Japanese Knotweed in my garden affecting the sale of my flat :(

lessonlearned

Elantan - you have my sympathy but it sounds like you are doing a good job.

The point is with this stuff, as Girly has found out to her cost - lenders are running scared and many will decline a mortgage application if they so much as get a whiff that there might be a problem.

I found this out to my cost when I tried to buy a house recently. The £650 shelled out on a survey turned out to be one of my better investments. I hadn't a clue what JK looked like prior to that.

The JK was not just in the garden but in neighbours' gardens and some land belonging to the council.

After mulling it over - we loved the property - we decided it was just not worth the risk. Yes we would have tackled it but could everyone else be relied on. It was just too much of a risk.

The problem is if lenders won't lend if JK is present then properties become unmortgageable.

Money - I wasn't criticising you - just pointing out that your post wasn't specific enough. I know you understand how serious JK is.

However, it does seem that, for a lot us, JK has been a bit of a learning curve.

I certainly had no idea until our recent abortive house purchase. I knew vaguely that it was "troublesome" but did not fully understand just how destructive it can be to property.

kwmlondon

lessonlearned wrote: »

Sorry I did not mean to add confusion.

Of course JK is not hazardous waste. It is not in the same league as asbestos. It does not pose a health risk..

However, I simply wanted to point out that moneyistoshorttomention had given very poor advice. She underestimates the seriousness of the threat posed by JK. Sorry Money but you have really got this one wrong.

JK is seriously nasty stuff and its removal does have to be strictly controlled. You cannot just dig it up and put it in your wheelie bin or toss it onto a compost heap.

Carriers are supposed to be licensed is all. Incorrect disposal can attract a heavy fine.

The cut plant can germinate into new plants so throwing it away could spread it and is illegal - you can get into serious trouble with this stuff.

I'd advise getting the professionals in.

Also, it spreads by very long root systems so chances are it's established in a neighbour's garden. Killing it won't get rid of it as the roots may be all around your garden and it could sprout anywhere.

Nasty, nasty stuff.

elantan

it is another method of dealing with it, you cut it in half and inject the stem with the glysophate solution, we found it a lot of bother ( probably cause we are dealing with a good few feet of the stuff) spraying the leaves does the same thing,the plant takes the liquid down into it's roots and then kills it , as its a rhizome it slowly kills the rest of the root as well

elantan

lessonlearned wrote: »

Elantan - you have my sympathy but it sounds like you are doing a good job.

The point is with this stuff, as Girly has found out to her cost - lenders are running scared and many will decline a mortgage application if they so much as get a whiff that there might be a problem.

I found this out to my cost when I tried to buy a house recently. The £650 shelled out on a survey turned out to be one of my better investments. I hadn't a clue what JK looked like prior to that.

The JK was not just in the garden but in neighbours' gardens and some land belonging to the council.

After mulling it over - we loved the property - we decided it was just not worth the risk. Yes we would have tackled it but could everyone else be relied on. It was just too much of a risk.

The problem is if lenders won't lend if JK is present then properties become unmortgageable.

Money - I wasn't criticising you - just pointing out that your post wasn't specific enough. I know you understand how serious JK is.

However, it does seem that, for a lot us, JK has been a bit of a learning curve.

I certainly had no idea until our recent abortive house purchase. I knew vaguely that it was "troublesome" but did not fully understand just how destructive it can be to property.

you bring up a very valid point, and thankfully at this stage we are not looking to move but, if we were then it could prove to be a bit of a problem, we are dealing with what is at the back of our property and our neighbours are dealing with theirs, however, the two other neighbours that it is affecting are not interested in dealing with it at all, and when we have approached them they have stated that they have no intention or interest in dealing with it.

all we can do is ensure it doesnt come into our property, we intend on claiming some of the waste land so that we can have a bigger fire break ( looking for about 10 ft or so as the rhizome can go for several feet) we then intend on putting chickens in there ( once the land has had a chance to recover from the chemicals) so that should anything come again they can deal with it

We recently re mortgaged and the surveyor noticed the JK he asked us what the situation with it was and we were totally honest with him, he could see the stuff we had sprayed and noted it was disfigured in it's growth, he said that he would inform the mortgage company that we have it but that we have it under control.

Should we ever choose to move though it could become an issue

christineperseus

how serious can it be...........
www.jksl.com/news_detail-279.html

1st attempt at posting link

moneyistooshorttomention

elantan wrote: »

this is what the base looks like, kinda like bamboo, apparently it tastes very much like rhubarb if your into that kinda thing

:T That is actually the best photo I have ever seen anywhere of JK. I've checked out loads of photos and never felt pretty certain I could identify it if I ever came across it.

Gotcha - those "rhubarb" like stems look like pale (jointed) rhubarb. I also read someone describe the leaves as being "spade-shaped".

That should be sufficient for us all to spot it a mile off now.:T

elantan

believe me once you recognise it you wont forget it, i spot it in lots of places now when i am out and about lol

moneyistooshorttomention

donfanatico wrote: »

Apparently they are good for you and there are plenty of receipes on the internet

Apparently it is very tasty, but I wouldn't dare pick it if I spotted it....as I'd be so scared I'd drop a bit of it somewhere inadvertently.

donfanatico

As a sidenote, We live in rented accommodation and the landlord has failed to acknowledge our concern for the JK present to the back of the house in the garden. We just moved in 3 weeks ago, they had cleared the garden but now it is already grown back to a foot.

Who is responsible here and how do we make him seriously rethink his strategy to dealing with it?

moneyistooshorttomention

elantan wrote: »

We recently re mortgaged and the surveyor noticed the JK he asked us what the situation with it was and we were totally honest with him, he could see the stuff we had sprayed and noted it was disfigured in it's growth, he said that he would inform the mortgage company that we have it but that we have it under control.

Should we ever choose to move though it could become an issue

I think that might depend on just when you might choose to move. There does seem to be hope on the horizon re dealing with this. I understand the problem with having imported it into Britain is that we don't have any "natural predators" for it here and hence it has got out of control to some extent.

I read recently that experiments are currently being conducted with some little insect prevalent in Japan (but unknown here) that is a "natural predator" to it and does a very effective job of destroying it in Japan. Apparently this insect wouldn't be likely to create a problem in its turn if released in Britain and they think that maybe they will have successfully finished testing it by about 3 years time and can then let it loose here to bring our outbreak under control.

(That's from memory. I didn't retain a link to this article, but someone might know the one I mean and where to find it and can share it with us to clarify on the details of this.)