japaneese knot weed

[cms]

Agreed Simon, but salt does less damage than chemical weed controls, can be accessed more readily than the biological controls still being assessed and if it stops knotweed from taking over entire areas of our precious and beautiful countryside I know which I would choose. With the Knotweed gone the native flora and fauna will generally re-establish itself.

I also know that I wouldn't be waiting for Japanese Knotweed on adjacent land to start devaluing my property.

Cathy

[SimonCole]

Agreed Simon, but salt does less damage than chemical weed controls, can be accessed more readily than the biological controls still being assessed and if it stops knotweed from taking over entire areas of our precious and beautiful countryside I know which I would choose. With the Knotweed gone the native flora and fauna will generally re-establish itself.
Cathy

Salinization is one of the greatest challenges that humanity has faced to date. If you were to line up the major environmental problems including global warming, the o-zone layer and most types of pollution then salinization would be near the top of that list. In the middle-east huge swathes of previously fertile land have been destroyed by salt carried up the soil horizon due to excess irrigation... areas worth billions of dollars to the poor third-world countries that this problem most effects.

By what authority can you say chemical herbicides do less damage to the ecosystem? Have you any idea how they work! They kill plants alone before being broken-down naturally. Salt kills everything in the soil microbiology and ensures that plants take decades to re-establish. If you thought that salt just ruined the land habitat then you're also mistaken for river ecosystems can be virtually destroyed by unrefined salt. Just take the A55 on Anglesey as an example.

[Flummery]

As I've said before on here, the Romans salted the fields of those subjects who revolted - because it would be 7 years before they could grow a crop again. I wouldn't let it come near my garden.

[vertangie]

a lovely gentleman from the Cornwall knotweed forum called me as I left a message about my plans at the time.

he says that it can be treated successfully with glyphosate within a couple of seasons, ideally you disturb the roots before the second application to help it grow stronger so that when you spray it more gets into the plant, problem is you have to be really thorough and make sure you do the undersides of the leaves so the plant is smothered in it.

You can put bags/sheeting over other plants to prevent them being covered too so it does sound like a preferable option to salt to me.

It's the only checmical they allow to be used near waterways too.

But he said that they are having success with it.

Serenity you should talk to the neighbour ASAP and point out that if he doesn't treat it that he will be allowing it to spread to your land and that is an offence. If it's already creeping under then talk to your councils environmental dept to see if they can help you put pressure on the neighbour so that you can both deal with it. I'd talk to the neighbour first though as maybe they don't really understand what they've got and what trouble it can cause.

It can very literally rip property to pieces not just take over gardens.

HTH

Angie

[vertangie]

Sorry just re read first message, it's the council that's the problem.

Serenity, I'd talk to the cornwall council people and ask them what they'd do in your shoes as they're a council and will know what obligations your council is under.

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6568

And this is a must read:

http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=6602

[annieb]

I used to live in Cornwall and my neighbours informed them of Knotweed growing at the bottom of their garden on a cycle path managed by Sustrans. The council said it was not their problem. When I left Cornwall 14 weeks ago still nothing had been done about it.

[bubblewrap]

Same thing here Japanese knot weed growing on the canal bank I informed the council they told me it was up to British Waterways This was 18 months ago! I think it was cut back but no more than that ...............Yes it's still there!

[wiccanlou]

Japanese knotweed may not be a notifiable weed to the enviroment agency I saw a piece on it a while ago on countryfile and they were clearing massive ares of this pest, but I can't remember who was doing it. They were cutting the plant to about 4 inches off the floor and giving the stem a direct dose into the stem. They were being very careful with disposing of the watse matter ensuring evry bit was taking away and that evry stem they cut was treated.. whether they will do anything about it though is another matter.

[vertangie]

they were probably using Glyphosate to treat it. Apparently (according to the Cornwall knowtweed forum people who know an awful lot about it) one of the best aproaches is to cut it back and seal it with Glyphosate, you do have to cover every bit of exposed upper surface and if possible inject it into the stem. Then it will die back.

What surprised me was that the gentleman I spoke to suggeste that you then dig it over to encourage it to grow back so that you can then re apply the Glyphosate and kill it proper with little prospect of the evil weed returning.

That's definitely what I would do now if I encountered it.


At least the stuff can't seed, it's all one plant that's spread by rhymozome (sp) it's not pollinated etc ... not yet anyway.

[bluemoon]

I was looking to get an allotment myself but the ones at high wincobank are just too overgrown, 5 ft brambles covering the whole plot. I just can't spare the time to take on that much

Hi Serenity, have you had a look at the allotments in Firth Park (the council call it the 'Brushes' site) They're not brilliant but many have been recently ploughed following long-term work by the water board and there are a fair few available. The weeds are regrowing now but there are no brambles, bindweed or any other perennial nasties there - yet. It's a site that's been pretty well abandoned for years apart from a couple of stalwarts, but it seems to be filling up again. My daughter has recently taken a plot and we've just got permission to keep chickens there. They're not massive plots either so not too much to take on initially - you could always get a second one later if you felt you needed the space.

I have a key to the site if you'd like to pop down and have a quick look.

Best wishes Bluemoon