Japanese knotweed

[MrG]

Apparantly chickens will get rid of it. A friend rented a house to a keen gardener. Garden was infested.. he kept chickens for a few years they ate the w.eed and he transformed the garden

[woodburner]

Do you need to have permanent chickens to keep it down, or does your friend say the chickens killed the knotweed?

[MrG]

I think he had chickens there for a long time (a few years) and then planted a garden. What I was going to post but had to get off the train (which gives me free internet) was that I don't know if he fought back the knotweed first then put the chickens there.that's what I'm assuming he did though. Can't really ask him now because he moved out.i was offered the house see on the basis that I'm a keen gardener and I'd prob keep the garden nice like he left it

[biffvernon]

Nothing to do with Japanese Knotweed but I just wrote something about Himalyan Balsam: http://biffvernon.blogspot.co.uk/

[RenewableCandy]

That's worth knowing...so basically, pull it up if you really feel you must, but don't bother spraying it. Well I pulled up a whole load the other day with a posse of volunteers and I'm sure the area's better for it. On the other hand it's SO EASY to pull it up that it's not worth spraying.

Now Bindweed, the RenewableJury's still out...

[biffvernon]

So what I would be interested to know is just why you and the posse did the pulling (other than because it was easy).

What was the harm that the HB was doing?
Was it out-competing other species and if so what were these other species?
What was the condition of the site prior to the HB invasion?
What will happen to the site (don't answer this till next year)?

[RenewableCandy]

In the Orchard we pull it up and take it away to reduce the soil richness and so encourage meadow-type plants there, "because we can" and there's a national shortage of places conducive to meadow-type plants.

[UndercoverElephant]

Nothing to do with Japanese Knotweed but I just wrote something about Himalyan Balsam: http://biffvernon.blogspot.co.uk/

Hmmm.

In my experience there are places where Himalayan Balsam does indeed cause a "biodiversity problem" - i.e. it totally dominates at the expense of everything else. These tend to be rather damp areas. In other places it just turns up as one plant, or a few, in among lots of other things.

I quite like it though, because it produces edible seeds at the same time I'm taking people foraging for mushrooms.

[biffvernon]

In the Orchard we pull it up and take it away to reduce the soil richness and so encourage meadow-type plants there, "because we can" and there's a national shortage of places conducive to meadow-type plants.

That's interesting. The fruit trees will benefit from a more fertile soil. Do you have room to remove the HB from the intended flower-rich parts and dump it within a couple of metres of the trees as a composting mulch?

My land is part hay meadow, from which I have been removing a hay crop for 20 years and adding no fertilising matter, and part orchard, from which I take no organic matter (except the apples).

[biffvernon]

In my experience there are places where Himalayan Balsam does indeed cause a "biodiversity problem" - i.e. it totally dominates at the expense of everything else.

There are a lot of such anecdotal comments but when you look at the scientific literature the alleged problems don't seem to be there. The places where it 'totally dominates' tend to be sites that have been first disturbed by human interference and the species that become dominated tend to be other non-native introductions or things that deserve a bit of being dominated such as stinging nettles. Yes, HB doesn't tolerate drought so needs to grow on river banks and other damp places. It's potential range is thus very restricted.

[RenewableCandy]

I can only comment that that is what we're advised to do in the Orchard. The rationale (as we understand it) is that the soil operates in layers, with the trees taking their nutrients from a layer far enough below the surface that it doesn't matter to them what we do there. And a too-fertile surface soil encourages nettles, which make fruit-picking awkward.

[biffvernon]

Ah yes, people do what they are advised. That seems to be a common thread running through the demise of civilisation.

I don't buy the layer thing, with trees not caring about fertility of top of soil. Apple tree roots are mostly in the top few inches of the soil - the same layer that nettles occupy.

[kenneal - lagger]

I was of the impression that generally trees sent out feeder roots at the surface and a tap root straight down for water.

[adam2]

The borrowed goat ate the knotweed and seemed to enjoy so doing, it certainly put on weight noticeably.
I think that the owners have now killed it for eating.

It seems probable that the weed will regrow, but another goat can be obtained if need be.

The goat got on fine with a dog, but seemed nervous of cats, perhaps had not seen cats before ?

[UndercoverElephant]

I was of the impression that generally trees sent out feeder roots at the surface and a tap root straight down for water.

Depends what sort of tree it is. Beech trees, for example, do not send down any tap root. That is partly why so many of them got blown over in October 1987.