Japanese knotweed

Running bamboo is coming up through the patio pointing. Has the survey excavated the rhizome?

No. The survey has not excavated the rhizome. Running bamboo in the patio pointing was recorded at the surface. Slabs were not lifted and the underground stems were not traced. Shoots in the joints show the plant is present and vigorous enough to break the pointing. They do not map the rhizome under the patio, or say whether it has reached a foundation, a drain or the boundary. This is a visual note of bamboo, not a dug investigation. The report has not decided how far the rhizome runs.

Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.

What is the fuller explanation?

Running bamboo spreads on rhizomes, so a cane in a joint can belong to growth whose main mass is elsewhere in the garden. The survey sees what has come through the pointing. It cannot see stems under the slabs, against a foundation or beside a drain. Digging the patio up would be a different instruction, and it was not done. Broken pointing is evidence of growth at that point. It is not a plan of the plant. The species was not confirmed by excavation either.

Tell your solicitor that bamboo was visible and that the rhizome was not dug out. Lenders and buyers sometimes want a specialist report on spreading plants. This survey has not produced that report and has not relabelled the plant as Japanese knotweed. Ask whether the seller has any treatment papers. If you need the underground extent, a specialist has to investigate, which may mean opening the patio. Do not sketch a rhizome map from the shoots you can see.

What should you ask your surveyor?

Which areas of pointing have live shoots, and which are only cracked?
Does the report name running bamboo, or only an unidentified cane?
Is there a treatment invoice in the pack, or only the growth on the patio?

What are the typical next steps?

Record the shoots as a surface finding, not as a mapped rhizome.
Tell your solicitor the underground growth was not excavated.
If extent matters, instruct a specialist investigation this survey did not do.

Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.

Also asked about this

Is running bamboo the same finding as Japanese knotweed?

No. They are different plants. The survey has named bamboo coming through pointing, not knotweed, unless a separate sentence says knotweed was identified. Do not relabel the cane. A specialist can confirm the species. How the plants spread, and how they are treated, should not be swapped from one to the other.

Will lifting one slab show the whole of the rhizome?

One slab may show a stem directly beneath it and still miss growth under the rest of the patio, the lawn or the next garden. The survey did not lift any slab. A partial look can help a specialist decide where to go next. It is not, by itself, a map of the plant.