Not-at-all pastoral thoughts

[mme_hardy]

Someday I am going to track down the person or persons who recommended pink knotweed as a ground cover and there will be no survivors.

Comments

[legionseagle]

Except, probably, the knotweed.

Is that the same as Japanese knotweed? Because the whole "nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure" stuff is playing out in the High Peak, too.

[mme_hardy]

There are several plants with that common name; this is the one I'm struggling with. http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/groundcover/pinkhead-knotweed/growing-pinkhead-knotweed.htm

Some of my entrenched clumps have tap roots 3/4 inch wide. With @#$@#$ tubers, in one case.

[legionseagle]

That's the one we've banned. Actually, all the knotweeds, I think. Ugh. Kill the buggers!

[nineveh_uk]

The page on how to identify, control, and dispose of Japanese knotweed is terrifying. It survives fire, for goodness sake, and is considered controlled waste!

Pink knotweed appears to be legal in the UK, but anyone planting it is still a complete idiot.

[nineveh_uk]

Each is equally deserving of vast quantities of glyphosate.

[mme_hardy]

Right now it's just putting out new leaves, so I'm digging out the upper parts of the tap roots. A little later in the season, and Roundup it is.

[nineveh_uk]

My fingers are crossed for your campaign.

[perennialanna]

It is the only thing I will use weedkiller on at all - I am 99.5% organic but I have spent the past six summers injecting it with glyphosphate as it creeps through from next door. Last summer was the first summer no shoots appeared (instead I got suckering lilacs from teh other direction, but I can live with that).

I can't compost. I can't let any garden waste off the premises (any garden materials that have been within ten metres of knotweed in any direction are controlled waste). It can regenerate from mere millimetres.

[caulkhead]

I read somewhere that all the knotweed in the UK is genetically identical - effectively, it's all from the same bloody plant that just keeps propagating. Don't know if that's true, but it seems possible, at least.

[caulkhead]

So what on earth *do* you do with the garden waste, if you can't burn it, can't compost it, and can't send it to the tip?

[perennialanna]

Pile it up at the back, mostly. It might one day turn into compost, but I'm not intervening. There isn't much garden waste, it's mostly paved (doesn't stop knotweed, obviously). The annoying thing is having to throw out kitchen waste rather than compost it like I did in my last house.

[legionseagle]

I don't think it is legal; I think it's just got another name.

[pameladean]

Our neighbors have a hedge of Japanese knotweed. It is in our side yeard as well, naturally. Three successive occupiers of the house have attempted to get rid of it, to absolutely no avail. I understand that the young shoots can be eaten like asparagus, but I am too suspicious of their motives to try it.

A friend offered me some plume poppy, saying it could vanquish anything. The Japanese knotweed did it in in a season. Not, really, that victorious plume poppy would have been that much of an improvement.

P.

[movingfinger]

Damn that Weedness Protection Program!

[clanwilliam]

Ack! In cheerier news, happy birthday!

[mme_hardy]

Thank you!

[ethelmay.livejournal.com]

*splort* I really was drinking tea there...

[resonant.livejournal.com]

By any chance have you read Graydon Saunder's Commonweal series? It involves sorcerers doing the most important task imaginable - killing invasive weeds.