Is this Japanese knotweed?

[theredphonerang]

This is on some land near to my house - can anyone identify it please?

Why do surveys only ask about Japanese knotweed then? I want to know about this horsey fucker, too

unlike japanese knotweed, horsetail can't ruin house foundations...

Neither can knotweed unless you build the house on top of it, or unaccountably let it creep up to your house walls and don't kill it off. It got its reputation from unscrupulous house builders not bothering to eradicate it properly before building. Then you really are stuffed. But in your average Victorian house it really isn't going to suddenly spring up in the living room.

Knotweed is feared because of it's worst case scenario where it's roots can spread for up to 7(?) metres, but apparently that rarely actually happens.
It can, but usually doesn't.

I think in ideal conditions it can grow a foot a day. Ours grew to a grand height of about 30cm in six months before we noticed it.

I had it in my last garden. Used lots of roundup over several years and it kept coming back. Verdone Extra lawn weed killer and giving up the idea of having a border in that area and planting grass instead that meant you were constantly cutting it was the way I managed it.

Then moving

Knotweed was picked up by RICs and became something surveyors looked for because of the misunderstandings around the way it grows and the cost of treating it. Realistically buddleja or bamboo will do more damage to a property as they can create cracks whereas jk only exploits existing cracks. It has been pushed for ages to try and get other invasives to be as ‘important’ as jk in house surveying but it’s just not happening yet.

I´ve had horsetail in my garden. I just pulled it out when I saw it for a couple of years. It´s gone now.
Maybe I was lucky but my experience wasn´t the nightmare that everyone else seems to portraying.

Also should add JK is Schedule 9 so to allow it to spread into the wild is illegal.

It has been pushed for ages to try and get other invasives to be as ‘important’ as jk in house surveying but it’s just not happening yet. Interesting if it happened. The entire house market may grind to a halt, By the time you add in the requirement to be further than 400m from any waterway, have no trees anywhere near, there are few houses which would get a clean bill of health.

Also should add JK is Schedule 9 so to allow it to spread into the wild is illegal. But not illegal (though arguably foolish) to let it grow in your own garden. And it's not notifiable. There is no such thing as a notifiable plant.

@MereDintofPandiculation you are liable if it spreads to another property too 🤷‍♀️

Plus it’s just stupid to let it grow on your property if you ever want to sell