Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

Kate xx

On 30/05/14 19:56, Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

Kate xx


Glyphosate is effective - but not in one application. You need a
programme which may take a year or more or repeated treatments.

Bloody stuff's everywhere - SWMBO noticed a mini jungle the other end of
the village by a river.

On 30/05/2014 19:56, Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,

Beware of conmen in general - they come in all shapes and sizes.

white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

It is pretty tricky on an industrial scale but in an ordinary garden at
home you can hit it again and again with glyphosate, 2,4-D and anything
else you happen to have going often enough to see it off. The basic rule
is the same as for any invasive pernicious weed never let it see the sun
with untreated leaves and fight a *long* war of attrition.

A big house near where I lived as a child was full of the stuff
originally planted as a Victorian era ornamental. It now has houses with
no trace of this legendary invincible weed. You can kill it but it takes
a determined effort of chemical and physical attack. These days I don't
think you are allowed to ship any of the spoil off site.

ISTR the mite that renders it a lot less vigorous and benign in Japan is
about to be licensed for release or field trials in the UK.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Fri, 30 May 2014 20:09:57 +0100, Tim Watts
wrote:

On 30/05/14 19:56, Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

Kate xx


Glyphosate is effective - but not in one application. You need a
programme which may take a year or more or repeated treatments.

Bloody stuff's everywhere - SWMBO noticed a mini jungle the other end of
the village by a river.

You don't live in Berkeley do you?

On 30/05/2014 21:13, Martin Brown wrote:
On 30/05/2014 19:56, Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,

Beware of conmen in general - they come in all shapes and sizes.

white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

It is pretty tricky on an industrial scale but in an ordinary garden at
home you can hit it again and again with glyphosate, 2,4-D and anything
else you happen to have going often enough to see it off. The basic rule
is the same as for any invasive pernicious weed never let it see the sun
with untreated leaves and fight a *long* war of attrition.

A big house near where I lived as a child was full of the stuff
originally planted as a Victorian era ornamental. It now has houses with
no trace of this legendary invincible weed. You can kill it but it takes
a determined effort of chemical and physical attack. These days I don't
think you are allowed to ship any of the spoil off site.

ISTR the mite that renders it a lot less vigorous and benign in Japan is
about to be licensed for release or field trials in the UK.

And in 20 years we'll be looking for something to kill the mite!


--
Pete C
adventure before dementia
http://www.secondchance-rehoming.co.uk//
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Secon...57749060989952

On 30/05/2014 19:56, Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

Kate xx

I've experimented with this. Chose a robust stem, cut off 12" from
ground, poked a cane down it to break membrane then filled with
Roundup....stone dead.

--
Pete C
adventure before dementia
http://www.secondchance-rehoming.co.uk//
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Secon...57749060989952

"Pete C" wrote

Kate wrote:


I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

I've experimented with this. Chose a robust stem, cut off 12" from ground,
poked a cane down it to break membrane then filled with Roundup....stone
dead.


That is the way the National Trust and others deal with the weed I
understand. Unfortunately the cut stem has to be left on site as without a
licence it cannot be moved.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

On 30/05/2014 22:36, Pete C wrote:
On 30/05/2014 19:56, Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

Kate xx

I've experimented with this. Chose a robust stem, cut off 12" from
ground, poked a cane down it to break membrane then filled with
Roundup....stone dead.

This works. I didn't bother with the poking but in early autumn,
whilst the plants are sending nutrients into the rhizome, cut down
masses of stems in a badly infested garden-cum-wasteland and poured in
a little glyphosate solution. Next year I got a sprayer and treated
the stunted re-growth as well as going at the remaining high stuff by
lopping and spraying direct into the open stem. Best done .
--
Phil Cook

Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from
the broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is
worth to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as
well for a fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly
impossible to get rid of!

Kate xx

Not sure what my brother-in-law used as a weed killer, but it took him over
10 years to eradicate the bloody stuff from his acre of garden in West
Wales.

The other problem he has been fighting is slugs attacking his Pembroke early
spuds and other veg for the last couple of years - and he can easily catch
and kill a couple of hundred of the beggars on a good night.

On Fri, 30 May 2014 18:56:58 +0000 (UTC), Kate
wrote:

Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

Kate xx

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.

Steve

--
Neural Network Software http://www.npsnn.com
EasyNN-plus More than just a neural network http://www.easynn.com
SwingNN Prediction software http://www.swingnn.com
JustNN Just a neural network http://www.justnn.com

On 31/05/14 09:29, 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)

On 30/05/14 21:44, Pam Moore wrote:
On Fri, 30 May 2014 20:09:57 +0100, Tim Watts
wrote:

On 30/05/14 19:56, Kate wrote:
Hi

I was surprised by some advice in this weeks Spectator page 20 from the
broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby:

"Beware of knotweed conmen. You don't need smoothies in Range Rovers,
white boiler suits and goggles who charge more than your house is worth
to get rid of the stuff. The weedkiller Roundup does just as well for a
fraction of the price."

Can this really be true?? I have always heard that it's nearly impossible
to get rid of!

Kate xx


Glyphosate is effective - but not in one application. You need a
programme which may take a year or more or repeated treatments.

Bloody stuff's everywhere - SWMBO noticed a mini jungle the other end of
the village by a river.

You don't live in Berkeley do you?


No, East Sussex

On 31/05/14 09:59, Tom Gardner wrote:
On 31/05/14 09:29, 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.

On 30/05/2014 22:34, Pete C wrote:
On 30/05/2014 21:13, Martin Brown wrote:

A big house near where I lived as a child was full of the stuff
originally planted as a Victorian era ornamental. It now has houses with
no trace of this legendary invincible weed. You can kill it but it takes
a determined effort of chemical and physical attack. These days I don't
think you are allowed to ship any of the spoil off site.

ISTR the mite that renders it a lot less vigorous and benign in Japan is
about to be licensed for release or field trials in the UK.

And in 20 years we'll be looking for something to kill the mite!

Unlikely since the mite is very specific to the host plant and due to
the warmer climate of Japan barely able to survive our winters so it
will probably have to be farmed in greenhouses and re-released annually.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

"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