Sugar Cane Roots

I had a neighbor that grew sugar cane.

It was kinda cool, because it grows so tall, and provided some shade for our place (we are side by side, sharing a common wall).

Then I realized that my patio bed next to his place was always full of crazy fine roots. This is where I planted my lettuces, and none could survive beyond early sprouts (I grow from seeds).

Searching online showed sugar has roots that spread out, not down. Because my patio dirt is so fertile, the roots were drawn to it.

How can I kill off the roots and use my planting area? When the unit was between owners, we cut down the sugar and tried to kill it by splitting any stalks we couldn't remove. Yet some of it has returned. The new owner doesn't want it either. 

How do we get rid of it?

Ava

Oh boy, reminds me of Nandina.  Bamboo/cane are hard to keep under control.  I wonder when they burn sugar cane fields, it also prevents volunteers from coming up.  I hope someone can give you good advice to get rid of the roots.

Dig a trench close to the fence line deep enough to sever all the surface roots and then a little bit deeper , then slip a thick barrier of several folds of thick builders polythene  sheeting in the trench on the side close to the fence and back fill , perhaps weed kill the ground as well.


 Now  rototill or deep dig it so long as doing that will not make you grow more cane from the thousands of bits of root.


 There is a chemical called Sulphamate  or similar to it ,

As I understand it , it is not European Union licenced for weed killing because no one wants to pay the extortionate costs associated in trying to get substances licenced in the EU . It has been used for donkeys years as a cheap weed killer , it  causes the plants to out grow themselves , after a few weeks it breaks down in to nitrogen and helps new plants grow.
 It is good for knocking horsetail & Japanese Knot weed on the head after a couple of applications , though I don't know how it would perform against sugar cane.