Japanese Knotweed growing season
March and April see the busiest time of the year for Japanese Knotweed Solutions Ltd (JKSL) as invasive weeds begin to re-grow following their dormant period over the Winter months. Initial growth sees pink buds begin to push their way through last seasons old stems which have died back but still remain on the ground surface.
Growth is rapid at this phase and the untrained should be aware it is at this point that JK can be most easily transferred around your site. Crown material in the form of newly growing buds are easily broken and can be transferred on a muddy shoe or Wellington boot and spread around site.
JKSL will be featuring a selection of seasonal photographs to help identification throughout the year.
May 6th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
It is also at this time of year our budding (excuse the pun) R&D department are busy collecting new samples for our ongoing experiments. At present we are developing a novel technique to identify cell death in Japanese Knotweed rhizome. The patentable procedure, first muted in October 2007 following discussions with fellow academics at Lancaster University, will involve a chemical stain, robust and consistent enough to be applied in the field across a large number of samples and will give an accurate indication of when cell death occurs.
The benefits of this technique will be two fold; an accurate tool to determine when eradication has been successful will enable developers to make more informed choices, allowing them to produce more robust build timetables, whilst also reducing cost, risk and building delays by pin pointing exactly when the plant is no longer viable on a given site.
Additionally, the concurrent reduction in herbicide applications associated with more efficient eradication of Japanese Knotweed falls in line with recent EU legislation aimed at reducing environmental pesticide exposure. With an increasingly environmentally aware public, where ‘being seen to be green’ is a distinct competitive advantage, the bonuses associated with this technique and other environmentally driven projects at JKSL, will improve client environmental credentials by association.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Interesting stuff Emma we all look forward to being able to use the system on site.
Watch this space!
Mike