As many of you already know from various news reports, Japanese Knotweed is a fast-growing, clump-forming perennial plant with tall, dense stems. It can exploit small spaces in pipes and cracks in concrete to begin a process of causing serious damage – including to the structure of your building.
An invasive plant with rapid growth, knotweed leaves homeowners with worry for several reasons. Property damage, reduction in house value and potential liability, if it stretches to neighbouring property, are key reasons why it needs action to control its spread.
Japanese Knotweed costs taxpayers millions of pounds every year, with the situation getting worse as the plant spreads across the UK without due diligence in professional Japanese Knotweed herbicide treatment from homeowners.
Growth Cycle
Identifying Japanese knotweed and its growth cycle is important to be able to get the right treatment towards it. Like other plants, Knotweed does not grow throughout the year. It has a seasonal life cycle that develops through the seasons in response to varying conditions.
Knotweed is typically tall with a growth of up to 3m, but height can vary depending on the season. Its bamboo-style canes grow in distinctive and dense clumps, spreading very easily. That also makes it very easy to mistake for other plants of a similar look, such as Fallopia baldschuanica.
April to May is the time when new season knotweed stems generate from underground rhizomes, using energy stored within to stimulate growth. Red bud-like shoots appear first a few millimetres from the ground. As the temperature rises, the buds begin to erupt and grow as stems. In mature knotweed, the typical growth is 12-18 cm a day.
In the summer months, it becomes much easier to identify as it is its peak growing season. By early summer, the stems reach full height of 2.5-3 m high – and sometimes a little higher. By June and July, knotweed will grow several centimetres every day with purplish speckling near the base underneath dense foliage. That foliage blocks sunlight and stymies any growth below.
Later Year
By early autumn, clusters of tiny cream-like flowers will spring from the plant whilst the growth begins to slow for the season. The plant prepares for the colder season by re-absorbing all essential nutrients deep into its rhizome system underground. You will witness all leaves turn brown and a yellowing stem as the above-ground elements begin to die off.
Winter proves to be a difficult period for knotweed identification, with it entering its dormant stage. Do not be fooled that the plant is dead, as it exists beneath the soil with its rhizome system strong as the season halts its progress. Once spring returns, it will begin its cycle all over again.
The best way to combat this threat is by contacting professionals in Japanese Knotweed removal Manchester to effectively treat the invasive plant for eradication. Contact the team at Solutions for Japanese Knotweed today.
