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  • Bought a House with Japanese Knotweed in the garden – We weren't told…
  • burgatedicky
    Full Member

    Have recently bought a house in Sussex with Mrs burgatedicky, exchanged and completed in January and just got around to doing something with the garden beyond mowing the lawn.
    Have found Japanese Knotweed (well, morelike its growing from the middle of a large shrub with some speed!) and there is more of it on the neighbours side of the fence.
    Peering into the shrub it has obviously been cut back last year (old stumps in the ground) but we weren’t told anything about it during the purchase, and as a notifiable weed apparently we aught to have been made aware??
    The previous occupants were keen gardeners so I’d be surprised if they didn’t know what it was.

    Father is a farmer, so we can source some fairly aggressive chemical to kill it, but from what I’ve read this is likely to take some years…

    Do we have an axe to grind with the sellers, or our own solicitor for that matter?

    I think we can control it, but its not the kind of problem I had expected.

    Ta all,

    cloudnine
    Free Member

    Dig it up and forward it on to the seller.. They must have forgotten to take it with them..

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    Talk to your solicitor first, to see if there is any comeback on the vendor, and then possibly (clutching at straws) your surveyor

    nealglover
    Free Member

    You can claim for the cost of rectifying the problem and ongoing maintenance.

    Not a recommendation, just for info:

    Japanese Knotweed Claims Ltd helps clients recover treatment costs

    colp
    Full Member

    Do we have an axe to grind with the sellers, or our own solicitor for that matter?

    Narrr, stick with the weedkiller, chopping it down will never work.

    mikey74
    Free Member

    Do we have an axe to grind with the sellers, or our own solicitor for that matter?

    Yes on the first point but it may be difficult to prove they knew about it.

    Just make sure you follow the official guidelines when doing your control or you could find yourselves in trouble. It is a controlled waste product.

    Was there a conveyancing survey done?

    mintimperial
    Full Member

    from what I’ve read this is likely to take some years…

    Depends how much there is. I successfully killed a (small) patch in one year by treating heavily and repeatedly with glyphosate in September-October (it takes the weedkiller right into the roots after it’s finished flowering for the year). It was completely gone by the next spring. Don’t cut it, strim or move it in any way until it’s totally dead though, it can grow back from tiny shreds of any part of the plant. Oh and anything growing near it is toast too, obviously.

    there is more of it on the neighbours side of the fence

    This is where you might run into issues. My sister in law basically ended up managing an infestation for years because the neighbours didn’t care, so it came back every year. Get next-door on side and following the rules for eradication and I’m sure you can sort it.

    BigJohn
    Full Member

    Its a question they will have been asked on the standard questionnaire and they lied.

    project
    Free Member

    Experienced this weed about 15 years ago, fantastic weed it is, so strong and powerful it grows almost as you watch it, it must be dug out,or killed with seriously strong weed killer, or destroyed in a controled way, no taking to local skip centre, the one we tried and failed to deal with was from the neighbours garden so get them on your side

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    You’ve paid a professional to advise you on the deal, why aren’t you asking him/her?

    bedmaker
    Full Member

    I’d forget the solicitors and suchlike.
    Just buy a tin of glyphosate and treat it multiple times till it shrinks down. It’s really not that big a deal.

    Sell chunks of it on ebay as a revenge tool for warring neighbours.

    But, definately, definately DON’T strim it 😳

    peterfile
    Free Member

    Japanese knotweed is a nightmare. Just spent a high six figure sum shifting a load from yet another problem site. Badgers, bats and JK…dislike.

    As Al says, speak to your advisers. Do you get any sort of ground conditions work done in a survey for a residential purchase these days? If not, keep your fingers crossed that it originated from your neighbours side.

    (BTW, we’d normally Bury it and cap it if we can’t move it. But I doubt you’d be able to get deep enough)

    tron
    Free Member

    I used to deal with this when I finished uni, so the below is probably not quite state of the art but most of it will still stand.

    It can regenerate from astonishingly small pieces, 1cm cube if I recall correctly. I once visited a building site where they’d put it through the woodchipper…

    It will grow back through tarmac and even concrete on occasion.

    As others have said, repeated glyphosate treatment will kill it. The only other real option is to dig the lot out, pay for it to be tipped and the backfill with fresh soil. That’s often the preferred method for building sites where total removal quickly is key, but obviously it isn’t cheap!

    You also seriously need to get your neighbours to sort it. I can’t remember precisely but the rhizome network can spread metres so it could easily reappear of the neighbour doesn’t sort it. You can dig a trench and lay a geotextile membrane to stop the rhizomes spreading, but the kosher stuff was around 400 quid a roll.

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    cynic-al – Member
    You’ve paid a professional to advise you on the deal, why aren’t you asking him/her?

    You are possibly the the most intellectual person I’ve come across.

    You are quite right. Can you share any other wisdoms for not only the OP, but the rest of us that live in total ignorance of such enlightened brilliance?

    Many thanks.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    I think this is one instance where dusting off and nuking from orbit is required.
    Having said that, the collateral damage to the neighbourhood might prove contentious, so perhaps one of these might be more appropriate:

    😀

    iolo
    Free Member

    let it grow a bit. It’s hollow inside. Cut the stem and pour roundup into the plant. Keep doing this when it grows.
    After a few years it will stop growing.
    The other way is to cut it down and cover with a heavy gauge polythene (visqueen) and forget about it for a few years, Make sure no light gets to it. It will not grow. After a few years it will be dead.
    Or pay a specialist and pay a few grand only to be told they cannot guarantee they have irradiated it.
    If it’s not dealt with by your neighbour too whatever you do is a waste of time as it will just come back.
    Is it near the foundations of your house? If not it’s not actually that bad. It’s only a bugger when allowed to grow.

    br
    Free Member

    You are possibly the the most intellectual person I’ve come across.

    You are quite right. Can you share any other wisdoms for not only the OP, but the rest of us that live in total ignorance of such enlightened brilliance?

    But he’s right.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    bearnecessities – Member
    cynic-al – Member
    You’ve paid a professional to advise you on the deal, why aren’t you asking him/her?
    You are possibly the the most intellectual person I’ve come across.

    You are quite right. Can you share any other wisdoms for not only the OP, but the rest of us that live in total ignorance of such enlightened brilliance?

    Many thanks.

    camo16
    Free Member

    If it’s growing in one spot only, then it’s not a massive deal.

    If you dig it up, make sure you pick out all the root parts – there’ll be thousands of small white strands in the soil. Every one must go.

    It’ll grow back, but not in the same quantity as before. Dig, collect all the bits, remove and repeat.

    Takes a few goes, but it’s not really that bad. Trouble is, the plant will grow from any remaining material left in the ground, which makes muchos sifting a necessity.

    I fought Japanese Knotweed. And I won. 8)

    bearnecessities
    Full Member

    I know CZ, sorry 😳

    I’m just always hanging on his every word 😀

    As a serious answer and as an allotment person that has to battle horse tail etc, I’d always suggest the injection technique.

    djglover
    Free Member

    I had this in my last place, one massive sprout appeared in my garden the spring after we moved in. It was also in the alley behind, but not a massive infestation. I had to treat the area with glyphosate for several years before it went. In the 3rd or 4th year none grew and I sold the house and moved after 6 so I think it worked.

    pk13
    Full Member

    Hypo needles and inject the nastiest weed killer you can find into the stems. Lots of it. I used screened soil to fill a raised border last year and the finger of doom popped up from the soil. Lots of weed killer later and a fair amount of digging it’s gone.

    Xylene
    Free Member

    Diesel – stops it growing, ay stop most other things growing in that area as well.

    cardo
    Full Member

    Did anyone else watch “Day of the Triffids” as a kid?..

    BillMC
    Full Member

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_sulfamate

    I have it shipped from Ireland to control marestail. It is the business.

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    I fought Japanese Knotweed. And I won.

    Ditto! Although hopefully it just went into hibernation for a few years and has since returned to persecute our old idiot landlord…

    cynic-al
    Free Member

    🙄

    pedropete
    Full Member
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