No way of killing Japanese Knotweed

A STUDY into the invasive Japanese Knotweed has found it cannot be be killed.

Researchers from Swansea University conducted the world's biggest ever study over three years into eradicating the invasive weed at various sites and though 19 separate methods were used in an attempt to kill it, the plant survived them all.

Untrue claims

Scientists used various chemical solutions coupled with physical projects but could not kill the plant, showing that the claims by various manufacturers that their products will kill Japanese Knotweed are untrue. 

There is a great deal of knotweed on the waterways, with the photograph above showing an outcrop by Cockshutts Lock at Stoke on the Trent & Mersey Canal. The floods on the Avon caused it to be washed from gardens where it has taken root on the banks of the navigable river, the picture showing one such outcrop.

Canal banks

The problem with Japanese Knotweed is that once it gets established it is virtually impossible to eradicate with its roots causing the problems especially to canal banks.

At one time the then British Waterways attempted to clear a growth from a canal, that was done in secret, so not to alarm nearby householders, but as no result was ever published it was believed to be unsuccessful.

The secrecy was because if a property contains Japanese Knotweed, it is virtually impossible to sell, as many people have found to their cost.