Why Cant SomEAbody get Organised….AND kick Japanese Knotweeds Ass…?
Whilst on a site visit this morning I got talking to am interesting gentleman on the problems of invasive weeds and how they are tackled.
We were discussing that it is still NOT an offence to have Japanese Knotweed on your land and at the moment… NOBODY has the power to make land owners do anything about an infestation… UNTIL it grows into an adjoining property.
So in a nutshell - nobody makes you do anything about knotweed until it’s too late!!! Duuuuh…
We both agreed that a more concerted effort should have been made several years ago to wipe out Japanese Knotweed before it got such a strong foothold in the UK.
He then went on to tell the story of a parasite that infected dairy cattle some thirty years ago. The parasitic fly would lay eggs into the cows flesh - the resulting maggot would then burrow through the skin to emerge through a hole on the skin - then hatch into a new fly and start all over again. The cows were caused great distress but also the hides were deemed useless as they were riddled with holes. This obviously had a cost implication and people were losing money….
SO… SOMEBODY then got organised…and sent out letters and warnings and instructions about treatment options….AND EVERY COW IN THE UK…YES EVERY COW…. Was rubbed with a chemical which prevented infection and eradicated the fly…massive job with a huge effort involved…
For those in the know about this - I’m sure I have simplified what happened …but the principle remains the same.
A problem was identified and a united approach agreed to which everyone HAD to go along with…
WHY CANT THIS HAPPEN WITH JAPANESE KNOTWEED?
WHY CANT OUR ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGISTS AGREE A UNIFORM APPROACH…?
LET’S MAKE IT TOUGH FOR JAPANESE KNOTWEED - LET’S MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO HAVE IT ON YOUR LAND…!
LET’S FIGHT BACK!
August 25th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Sadly those incredibly harmful and carcinogenic organo phosphate pesticides are not suitable for use on Knotweed……
Mind you though, I accept your point as being correct. Councils and the like should prioritise treatment and then maybe the rest will follow???