Japanese knotweed canes in winter

It seems an unlikely scenario but weeds can stop you getting a mortgage, or so it seems from an article in the Metro last month.

Dave Williams from Cornwall has tried to borrow £83,000 from Santander but has been turned down because of a small amount of Japanese knotweed on a piece of land that he bought recently to extend his garden. Although Mr Williams believes that had this been winter the surveyor would not have noticed, it is likely a diligent surveyor would have seen the dead canes that are evident in the winter.

He could treat the knotweed with a suitable weed killer and eventually it will die with perserverance. Patience is the key; do not be tempted to cut it back or dig it up as the roots will spread even without any leaf.  If there is no building work  planned on the area, it doesn’t have to be a big problem.

However, if Mr Williams is thinking of developing his garden, then he has a problem as Japanese knotweed can grow through concrete and tarmac. Currently, throughout the British Isles, it  is causing the construction industry substantial financial concerns running into millions of pounds in costs to eradicate the dreaded weed.

Jane

I know it’s a touch late, but I noticed this article that likens the increase in celebrating Halloween by trick-or-treating to the invasive spread of Japanese knotweed.

The act of performing tricks on people who don’t deliver treats to costumed children was introduced as an “exotic” foreign activity in the 1980s and has since spread to become an expected part of British Halloween. Hmm… I suppose it’s a bit like Japanese knotweed; although I imagine Japanese knotweed is considered a bigger pain to more people than a bunch of kids dressed as vampires. Having said that, I’ve never had a bag of burning dog poo dumped on my doorstep…