the United States. Their rhizomes — underground stems that run horizontally — spread rapidly and grow new stems, meaning a few stalks can soon become an untenable forest.
"It took five years to remove the invasive bamboo from my backyard," one commenter wrote on Joey's video. "I am often pouring boiling water in places it's coming up outside the fence line."
Many commenters echoed that sentiment, while others thanked Joey for opening their eyes to types of bamboo that are better for their backyard.
"This video stopped me from buying non-native bamboo," another commenter wrote.
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