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I have spent a lot of my life warning people about the dangers of Japanese knotweed. I have also spent a lot of time telling people not to panic about Japanese knotweed. Like many other things in life, there is a fine line between having something to worry about and there being nothing to get in a blather about.
Many people say to me…. ‘Will Japanese knotweed grow through concrete??’. The correct answer should be – ‘no’ – …. ‘in well laid, properly finished properties with decent depth of foundations Japanese knotweed will not damage the building structurally.’
But – I then find myself saying…. ‘Then again…. if you do build on top of actively growing knotweed you will find that with poorly laid concrete or inadequate depth of building foundation – this can result in the plant showing its ugly head.’
Once you have explained the problems and the potential for damage that Japanese knotweed has then most people GET what it’s all about. However, some people just don’t understand how plants grow.
If I were to say that Japanese knotweed is capable of growing 7 metres in all directions, which is a phrase you will often hear repeated, then your average client will imagine JK rampantly growing in all directions – at speed – whilst devouring everything in its path.
Now in certain circumstances this can happen – open ground/free draining/no obstructions etc. etc. However…if you were to have a concrete block on one side of the knotweed growth and open ground on the other side – then the knotweed will not force its way through concrete just for the hell of it ….it will take the easiest route and grow into the open ground.
Clients and often surveyors will take the ‘7 metres in all directions per season’ – as a strict rule. If a property has a knotweed problem at the bottom of the garden (say 21 metres away) the surveyor measures the distance – divides it by 7 (answer 3) – and then says you will have Japanese knotweed in your front room in 3 years’ time (or whatever the answer from the sum is)…
It’s just not as simple as that though.
If you can – then you should ask an experienced Japanese knotweed consultant for the risk factors within any newly found stand of the plant. With working with the plant for several years, you can generally tell which plants will cause a problem and which will be less troublesome.
Occasionally Japanese knotweed will just ‘sit there’ and do nothing – no growth, no spread…nothing but come into leaf, flower and then die back. It may do nothing…for years – but then perhaps having been disturbed by nearby construction work – it will suddenly shoot off in all directions…
It’s difficult to explain this to clients who just want a ‘black and white’ answer…
I’m also having problems explaining the after-care management of Japanese knotweed. Most clients get that you have to have an aftercare package – but once you have a situation where there is no visible growth they… ‘think it’s all over’…and don’t want to pay you to come back any more.
This is when the problems can start to come back…
Be careful when managing your land that’s been infested with Japanese knotweed. You need to monitor and check for a period of ten years. Try and establish a new sward onto the area that you’ve cleared – try and get the naturally occurring species to re-establish. This may mean the use of seed mixes or taking turves from nearby ground.
Leaving bare ground where you have treated an invasive non-native species just leaves ground available to the next invader to come along.
Be pro-active.
It’s not over till the fat bloke says it is.
Mike C
Timing is Everything August 16, 2017
Timing is everything, especially when dealing with invasive species.
The key to successfully chemically treating Himalayan balsam and Giant hogweed is applying herbicide at the right time. Application needs to be when the plants are young and before they flower and begin to form seed.
Chemical application should be made early in the growing season when the leaves have formed and are fully open (May – June). By treating plants early you can prevent them from setting seed and spreading the infestation further.
The clock is ticking…
As chemical can take a few days to kill individual plants, and the plant can still go onto producing viable seed within this period, mechanical options may be recommended the weeks before seed dispersal.
For example, in mid-summer, Giant hogweed seed heads can be bagged and cut*, and Himalayan balsam can be cut back, or hand pulled (making sure the stems are broken), to prevent the spread of this year’s seeds.
*Giant hogweed should only be dealt with by professional wearing full PPE
Missed the boat…
Once the plants set seed (or are in the process of doing so) chemical treatment and mechanical clearance are no longer an option.
If the areas of Giant hogweed and Himalayan balsam fall within a development footprint, they will require mechanical remediation to remove soils containing the plants and viable propagules prior to development and in accordance with relevant legislation.
If the areas are in a garden, or in an area that is left undisturbed, the plants can be left to die back and rot down naturally over the winter period. Plant seeds can remain viable in the soil (seed bank) for a number of years, for this reason a chemical treatment programme may be recommend to ensure that plants that have not germinated this year can be treated the following year… The cycle continues.
Halting spread
Although you may have missed the window of opportunity this year, don’t miss it the next! Every year that invasive species are left untreated is another year of growth and spread, meaning that a small and manageable infestation can become a bigger (and more expensive) problem.
Don’t leave it another year, contact us today to discuss options for your land.
Seminar 2018 August 16, 2017
I love doing the seminars that we do every year. I love the creativity, I love the different speakers, I pretty much love everything about it …except getting people to come along!
You would think the hardest thing would be coming up with ideas and concepts and getting people to agree to speak.
But no…the hardest thing is getting you – the people ‘out there’ in reality land – to say ‘yes – I will be there’.
I have lots of theories about this.
Is it because we charge a small fee?? The only reason we do this is because when we didn’t charge – people would say they were coming and then just not turn up. Hence a small fee was deemed appropriate to discourage time wasters from just saying ‘yes’ with no intention of attending.
Is it because people think we talk JUST about Japanese Knotweed?? We don’t, we never have – it’s an environmental conference sponsored by Japanese Knotweed Solutions Ltd …
Is it because we are all too busy?? Could be.
Is it because we are all too computer based?? Have we lost the ability to actually meet real people and have real conversations…?? Could be.
Is it because we are all too lazy? Could be.
I can assure you that the people that come along to these events love them – we get fantastic feedback every year, with last year’s event being described as the ‘best yet’…we had Michaela Strachan, we had Dick Shaw, we had John Lewis Stemple (author) we had Mark Avery (author) we had a bee expert we had a river keeper and we had me… and we should have had Trevor Renals (long story) …
We are already working on next year’s ideas and it promises to be a great event.
This article is a little is a little sampler to see whether people are interested in coming along next year – and it’s also a way of seeing whether anybody actually reads all this marketing material that we put out.
If you’ve read this and you fancy coming along next year – win a free ticket simply by sending an e-mail to me at [email protected] saying ‘yes count me in.’
It’s ALL about the money… August 16, 2017I have had a couple of great days out recently – both were corporate hospitality.
You know how people invite you to events and 99% of the time you think …. ‘naah …can’t be bothered’ – well this time I thought… ‘you know what…I’m going to go’.
For years I have been ignoring days at the horse racing, nights at the opera, track days, launch of a new car etc etc but having been invited first to Aston Martin, then to Wimbledon I thought this sounds too good to miss.
I have also lately been feeling that life is way too short. So many times, you put things off to do tomorrow, then (as we all know) tomorrow never comes, and you don’t do the thing you’ve put off. So, the new older, wiser me has decided to get some experiences under my belt before it’s too late ….
The day with Aston Martin was just a real treat. The history and the story behind the brand was just amazing – and for a man who loves his cars you just couldn’t have a better day.
Wimbledon again – a real treat.
But…and here is the crux of the blog – I’m left with a bit of a feeling of elitism.
These were both amazing days, really well organised…. but …both were based on my buying power and the balance of my bank account.
What I’m getting at here is – I’m already an owner of an Aston Martin and I already shop at Ralph Lauren (the Wimbledon event)- what I really could have done with is having these events before I’d spent any money with these companies?????
When I was a young man I would have given body parts to have been taken round Aston Martin and been allowed to drive their cars.
My dad would have sold his soul to get to see the men’s semi final at Wimbledon but he never got the chance – and he never shopped at Ralph Lauren….
Ok, ok, ok…. I’m not stupid… I know how all this works and I know that only by having people spend money do these events work.
It’s all about sales and margin and marketing budgets…
…. but what about the people that aspire to these markets and aspire to these cars – shouldn’t there be some way that everyone could experience these events??
Way too many of life’s pleasures are available only to the wealthy and to the limited few – I’m not sure… but maybe I’m thinking this isn’t right.
I’m thinking that maybe this should be changed.
Mike C
