There was one area in particular, that seemed to have such a high concentration of huge rhizomes, that I actually used the backhoe. This is NOT something I’d necessarily recommend. Why? Because you have to be really careful about breaking the rhizome into little pieces; then if you miss taking up those little fragments, they will resprout into monster plants.
The backhoe was useful, because there were giant rhizomes around giant boulders underground. They were not going to come out with a shovel. However, I sorted through each and every bucketful of dirt, filtering out as many fragments as possible.
How many rhizomes did we dig out of that area? The following photos will give you an idea:
