View Single Post
  #15   Report Post  
Old 31-05-2014, 05:14 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Bob Hobden Bob Hobden is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,056
Default Jonathan Dimblebys knotweed advice

"Tim Watts" wrote

Tom Gardner wrote:
Stephen Wolstenholme wrote:
My garden has a patch of knotweed. It looks quite nice and never
spreads beyond the fence. The gardener chops the canes down every year
after it has flowered.


If I was looking for a new house to live in (as opposed to rent
to students!), there are a number of things that would make me
walk away and find a different property. Japanese Knotweed in
the vicinity is one of them.

So maybe I'm overreacting, but in those circumstances, the
pain/reward tradeoffs are wrong and easy to avoid.

If enough people take that attitude (maybe if surveyors warn
them) then it might reduce the price of the house. (Please
let's avoid discussing the current house price situation)


Depends where it is. If it's near the house, or drains, it is a risk
(knotweed can damage foundations).

If it's down the end of a garden, so what? The worst it will need from my
research is lots of weedkiller and a border root barrier if you need to
stop it from coming in from next door.

I'd be more wary though with a semi detached or terraced house if the
neighbours have it close to the house as you cannot easily control what
they do.

A border root barrier? Are you sure? The roots can go down 3 metres which is
why it's so invasive and difficult to kill.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK