CAN I REMOVE JAPANESE KNOTWEED MYSELF?
So where did Japanese knotweed come from? How did it get here? Why is it a problem? These are questions that many people have been asking for a long time.
Japanese knotweed grows! It grows no matter how poor the soil is. It grows no matter what season we are in. It does not respond well to cutting, burning or many other “off the shelf” remedies.
In fact – pulling or cutting the weed from the ground can actually stimulate the growth of Japanese knotweed! If you would like to use chemical treatment – this is an option but will only work with repeat applications of multiple sprays – over several years!
If you have the time, the physical ability and the inclination, then following the strategy outlined below would advisable:
- You need to fence off any areas that are infected by Japanese knotweed – this needs to be at the very least 7 metres away from any surface growth.
- Have an area specifically to clean your shoes when immediately leaving the infected areas (to stop the spread of infection – remember knotweed the size of your fingernail can grow into HUGE weeds).
- Carry out your first initial spray with a glyphosate based weed killer such as “roundup”.
- Check your chemical spray for guidelines on how long is necessary for the infected area to be left after the initial spray – so that the knotweed can absorb the chemicals.
- Remove ALL surface growth to a height of 15 CM above the crown of the plant.
- Leave the cut down growth to dry in an area where it will be un-disturbed and in piles that will not contaminate other areas
- Burn\incinerate all of the surface growth that you removed
- Check Environment Agency web site for document entitled Management of Japanese Knotweed (by clicking here) and look at pictures of rhizome to enable identification.
- Excavate the surface crown (by hand) and all visible rhizome. Be aware that this could extend as deep as 2 metres underground and upto 7 metres beyond the surface growth.
- Dry all of the crown and rhizome material by placing on a sheet of polythene and make SURE that it is kept away from any moisture.
- Once dried – make sure to burn\incinerate all of the crown and rhizome within your infected area.
- You will need to then continue to check and monitor and potentially REPEAT all of the steps outlined above for the next FIVE years!
The above is by no means an exhaustive list. We can carry out all of this above and assure you that once the Japanese knotweed removal has been carried out – the knotweed will be gone.
We offer fantastic piece of mind with a warranty that backs all of our work – we will even re-visit the job periodically to ensure that your knotweed infestation has been eradicated for good.
For more details of our excellent warranty please click here.
