Japanese knotweed

[Earthymama]

We're surrounded by the stuff!! The local Community Service team came in a couple of months ago and cut it all back which has made it twice as bad.
We've done some research and reckon we'll have to resort to 'The Poison' as it is known by the old guys on the allotment (who love it and use it liberally).
Has anyone any experience of combatting this particular foe?
(I'm off to bed but will check tomorrow for your ideas) Night, EM

This site is really good

Thanks for that, it confirms my suspicion that we'll have to resort to The Poison!!

japanese knotweed is a fearsome foe. You may be able to get rid of what grows in your garden (if you are diligent and patient and determined) but if there is more around you it will keep trying to get in.

I'd check Ebay for any leftover Agent Orange personally

good luck.

I've got this horrible stuff in my garden too.I discovered it 2 years ago,shortly after moving in & am determined to kill it.Last year I painted every shoot that came up with SBK brushwood killer,which killed them off.It came back again this year,of course,but the shoots were weaker-however it was made worse by dh disturbing the ground around it,causing more canes to grow up.

I'm now waiting for August,so I can hit it with Glysophate,Roundup Biactive has been reccomended.Glysophate goes right down to the rhizome to kill the plant,so is more effective than most other weedkillers,it also is rendered inactive when it hits the soil,so less worrying if you have children or pets around.SBK isn't as family friendly!

Good luck!
.

I just managed to win my personal battle with this bastard triffid, so take hope! It is possible!

Glyphosate is really good for it, but remember:

1. You need to leave the plants to get nice and big (but not so big that you can't reach them) before spraying. Glyphosate is absorbed through leaf area, so you need lots of big leaves and you need to spray as many of them as possible.
2. Spraying the plants will seem to have no effect for 6 - 8 weeks when suddenly they'll sicken and die. Don't spray, wait a while and then think "oh, hell, it hasn't worked" and cut them down. You'll just negate the effect of the glyphosate.
3. Sometimes the effect that it has is that the plant puts out hundreds of tiny little leaves, known as the bonsai effect - these need spraying too, and then leaving alone until they die.
4. The next year you might have the occasional shoot coming up (but hardly any, promise ) You should leave these until about June to get a bit bigger and then spray them again.
5. Like another poster said, you'll need to be your brother's keeper - if any of your neighbours have an infestation then you'll have to speak to them and sort it out there too. It'll just encroach back on your land if it's left.

Finally, when they do sicken and die you're entirely permitted to cackle, snort and chortle in maniacal glee - the stuff is EVIL and deserves to DIE.

seamonster,I can't thank you enough for posting.I have never come across anyone who has beat this b plant-you are the first & have given me hope.

I'd gotten quite down about the wretched stuff & the threat of it wrecking my lovely garden.We need to do a lot of re landscaping,but daren't disturb any more soil for fear of spreading it around.

I will steel myself to wait a few more weeks before I spray,to get the maximum coverage.

Did you have a lot of it in your garden? Ours is around the edge of an old pond,about 4 crowns in a 4-5ft strip.It is in my neighbours garden too,but we bought the house from them,so they can't blame us.They have been pulling it up for years & it only grows in a small area,where it has spread from our side.THey have recently tried to dig it out,so when it inevitably returns,I will offer to spray it for them.

Thanks again.You have no idea how much better your post has made me feel!

I did have a lot of it, yes - it had taken over a whole corner of my garden, and the neighbour's too. It had also pushed a fence over by growing between the fence and the shed - grrr!

Anyway, one good spraying last year when it nice and big (mine and the neighbours) and that was it - it died and hasn't come back this year.

Take that! And that!

And that, I say!

You are indeed the Knotweed Slayer!

I have been out to glare at mine today-I'm hoping it's days are well & truly numbered now (fingers crossed).

I fully intend to do a victory dance around my garden on it's demise.

all hail Seamonster - I am in awe of your superpowers! should I ever find knotweed I will be calling on you to hex it. Well done.

Progress report on the knotweed.I painted the leaves with a 2-1 solution of Roundup last Tuesday & the leaves are already looking sickly yellow & dropping off!

Ha!See how you like that you b*** weed.

Oh-forgot I changed my name.I was Mirage.