Buying a piece of land with Japanese Knotweed

minx79

Hi all

after some advice.

a plot of land up for auction soon is the right size and good location for us, we want it to raise turkeys and some other livestock on.

However it has potentially got japanese knotweed on it.

I know that it is a costly plant to remove and can take several years depending which option you choose to remove it.

However as we want the land for grazing we didn't intend on doing anything pro-active to remove it and simply would let the animals graze on it.

A few things I am wondering are:-

if we let the animals just graze on it, are we legally obliged to be more pro-active in removing it?

Is the presence of knotweed likely to put off developers who would want the land for building houses?

Would you recommend having a land survey carried out prior to the auction?


The auction is in one week, I have gotten a copy of the legal pack and nothing stands out to me as special or exceptional circumstances, however would you recommend having a solicitor check it over first due to the presence of knotweed?

Thanks in advance

System

Have a look at https://www.gov.uk/japanese-knotweed-giant-hogweed-and-other-invasive-plants

If you will be disposing of anything off that site then you may have to follow the regulations for disposal from contaminated land

minx79

Thanks !!!!!!, have done lots of google research, read all about removing it lol... I know you have to cut and dry it, then burn it on site, can't remove any soil or plants from the land since it spreads through the rhizomes in the soil unless in specific designated dump sites as it is classed as contaminated waste similar to asbestos.

We wouldn't be planting them or causing the knotweed to grow... but whether just allow the animals to graze it would be good enough... with checks of the land boundary regularly to make sure it has not spread

I_have_spoken

As it's non-native, how will the livestock know to eat it?

minx79

I_have_spoken wrote: »

As it's non-native, how will the livestock know to eat it?

I have looked into it, it can be safely eaten by sheep, cattle, horses, and goats. They prefer the new shoots, though. Grazing will not completely remove the plant from an area, but will prevent it from spreading.

we are planning on having turkeys and chickens, likely goats and sheep. Having experience of the turkeys and chickens, they do like to eat any plants they can get near, hubby wasn't impressed at them eating his grape vines etc

we would need to dispose of the woody stems from the plant by drying and burning probably.

silverwhistle

Would borrowinbg some pigs for a few months help? They'd give it a good digging over, although I don't know if can eat it. Shove some acorns (or truffles!) into the soil to get the pigs excited..

warehouse

Japanese Knotweed can be gotten rid of over the course of about 18 months to 2 years. The big problems you will have are...

1. Is it also on neighbouring land where it can easily return from
2. You will need to keep your animals away from it as you need to let it grow quite tall before treating it with some very nasty stuff

Search the forum for it, there are several threads on how to remove it fairly painlessly.

MrsAtobe

Warehouse is correct, this is the latest thread that shows a method to get rid of it within two years, three if you are unlucky. I wouldn't allow pigs anywhere near it though, and whatever you do, don't try to dig it out!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4959751

HTH.

Davesnave

warehouse wrote: »

2. You will need to keep your animals away from it as you need to let it grow quite tall before treating it with some very nasty stuff.

What, like glyphosate, which is so 'nasty' it's approved for use in waterways?

I think it's not much of a problem, and even less so if direct injection methods are used in autumn, unless OP is an organic producer, of course.

martindow

Assuming it is not toxic to them, pigs would be a good organic way or removing it, but would they dig deeply enough to get rid of all the rhizomes?

LandyAndy

I_have_spoken wrote: »

As it's non-native, how will the livestock know to eat it?

The turkeys will know to eat it. They are Johnny Foreigners too.