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The alien shrub that can't be stopped
BBC ^ | 6 Oct 2022 | Zaria Gorvett

Posted on 10/08/2022 2:24:04 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

Japanese knotweed evolved in one of the harshest environments on Earth – now scientists are desperately trying to find a way to destroy it.

Where it does produce seeds, Japanese knotweed is prolific. At one research site in Philadelphia, the plants were found to produce up to 150,000 seeds each year per stem – most of which were found to be viable.

This two-part system, with above-ground and below-ground body parts, means it's extremely difficult to control Japanese knotweed with chemicals. The most effective is glyphosate, which works by inhibiting an enzyme plants need to produce amino acids, and the best way to use it is counterintuitive. As many homeowners have discovered in their zeal to eradicate the weed quickly, if you use too much, you might accidentally cause the plant to spread.

The part of Japanese knotweed that's visible above ground is the crown – this is the dominant part of the plant that's actively gathering energy. But it has backup. "Surrounding those crowns are dormant buds – so they could potentially lead to new growth, but they don't because they're being suppressed by the crown," says Eastwood. So, if you flood one of these tricky weeds with herbicide, you might kill off the crown completely – and suddenly, all its satellite buds will wake up.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Agriculture; Chit/Chat; Gardening
KEYWORDS: alien; glyphosate; invasive; japaneseknotweed; knotweed
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To: rarestia

I’m in Arizona and don’t even try to grow a lawn. Unfortunately, Bermuda grass seems to be established around some of the trees and shrubs that we do water regularly, so the grass has to be pulled fairly often. Weed mats help where we can use them.


41 posted on 10/08/2022 6:08:50 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: Ann Archy

That crap is nasty. You can actually hear it grow. And it kills everything in its path…


42 posted on 10/08/2022 6:12:13 AM PDT by Magnatron
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To: Celtic Conservative
You want to get rid of it, convince hipsters it’s a delicacy.

Foraging with Milo: Japanese Knotweed

43 posted on 10/08/2022 6:30:38 AM PDT by TangoLimaSierra (⭐⭐Public hangings will wake 'em up.⭐⭐)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

“The alien shrub that can’t be stopped”

George W. Bush is an alien? It would explain a lot.


44 posted on 10/08/2022 6:41:00 AM PDT by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: rarestia

“Kudzu was used as an attempt to control illegal marijuana operations.”

I thought it was brought over to stop erosion. They didn’t have illegal marijuana grows when this stuff was imported.

“Kudzu was introduced from Japan into the United States at the Japanese pavilion in the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.[23] It was also shown at the Chicago World’s Fair.[33] It remained a garden plant until the Dust Bowl era (1930s–1940s), when the vine was marketed as a way for farmers to stop soil erosion.”


45 posted on 10/08/2022 6:47:27 AM PDT by dljordan
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

The neighbor had zoysia sod installed several years ago. It is putting-green beautiful in the summer. But...starts fading out in the Fall...is paper-bag brown by winter....then starts greening up again in Spring. And, incredibly invasive. I built a low landscape block wall to separate our yards...put a planting area with a 2-foot kill zone along the block wall. Anything green in that kill zone is Rounded-up. I should’ve done the same thing on the opposite side. That neighbor has a healthy supply of Bermuda...and it loves MY yard.


46 posted on 10/08/2022 6:47:56 AM PDT by moovova
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To: moovova

Nuke it from orbit....


47 posted on 10/08/2022 6:58:32 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: DUMBGRUNT

48 posted on 10/08/2022 7:18:25 AM PDT by plain talk
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To: rarestia

If goats work for Kudzu removal then donkeys likely work better. Donkeys are very good at brush clearing. Heck, they even chomp down on poison ivy.

Donkeys are also a good mix with cattle. The cows and a donkey or two in the herd are good mix. Donkeys will aggressively stomp and kick snakes and predators.


49 posted on 10/08/2022 7:40:06 AM PDT by Hootowl99
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To: 9YearLurker

My suggestion is to send all we can to Martha’s Vinyard….


50 posted on 10/08/2022 8:06:53 AM PDT by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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To: central_va

Nutsedge is a tough one to kill, too. I eradicated it by digging under it and sifting through the dirt for all rhizomes. Missed a few of course, so as soon as I saw those sprouting, I dug those areas up again and removed the remaining rhizomes.

Pulling nutsedge is a useless exercise. The Japanese variety simply breaks off at the roots and then the roots send up new shoots. Spraying it with poison seems to knock it back awhile, but unless you eradicate the rhizomes, it always comes back. I hate the stuff, as it grows much faster than grass, so you see the nutsedge blades sticking out of your freshly mowed yard within a day or two of cutting them flush.

Bermuda grass is similar although much easier to kill off. If you let it get into your garden, pulling it out won’t kill it. Even a tiny piece of the roots left under ground will regrow the plant. Tilling the soil makes it even worse in my opinion, as the broken pieces will quickly regrow.


51 posted on 10/08/2022 8:18:39 AM PDT by CitizenUSA (Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.)
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

One year I bought Zoysia grass plugs from a newspaper ad. They even sent the plugging tool. I planted them according to instructions, and it turned out that I didn’t have enough to cover my whole yard.
I watered and watered and WATERED them, but nothing happened. Oh well, I thought, at least I didn’t spend a lot of money.
After a few years, I started to notice the grass in that area getting thicker. It finally took. Over time, it spread to almost the whole yard and it WAS so thick that dandelions wouldn’t grow in it.
It was tough getting the lawnmower through it, and it was the last grass to turn green in the Spring, and the first to turn brown in the Fall.


52 posted on 10/08/2022 8:21:29 AM PDT by telescope115 (Proud member of the ANTIFAuci movement. )
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

A blackberry thicket saved my nieces neighborhood from a raging wildfire. The bushes are downright evil but they did stop that fire.


53 posted on 10/08/2022 8:29:33 AM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Which young Bush relative is your article about?


54 posted on 10/08/2022 8:31:59 AM PDT by x
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To: telescope115

Great idea!


55 posted on 10/08/2022 8:45:35 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Organic Panic

Yeah, for all the apparent volume of a thicket, there’s really not that much fuel there, and it’s too spread out to burn intensely. A fire will just creep through underneath on the dead leaves. Mop-up’s no fun, though.


56 posted on 10/08/2022 8:47:04 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: rarestia

—”
Bamboo is a pestilence. It chokes out grass, destroys our native oaks by smothering their crowns, and it’s almost impossible to destroy.”

When we bought this property it had numerous fruit trees mostly cherry...
One year most of the cherry trees died. The Morton Arboretum asks that my wife bring in a branch.
They said that the trees had been planted at the same time and have a fixed life span.A few more years all the fruit trees were gone except my favorite, the massive mulberry.

My wife hated it but every critter in the county would stop by on summer nights for a fruit dessert.
One sad day the local power company was canvassing for approval to trim near the power lines, this happens every few years but this time my wife approved the complete removal, we pay nothing. I still miss that tree.

A friend suggested bamboo and they say it does well in northern Illinois.

I have heard bad things but most are from Florida.

Now thinking I will pass on the bamboo.


57 posted on 10/08/2022 8:48:29 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ( "The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last messa)
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To: telescope115

I’m so glad I don’t have to fool with a lawn anymore.


58 posted on 10/08/2022 8:50:32 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: TangoLimaSierra

Oh good lord.

CC


59 posted on 10/08/2022 8:53:02 AM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: campaignPete R-CT

—” squirt 40% glyphosate inside the stem”

On one side we and our neighbor both have a fence, about one foot apart, he also has a thick hedge line. Been like that for about 70 years and was becoming a fire hazard.

We decided to CAREFULLY spray Roundup.

It killed my lawn a few feet in from the fence and in places you could see my footprints as I tracked it around.
Mostly recovered after about five years.


60 posted on 10/08/2022 9:02:16 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ( "The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last messa)
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