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I have this poo poo behind my house, and as I mentioned in my LIVE OFF THE LAND thread, I cut down that patch, dug up roots, burned everything, then laid down tarps. (not my picture, just shown as an example of how much of a bitch knotweed is) My partner is against using Roundup to kill this stuff after glyphosate was just declared carcinogenic, and the knotweed is spreading towards our garden... At this point, the knotweed has push through in spots and I think I'm going to have to remove the tarps and do the process over again. I've been toying with the idea of putting down metal wire, as a researcher in my province has been experimenting with, which apparently tears the knotweed up to poo poo as it pushes through... Thoughts, advice?
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Jun 14, 2015 12:16
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| # ? May 2, 2024 05:34 |
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Use roundup or fire. Edit: Have you thought about not eating the roundup? Bip Roberts fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Jun 14, 2015 |
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Jun 14, 2015 16:36
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Bip Roberts posted:Use roundup or fire. I think the point of not using it is so that they can use the land afterwards for farming I guess.
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Jun 14, 2015 17:04
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SlayVus posted:I think the point of not using it is so that they can use the land afterwards for farming I guess. I don't think glyphosate is a problem but I guess OP needs to placate their histrionic partner.
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Jun 14, 2015 20:02
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Whip up some fake "organic" herbicide and spray it on the weeds, then spray it again later with glyphosate when she's not paying attention. As long as you don't use the post-emergent formula it won't persist in the soil. edit: There's always 2-4D Zeno-25 fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Jun 15, 2015 |
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Jun 15, 2015 05:37
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You simply aren't going to kill that poo poo without herbicide. Glyphosate is about the mildest herbicide that will do the job and is less carcinogenic then spending all summer in the sun digging up weeds.
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Jun 15, 2015 06:51
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You're not going to be growing anything on that patch for a while, guv'nor. You're going to be attacking that stuff for years. No joking. Worry later about oogly chemicals, if you let that knotweed spread, it's all you'll be growing.
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Jun 15, 2015 08:41
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Fragments of knotweed root 150mg in weight can regenerate a whole plant, and digging up live plants is considered counter-productive for this reason. If you apply glyphosate topically, rather than spraying, your exposure to it will be minuscule and the poison will remain in the tissues of the plant. It has a very variable half-life depending on environmental conditions, but Wikipedia's average figure of 47 days sounds fair enough. I think you'll have to cultivate your available knotweed-free areas for veg, and regard the infested patches as the badlands until the knotweed is long gone. Seeing as this will take at least two years even under ideal circumstances, allowing 6 month's soil degradation time doesn't look excessive. I don't think Mesh Tech can get rid of it any faster, and the expense must be horrifying. A seasoned knotweed warrior describes what it IMO the best method at the bottom of this page: http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/problems/weeds/japanese-knotweed/473.html quote:Having spent wasted time trying to spray the stuff we came up with a more radical approach.In Spring, wait until it have reached at least 75cm high, it needs to be making strong growth.Cut the top off so that you can see down the stem, which is a bit Bamboo like in that it grows in section. Straighten a metal coathanger, and poke this down through the sections as far as you can. Make up a solution of Glyphosate, from the concentrate, then using a hypodermic syringe or similar (you don't need a needle) inject the solution carefully into the stem and keep doing this until the stem is almost full. Then proceed to the next plant. Repeat this in Autumn, when the sap is retreating into the roots and again the following Spring, by which time the plant will really be struggling. Once you are certain it is dead and you may need to wait a further season, then it is safe to dig up and dispose of legally. I don't know how things are in Canada, but here in the UK you have to declare knotweed infestations in the garden of your house, when putting it up for sale. It is very worthwhile to declare total war on this bastard plant.
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Jun 17, 2015 11:47
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| # ? May 2, 2024 05:34 |
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Update: I convinced my partner that Glyphosate is the way to go I bought a thing of Roundup and cut some plants, spraying the stuff into the tops. I did this for about a dozen, then I decided to spray the leaves of a fair portion of the patch to see what would happen. I'm going to buy more if this seems to be working... I think my cutting, burning, digging out, and covering from last year actually SPREAD the patch  The previous owner's daughter planted the knotweed in the back yard because she thought it was pretty... we have more patches on parts of our property, I hope I can vanquish them if this works.
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Jun 17, 2015 22:28
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