Laboratories have come up with a biological solution to keep the Japanese knotweed from spreading and hopefully keep it under control. The weed up to yet has no natural enemies in this country so the plant can spread undisturbed. This is about to change as bugs and fungi that grow on the plants in their native country are to be introduced. The beetle eggs are injected into the stems and when they hatch they dig their way out into the open, the result of the tunnelling snaps the stems. The fungus will hopefully kill off the vulnerable plant. I suppose in a few years time we will be invaded with knotweed beetles eating the vegetable patch instead of the rabbits doing it and garden plants will be collapsing with a strange fungal growth, I’ll watch with interest.
Japanese knotweed can live quite happily in a jar full of water with no air in it, showing how invasive it is. The other method that has been used for a while now is to cut each stalk and painstakingly inject each stem with herbicide, this will still take between 3-5 years to kill the plant.
And to think all this started from one plant in a pot on someone’s doorstep at the turn of the century.
Horticultural.
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