Japanese knotweed again!

puddy

i am not trying to scare monger. this stuff needs to be disposed of officially, extra strength solutions (which the majority of us would not muck about with) and constant vigilance over many years. you have to burn the residue and cannot treat the roots effectively as they spread up to 7m underneath things, ie the property.

no i havent removed it myself and wouldnt get into a situation knowingly where i would have to. obviously you have and so you have experience of it, but its not useful to present it as blase as you have done when there are mortgage lenders that wont lend on properties that are affected by the stuff, thats how bad it is

delain

daveyjp wrote: »

There is lots of scaremongering around knotweed.

Now you know you have it negotiate the costs to have it removed as part of the purchase, but ongoing management is cheap enough - 5l of roundup is about £20.

Japanese Knotweed takes a lot of getting rid of, it needs to be dug up and burnt and have industrial chemicals to kill it. Try tackling it with just roundup and the whole garden will be under a sea of it in 2 years!

casper_g

delain wrote: »

Japanese Knotweed takes a lot of getting rid of, it needs to be dug up and burnt and have industrial chemicals to kill it. Try tackling it with just roundup and the whole garden will be under a sea of it in 2 years!

Advising someone to "just tackle it with roundup" would be very bad advice. Then again, advising someone to just "dig it up and burn it" would also be poor advice, as they would inevitably miss part of the roots/rhizome and almost certainly spread pieces to other parts of the garden. The best advice is to seek professional help unless you're really sure of what you're doing.

Any successful strategy is very likely to involve the use of a suitable weedkiller though, and glyphosate (of which Roundup is one brand) is the best known and most widely-available example, and the choice of many pros.

delain

casper_g wrote: »

Advising someone to "just tackle it with roundup" would be very bad advice. Then again, advising someone to just "dig it up and burn it" would also be poor advice, as they would inevitably miss part of the roots/rhizome and almost certainly spread pieces to other parts of the garden. The best advice is to seek professional help unless you're really sure of what you're doing.

Any successful strategy is very likely to involve the use of a suitable weedkiller though, and glyphosate (of which Roundup is one brand) is the best known and most widely-available example, and the choice of many pros.

I think you misunderstood me, I wasn't suggesting that the OP should do it, it's definitely not a DIY job! in fact I was just saying that the previous poster who said just use Roundup had it wrong

cajef

puddy wrote: »

but its not useful to present it as blase as you have done

If you read what I have posted it was not presented as blase, it is fact based on personal experience of dealing with JK.

However to post obvious incorrect information as you have done is both misleading and scaremongering, your inexpert knowledge and posts on the subject are totally incorrect.

puddy wrote: »

its resistant to weedkiller, everyone knows that

Incorrect, everyone does not know that only you think you know that, it is not resistant to glysophate.

puddy wrote: »

that is not normal weedkiller and shouldnt be used by the average person with their watering can

Incorrect, it is a normal weedkiller that can be bought anywhere.

puddy wrote: »

not at the strength you need it for this stuff

Incorrect again, it will work but may take longer than industrial strength glysophate.

puddy wrote: »

it wont...........

Incorrect, roundup does and will work if used under a controlled eradication programme and is recommended for the treatment of JK, I know from personal experience and discussion with local JK eradication experts.

poppysarah

casper_g wrote: »

Advising someone to "just tackle it with roundup" would be very bad advice. Then again, advising someone to just "dig it up and burn it" would also be poor advice, as they would inevitably miss part of the roots/rhizome and almost certainly spread pieces to other parts of the garden. The best advice is to seek professional help unless you're really sure of what you're doing.

Any successful strategy is very likely to involve the use of a suitable weedkiller though, and glyphosate (of which Roundup is one brand) is the best known and most widely-available example, and the choice of many pros.

And rinse and repeat for several cycles still.

uk_messer

First time I've even heard of this plant.

All weeds are a nuisance. Unless this stuff kills small children why all the concern?

I'm not saying either way but I will say that there is a lot of money to be made by tradesmen in scaring the bejesus out of people.

I wouldn't take Sarah Beeny's advice as gospel either. If you watched her program you wouldn't even bother buying a property.

Yorkie1

casper_g wrote: »

No, it won't I certainly didn't mean to imply it would. JK can be killed with glyphosate, but not in the same way you might put a squirt on a dandelion on your driveway. From a previous thread, the pros would go round and inject high-strength glyphosate into the stems one by one, individually, then wait for it all to die back. Then they'd inspect periodically and re-treat as needed over the course of several years. I haven't been through this myself but it sounds like getting rid of this stuff is a task requiring some determination as well as expertise!

We had it on our allotment site. A pro injected it with industrial strength glyphosate, marking the stems which he'd done so none were overlooked.

He may have re-treated once more later in the year or the following year, but it had gone after that.

But others are correct; some people have reported difficulties with JK and mortgages. Your solicitor may feel obliged to tell your mortgage lender if s/he becomes aware, which may impact on your mortgage offer.

££sc££

Is this flat a long or short term purchase (I know it's hard to say). Just thinking I'd be careful going ahead with the purchase if you're only planning on being there for a couple of years, in case it takes longer than that to eradicate the JK. In which case you may have trouble selling.

Difficult for anyone to come up with a figure for knocking off as it depends on the extent of the problem and the cost (which is likely to be recovered through future service charges). I doubt cost will be massive though, once it's been divided by the 7(?) flats.

devotee

££sc££ wrote: »

Is this flat a long or short term purchase (I know it's hard to say). Just thinking I'd be careful going ahead with the purchase if you're only planning on being there for a couple of years, in case it takes longer than that to eradicate the JK. In which case you may have trouble selling.

Difficult for anyone to come up with a figure for knocking off as it depends on the extent of the problem and the cost (which is likely to be recovered through future service charges). I doubt cost will be massive though, once it's been divided by the 7(?) flats.

Thanks for that. No idea how long we are planning to stay here! But yes we are proceeding with the purchase, we are getting a bargain anyway, so I don't think we would lose money on this place.