Bamboo Barrier (Up-cycled Conveyor Belt)

I will show you how to control the spread of "Running Bamboo" for a bamboo garden using a Recycled Conveyor Belt.

When planning my garden I found many companies selling what they called "Bamboo Barriers". They were usually thin plastic sheathing of varying thickness'. These "barriers" were all sold by the lineal foot and very expensive.

This is the solution to save you some money and also keep a Conveyor belt out of a landfill.

I acquired the Conveyor Belt from a Rock Quarry about an hour from my house. I called them and asked it they had any old conveyor belts that they would be willing to sell. After having my call transferred a few times, I finally talked to one of the owners of the Quarry and explained what I wanted the conveyor belt for.

He said that if I come and get the conveyor belt myself I could have it for free.

I used a friends pickup truck, got the conveyor belt, and started working...

Connect the Conveyor Belt Together

First off you need to connect the Conveyor Belt together so that the bamboo does not escape through the over-lapping ends of the belt.

For this I used the following:
-Machine Bolts
-Nuts
-Washers
-Metal Fastening Strip

I needed to use a drill and a very wide bit to make the holes in the conveyor belt for the bolts to be able to go through. you will want to drill one hole, over-lap the belt, then mark where the hole lines up with to know where you want the hole in the other end of the belt.

As you can see in the pictures, I attached the ends together and with the wide washers, it is securely fastened.

Placing the Bamboo Barrier

In order for the Bamboo root system to be blocked, the Conveyor Belt will need to be placed on-end in the ground.

This means you will need to dig a deep trench around your entire garden area that will be filled with the bamboo.

However wide your Conveyor Belt is, you will need to dig the trench almost the same depth. you want to dig it so an inch or two sticks up past the ground to help block the bamboo roots from escaping their new growing area.

Back-Filling and Grading

Once the Conveyor belt is in place and at the proper depth, you are done with the hard part.

All you have to do now is back-fill the loose dirt back into your trench.

You want to try to have the Conveyor Belt angle away from the center of the garden as you back fill. This is so as the Bamboo roots hit the barrier they are driven up and you can stop them from escaping opposed to having them driven down under the barrier.

Once the back-filling is done, you can grade your new Bamboo garden. You can place a walking path, stepping stones, or any other touch you can think of.