Japanese knotweed

Oxenstierna · Post by **Oxenstierna** » 24 Jul 2013, 10:33

Apparently it cost around £70 million to clear knotweed from the London Olympic's site

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/07/137550209 ... -cockroach

I wonder how long before it creeps back?

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 24 Jul 2013, 10:46

'Weeds' have my respect. Nature is truly awesome.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Jul 2013, 11:49

It would mean £125000 per acre even if every acre was totally covered, which it wasn't.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 24 Jul 2013, 16:40

My guess is they'd have to excavate each acre, whether it was covered or no, just to make sure there's none left at all. Like putting a fire out.

Either that or some idiot got G4S to do it.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 24 Jul 2013, 17:55

RenewableCandy wrote: Either that or some idiot got G4S to do it.

That'll be it.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 25 Jul 2013, 03:36

On a slight diversion, a fellow student colleague of RC and me recently spent quite some time and not a little of his own money , to the delight of the Environment Agency, installing this willow spiling to the banks of the brook bounding his property in East London.

A short while latter contractors sent by the EA to eradicate Japanese Knotweed eradicated this willow instead. The EA have since replaced it with Nicospan, "a geotextile that does an inferior job but cannot be mistaken for Knotweed." As friend said "Muppets

!!"

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 25 Jul 2013, 15:31

I hope they sued the fecking pants off the contractors!

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 25 Jul 2013, 17:02

The liability would lie with the EA rather than the contractors and they have replaced the installation although not with like for like. I suppose his problem will come in the future when the plastic needs replacing and he has to persuade the EA to cough up. With the willow it would be self regenerating and it would give him a supply of, admittedly second rate, firewood.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 26 Jul 2013, 21:10

When I planted out currant bushes on the Plot, one didn't take, so I stuck a stick in the earth to remind me not to dig there, in case it should show up next year (some things do that). Damn me if the fecking stick didn't sprout leaves and start to grow! You can see where Moses(?) got the idea from!

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 26 Jul 2013, 22:14

If it was a willow wand then it's not surprising. Wands are magic.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 27 Jul 2013, 09:00

biffvernon wrote:
Oxenstierna wrote:Apparently it cost around £70 million to clear knotweed from the London Olympic's site
I don't actually believe that!

Tough titty. It's true.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 27 Jul 2013, 09:06

UndercoverElephant wrote:
biffvernon wrote:
Oxenstierna wrote:Apparently it cost around £70 million to clear knotweed from the London Olympic's site
I don't actually believe that!
Tough titty. It's true.

Maybe it depends on how you define the cost. The price paid to get the job done may have included lots of profit, admin and bloated expense accounts, and the man who went round with the spray gun may have cost a tiny fraction of it

.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Jul 2013, 11:13

As I said earlier, it would mean £125000 per acre even if every acre was totally covered, which it wasn't.
Tough titty or not, that arithmetic takes some explaining.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 27 Jul 2013, 15:25

Roots go 6ft deep. The tiniest fragment of living root will generate a new plant. Every trace has to be eradicated before building work can take place.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 27 Jul 2013, 16:16

Hey I know that it's a problem but, come on UE, let's have the real evidence that anybody spent £125k/acre on it.