Is this Japanese knotweed?!

[Gardeningquestion]

I saw these little shoots coming up and I have one of those plant picture apps. I took a picture and top result (of a few other options) was Japanese knotweed. A little worried!

What do you reckon?

[wigglypiggly]

Maybe Portuguese laurel or photons red Robin, have you got a garden centre nearby that could identify it for you, are there nearby hedges.

[donajimena]

Don't panic! I'm sure I read somewhere its not as awful as its made out to be. I'll see if I can find it.
Because of its reputation though it would cause difficulty with a house sale so if it does turn out to be knotweed you have caught it early.

[Gardeningquestion]

We have the only garden nearby, the rest are very small patios (in zone 2 London) but we do live close(ish) to a big cemetery so seeds could blow over?!

Our garden was landscaped last spring. The possible knotweed is in a bed, my husband thinks perhaps there was something in the soil?

Good idea on the garden centre. Would I take a cut of it or the picture?

[greenelephantscarf]

what tree is that? could be suckers from that.
doesn't look like knot weed - it has more heart shaped leaves and a more knotty stem.

[Gardeningquestion]

The tree is a bay...

Soo hopeful it’s not knotweed!

[donajimena]

peerj.com/preprints/27023/

[Trethew]

Not knotweed

[CorporeSarnie]

Leaves don't look like jkw to me, the stem of knotweed is also hollow. Is there a lot of it?

[andpeggy1]

Don't worry it's off shoots from your bay tree. I have the same thing with mine 😊

[donajimena]

Don't cut it. Try and dig it out.

[stayhomeclub]

I found knotweed at a similar stage on land next to a house I was buying, I’d say this isn’t knotweed! Let me see if I can find pictures of what I found, it was much thicker stemmed and the leaves were a different shape

[Houmousontoast]

No, that’s not JKW. Having spent 8 years battling the stuff I know what it looks like. The stems are that colour but the leaves are heart shaped not like the ones in your photo.

[Gardeningquestion]

Oh this is all making me feel so much better! Damn that plant picture app making me panic!

There are only those three shoots of it so far. They have come up very fast though. They weren’t there a few days ago!

[stayhomeclub]

Here are the pics linked to my post above

[Transpeaked]

Break a leaf open, give it a rub with your fingers and have a sniff. I think the above poster is right that this is a bay offshoot

[Gardeningquestion]

I had a dig around and there are 9 not 3! Good call on smelling the leaf. I will do that now...

[Gardeningquestion]

stayathomeclub - yes those do look thicker with different leaves. Just a similar bamboo-y look about them!

[Gardeningquestion]

(Thank you!)

[Gardeningquestion]

Husband is now convinced it’s off-shoot of the bay tree, he smelled the leaves like you suggested up thread. I can’t tell - but the shape certainly is similar to bay!

Phew, feel a bit silly for panicking now!

[Transpeaked]

If you want reassurance the RHS can identify plants via images.

[Gardeningquestion]

That’s good to know, transpeaked! I will double check with them. That’s so useful!

[L1yr]

Definitely not knotweed, but I can see why you thought it was.

The leaves would be mainly red when this size.

[L1yr]

Here's some I took a photo of two days ago.

[mustdrinkwaternotwine]

I'd also say that they look like baby bay trees

[MiniMum97]

I have a bat and we gets loads of off shoots round it that need to be cut off constantly. They don't have red stems but there are lots of types if bay I understand.