Planting bamboo on electric utility easement (Houston: townhome, fence, ordinance)

[HoustonPrince]

My property line extends 7' beyond my fence to accomodate an electric utility easement. Beyond the 7' is a paved lot in a townhome complex. Reliant sent a crew with a large bucket truck that stayed on the paved service and the crew was able to my trees that were crowding the electric lines that are 25'+ in the air.

I'm thinking of planting some clumping bamboo that will rise to about 15' max in my easement area to serve as a privacy screen and traffic noise buffer. When I called COH's 311 line to see if this was ok, they said that COH "recommends" that I not do it. Since there are no utility poles along my fence, I don't ever see a need for them to actually traverse the easement. It seems more of an aerial easement is what they want. Even 15' bamboo would not block their buckets from accessing the 25'+ lines.

Anybody have experience with this or can point me to a Houston ordinance that absolutely disallows me from planting anything under the lines?

[westres1]

Bamboo is such a pain. It takes over and pretty soon it is invading your yard. We spent lots of time and $$ to get it taken out in our last yard. It was planted under the lines by the previous owners.

[LizzySWW]

I've seen bamboo under lines for years & never noticed the power compnies having a problem with this or needing to trim the bamboo to acess lines. Now trees under or near lines sure get a nasty trim from the guys in those buckets with their chain saws.

[HoustonPrince]

Originally Posted by westres1

Bamboo is such a pain. It takes over and pretty soon it is invading your yard. We spent lots of time and $$ to get it taken out in our last yard. It was planted under the lines by the previous owners.

Since it will be planted on the other side of my 7' brick wall, I don't see much chance of getting in my yard. 'Golden Goddess' bamboo is the clumping variety and appears to be the way to go since it will pretty much stay put...but only if it will indeed grow to 15' as I want.

[Maybe So]

Since it will be planted on the other side of my 7' brick wall, I don't see much chance of getting in my yard. 'Golden Goddess' bamboo is the clumping variety and appears to be the way to go since it will pretty much stay put...but only if it will indeed grow to 15' as I want.

Glad you were able to find a non-spreading form of bamboo because I was going to mention too that bamboo can be very prolific and be extremely difficult to get rid of. It is my understanding that the shoots of the bamboo comes from the roots and those would just go under your wall and into your yard. Good luck.

[DotLib]

I dont know about this new bamboo..but I agree..I would never plant any bamboo close to me...and it does indeed crawl!