Reply With QuoteNapalm. Repeatedly.
To answer your question, no. Put your house on the market before it reaches your garden.
Has anyone defeated the beast from the Far East? My neighbour has it and I do t want it encroaching onto my property.
Digging out isn’t an option, so it spraying or injection of over a number of seasons I guess.
Napalm. Repeatedly.
To answer your question, no. Put your house on the market before it reaches your garden.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
You can get a specialist knotweed removal firm in....or,at least,your neighbour could. Otherwise I concur with the above.
I’m looking at legal options as we only moved in March, it’s suddenly appeared (growing season) and not picked up on the survey. Not they would check the neighbors property.
Last edited by Middo; 3rd June 2021 at 08:54.
Have you asked your neighbour what he plans he plans to do to stop it?
A lot of lenders won’t lend on a property where the neighbours have JKW so the valuer must have missed it. Unless you had your own valuation theres there’s no real recourse. There are specialist experts who can deal with it but it does take a long time and is expensive
Does the neighbour have a responsibility to remove it - I mean, would they be negligent if they allowed it to spread to neighbouring properties?
This is important.Originally Posted by Gavbaz
As for recourse, it dies down over winter so may not even have been visible at the time your survey was done.
When we sold our last house the surveyor (in a September) noted a small clump growing in an adjacent footpath. It had been growing harmlessly (ie not spreading) ever since we had moved there 16 years earlier - I didn't even realise it was JKW! There is a view that the trouble it can cause is rather overstated in most cases but it is difficult to get rid of - repeated annual treatments with glyphosate was the treatment of choice (not sure if that's still the case) - and lenders are very wary.
In our case we were part exchanging against a new property and the developer was keen to progress so they picked up the cost of its future management.
Yes- he only lives there part time, I think he plans to tackle it himself, however I fear a bodge if job.
From reading it could be managed if done properly by professionals.
I did wonder how overstated the problem is by management companies. We viewed in winter as was the survey.
Spot on - be clear that they have a problem that needs dealing with effectively as you consider you will have the right to hold them responsible if they do not take reasonable steps to stop it invading your property
I have just checked the RICS site.
Their report isn't clear on financial responsibilities.
One clause states that...
'..to protect the legal interests of the subject property owner, his or her legal advisers may
wish to put adjacent owners on notice of the
problem, indicating what should be done to
tackle the Japanese Knotweed and the possible
consequences of failing to take appropriate action.'
In the Uk a landowner has a legal responsibility to stop Jkw spreading , so check your local restrictions.
Jkw removal needs to be approached in a systematic manner. Do not spray or attempt to kill young shoots. The plant spreads by rhizomes eg roots. Best success will be let the plant reach its full height and the flowers appear usually late June July. At this stage the plant moves from sap rising from the root to the leaves to sap returning to the root. Hence spraying at this time takes the weed killer down to the root.
The specialists use a combined approach of foliar spraying and stem injection, usually in a three year / visit campaign. They can offer a 10 year warranty which often goes someway to assuaging some mortgage companies.
Be careful using Glycophosphate it is a nasty chemical and ppe needed
Steve
Lots of useful advice on here, including the legal situation.
Hope it all gets sorted amicably.
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=218
Have you contacted your local council about it?
I know my old local council treated an outbreak of it a few years back, they took prompt action too if I remember correctly.
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We were speaking to our new neighbour a day or so ago. During the welcoming chat, my wife pointed out the JKW on the side of his lane down to his cabin. To say he was rattled was an under statement. He had no idea what the plants were and said the seller had ticked the relevant 'Have you got JKW box?' as a 'No' on her legal paperwork.
We had been aware of it for years and the previous owners weak attempts to clear it. Luckily it is a long way away from our house and even further from his cabin.
I guess he will be contacting his solicitor to see what he can do now.
i would try this as soon as i seen them but they really need to do it on their side or it will always be a threat
https://www.progreen.co.uk/icade-1-l...h-woody-weeds/
I've got the licence for getting rid of this as someone else said spraying and injection of roundup very expensive though can cost a few thousand and it has to be reviseted.
Thanks all for the info, I think it can be managed by the neighbour but he needs to look at it properly. From what can tell they have just been cutting it down. It really need treating with appropriate potions and at the right stage of growth. It has spread from his property into the adjacent field. I don’t want it getting to my property.
I feel for the neighbour but it’s not my problem to manage and I don’t want a legal battle if it appears.
I suspect you need to issue him with a formal notice (probably via a solicitor) to make him take it seriously and to protect yourself as it will likely spread to your property if he does not address it ...
There are patches of it all over the Mersey Valley in South Manchester where I live. I noticed some on the edge of a wood adjacent to my land which was close enough to cause concern. I suppose it gave me chance to have a go at it without actually having the problem myself. A systemic weed killer did the job although it took about 3 growing seasons to see it off. I think a lot of people panic a bit with JKW, it's a plant at the end of the day. Continually deny it the chance to grow and feed its roots and it will die. The thing you need to do is keep on it, look for signs in April and lace it with the weedkiller when it's about knee high. I think a lot of firms feed off peoples fear of this and make a lot of money as a result. Remember you can keep your own eyes on it better than anyone else and it's cheaper. There's no magic involved with killing this stuff, it's glyphosate and you can buy your own. As stated already just be careful around it.
Thanks Russ, that was kind of what I was getting at with the post. You only ever get shown the worst case scenarios if you google it.
On a side note - interesting when you sprayed it as some theory is to treat it before it dies off for winter for greater effect.
I can't see any point in allowing it to flourish all season, feeding and growing new roots in the process. My take on it was to allow the first two foot of foliage in Spring to deliver the poison down into the plant. Each time I did this, it didn't come back at me the same season. A repeat over three Springs did for it. This happened over 6 years ago but I still go back to check. Nothing again this time round.
According to the Environment Agency, JKW can lie dormant for up to 20 years. The EA website suggests that successive treatments can force it into a dormant state. https://www.knotweedhelp.com/japanes..._being_treated
I believe latest thinking is to wait until after it has flowered in late summer and then apply glyphosate. This is the time of year it’s transferring the most nutrients down to the rhizomes in preparation for winter, so it will suck up the most glyphosate. If it’s not a big stand of JKW, use two sponges dipped in the strongest glyphosate you can find to paint on the leaves (both sides) and stems. This will minimize risk of the glyphosate getting onto other plants. If it’s a big stand of JKW, you’ll have to spray and/or inject (the latter into the hollow stem between the first and second nodes).
This is how the councils tackle it , no sponges mind you. Wait until the plant is flowering then nail it. Any earlier you kill the shoots and leaves but the rhizome remains untouched.
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