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

vectistim

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Anyone who has "got up close and personal" care to comment on the accuracy, or otherwise, of those website descriptions?

The house I lived in until I was seven had some at the bottom of the garden, behind some pampas grass and along a stream, I don't remember the stuff spreading into the lawn, I guess it was happy staying along the stream, although it would get up personal with the pampas grass, maybe that served as some sort of barrier.

I don't remember any smell, but from time to time I could go in there and attack the stuff, it had a sort of milky white sap, the dead stalks (presumably the previous year's growth) were like a very brittle sap.

witchy1066

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Re further identifiers of JK. The poster who commented on the nice smell hasn't come back, so I've been googling as to what it says about the smell.

One website = "flowers usually so sweet that their scent is sickening, but this year in addition they smell exactly like tom cat pee".

Another website = "crushed leaves emit a rank unpleasant smell"

At a guess = what the first website person was commenting on equalled said "rank unpleasant smell" and they were smelling the leaves, as well as the flowers.

Anyone who has "got up close and personal" care to comment on the accuracy, or otherwise, of those website descriptions?

sorry for not coming back on my comment
it was i who commented on the smell, LOL
if you walk past a field full of Jk when it is in flower , its a sweet smell hard to describe ,
close up and personal it smells like musty cotton after flowering, sort of , like I say hard to explain how something smells when its not like anything familier but I will say, once you have seen/identified and smelled JK you will not forget it

when I was a child I used to love pulling the stems and playing with them , that was long before any sort of "panic" concerning it

TBH I thought the subject had been well covered and got kind of bored with it , that is why i hadn't posted again , sorry

Ivana_Tinkle

I've never noticed our knotweed having a particular smell, either when growing or when burned.

olly300

mysti77 wrote: »

Management company for the flat says that its not their problem as its in my garden so very unhelpful.

The person who wrote the letter in the management company is clearly ignorant of gardening matters as if you let the JK in your garden out of control it could damage the integrity of the building from the drains to actually appearing inside the property.

I would write to them again pointing out the damage JK can do with information from a local council, the department of environment, a widely recognised horticultural society, a university or something similar attached to your letter showing the damage it can do.

I would also send the letter recorded delivery, keep the receipt and a copy of the letter.

Ultimately you and the other leaseholders would be liable to pay to get rid of the JK in your service charge. However if your management company decide not to act until there is some actual damage to the building and you still own the flat, now you will be able to argue with proof that you all shouldn't pay the full amount to rectify the damage to the building as you warned them of the consequences of not dealing with the problem years ago.

ALIBOBSY

Mojisola wrote: »

It's a shame balsam is so invasive because it's an attractive plant.

The bees love it and we can eat the seeds which are nutty. Collect them up toast them in a dry pan and use them like dried lentils or other seeds.

Ali x

mysti77

Just an update from me. Management company didn't help at all and I couldn't be delayed trying to get neighbors involved to help pay. So I paid just over £2,500 for treatment plan, report and insurance backed warranty. Passed this over to buyer and they gave it to the surveyor. Surveyor said they had seen much worse and it wasn't a problem. Flat is now exchanged as the buyer has been able to secure a mortgage with the measures I've taken.

Thanks for the support.