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.
500g young knotweed shoots, including leafy “spears”, lower sections peeled, sliced into 8cm pieces
50ml water
100g caster sugar
200g plain flour, sifted
100g cold butter, cubed
125g brown sugar
Method
Place knotweed pieces into a 1.5l oven-proof dish. Pour over the water and sprinkle with the caster sugar.
To make the crumble, blend together the cold butter cubes, brown sugar and flour until it makes an evenly granular mixture. Spoon this over the top of the knotweed pieces so that it is completely covered.
Place the dish in an oven at 180 Celsius and cook for 30mins.
Nettle has a new rival on the edible-weed front; Japanese knotweed, often regarded as a problem plant, has proved itself to be quite a culinary treat according to Phlorum’s Edible Japanese Knotweed Campaign in association with Brighton’s vegetarian restaurant Terre à Terre. So before you start to exterminate the plant’s, smooth, heart-shaped leaves and youthful purple streaked bamboo-like stems, consider eating away your Japanese knotweed troubles!
On a recent BBC Sussex radio appearance for the campaign, Dr. Paul Beckett claimed that if Japanese knotweed is brought under control by recently approved field trials to release a knotweed-sucking insect called Aphalara itadori then ”why not use it the same way people use other pot herbs and other native vegetation to cook with?“
The inspiration for Phlorum’s knotweed eating campaign initially arose from the inspirational work of Bun Lai, the chef and owner of Mia Sushi restaurant
who has made incredible dishes with the plant and the sharing of imaginative recipes through social networks and shared with us by Kazuyoshi Nomachi http://twitter.com/im_yutaka
Described with a flavour between asparagus and rhubarb, Japanese knotweed shoots are ready for providing a delightful tang and riveting crunch around late spring each year. Best eaten when the plant is around 6 to 8 inches tall, the knotweed can be transformed via various cooking methods such as steaming, and simmering into delicious dishes such as soups, sauces, fruit compotes and even jam. Although the plants leaves should be discarded, the rind surrounding the stalk of the knotweed can also be used to make a delightful tangy marmalade. Furthermore, besides being a delicious ingredient for cooking, Japanese knotweed provides an excellent source of vitamin A and C, along with its cofactor, the antioxidant rutin.
The plant interestingly also contains potassium, phosphorus and zinc providing the components for a very healthy ingredient.
Following Phlorum’s recent BBC radio appearance, the Japanese knotweed professionals have also been working with the award-winning Brighton-based vegetarian restaurant Terre à Terre (http://www.terreaterre.co.uk/), in order to stir up some delicious recipes with the plant.
This collaboration will also be available for viewers to watch as on Wednesday the 21st of April, a BBC South film crew will be visiting Olivia, Terre à Terre’s Events, Marketing and Design Manager in order to film Japanese knotweed delights being prepared in the kitchen and then tasted at the restaurant. Along with a TV appearance, Phlorum will also be making a further radio appearance on the same day on BBC Sussex Radio station in order to take part in the breakfast show recording of Japanese knotweed being consumed live on air with the breakfast show host, Neil Pringle.
Just confirmed by NASA, who are still sifting through samples beamed back to Earth from the Mars Rover, remnants of Japanese knotweed rhizome have been found on the red planet! Shocking news as scientists are still debating whether or not there is, or ever was, life on Mars! This could indicate that the invasive Japanese knotweed on our blue planet really is an alien and this could explain why it is so difficult to understand and destroy!
More news on this exciting discovery as it breaks!
Last week Defra announced Government approval for the release of a biological agent to control Japanese knotweed. Alaphara itadori is a sap sucking psyllid that feeds on Japanese knotweed in its native range in Japan.
Having submitted a detailed consultation response to Defra last year and having attended a Defra workshop to discuss the proposals, Phlorum remains sceptical of the likely success of the project. There are many reasons why the effect of the psyllid on Japanese knotweed might not be as significant as the press are currently reporting.
The research carried out so far has been with a small population of psyllids on small, immature knotweed plants in small, controlled environment chambers in the laboratory. Results from these experiments on the actual efficacy of the psyllid on knotweed are mainly anecdotal, unpublished and not peer-reviewed. There has apparently been no research on how the ecology of knotweed in the UK differs from that in its native range, which could significantly alter the relationship between Japanese knotweed and the psyllid. The lifecycle of the psyllid in the UK is also not understood. It is believed that it might overwinter on coniferous trees, but this has not been tested.
Possibly to appease knotweed contractors worried that the psyllid might put them out of business, Defra has also been keen to point out that the psyllid will make herbicide applications on Japanese knotweed more effective, but no detailed work has been undertaken to test this.
It is hoped that the questions raised above will be answered by ongoing research in the field. However, we believe that many answers could have been found with more research in the laboratory, well before the risks of releasing an alien species into the wild were accepted. It has been suggested that the release might have been brought forward due to the laboratory population of psyllids being weakened by successive generations of inbreeding. If this is so, it suggests that the risk of releasing the psyllid into the wild was accepted with unacceptable haste.
We await, with interest, the results of this new phase of the research.
According to the Telegraph, house sellers have been forced to spend thousands of pounds eradicating Japanese knotweed from their land after finding their homes had become virtually unsellable because potential buyers were being turned down for mortgages.
Lenders claim Japanese knotweed, which is capable of pushing through concrete, poses a risk to the structure and fabric of the building, and so reduces the value of a property.
Mortgage lenders are now beginning to insist that they will approve an application only if the Japanese knotweed on the property is removed and the homeowner obtains a written guarantee from the environmental control company to say it has been eradicated.
Japanese knotweed first escaped into the British countryside in the mid-19th century after being brought over from Japan as an ornamental garden plant.
The plant normally grows in the poor, rocky soils and on the slopes of volcanoes in Japan. Without natural pests and diseases, however, Japanese knotweed has become highly successful in the UK and it is capable of regenerating from just a tiny fragment.
The bamboo-like stems, which grow up to 12 feet tall, can push through concrete and can damage buildings. Japanese knotweed also has an extensive underground root system, called a rhizome, which make it difficult to destroy with herbicides.
This makes Japanese knotweed extremely difficult and expensive to eradicate from an area as the roots often need to be completely dug up and the contaminated soil disposed of. Cheaper herbicide spraying can be used provided the soil is treated.
Japanese knotweed is now so prevalent in the UK that according to official records there is now not a single 6 mile square in the country where it is not present and it is only considered to be absent from the Orkney Islands.
A spokesman for Santander, the country’s biggest mortgage provider through its ownership of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, said:
“Due to the invasive and destructive nature of Japanese Knotweed, if the weed is found in close proximity to the property we would need to assess whether or not a mortgage could be accepted.”
While most people are endeavouring to rid themselves of Japanese knotweed, some beauty product manufacturers are recommending that those of us of a certain age should put it on our faces to control the signs of ageing! It seems a slight contradiction that Japanese knotweed, which has a reputation as being unpleasant and a financial nuisance, is now being used as a beauty product by Aveda called Inner Light Concealer. Now, it appears, that the plant that causes fractures to the foundations of buildings can also repair the fractures in your face if used as a foundation! Japanese knotweed, claim Aveda, contains resveratrol, which is a phytoalexin, produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens, such as bacteria or fungi. Several experiments suggest that it triggers mechanisms that counteract ageing-related effects in animals.
We can neither confirm nor deny this; at least until tests among Phlorum staff (who, on hearing this news, have been eagerly smothering themselves with Japanese knotweed rhizome paste) have been completed…
On Saturday 23rd January 2010 Paul married his fiance Felicity Ventom.
The couple were wed at St Joseph’s Catholic Church here in Brighton, before the groom whisked his bride off on his bicycle (5 stars for environmentality, 0 stars for common sense) to the stunning Royal Albion hotel for the reception, which was attended by 300 guests (Paul claimed to know about half). The festivities continued into the late evening and various members of Phlorum were spotted strutting their stuff on the dancefloor after a brief introductory lesson in highland dancing. Rumours of spots at the Edinburgh festival are at present unconfirmed. Paul and Flick are seen here ‘dancing’ for the first time as a married couple to the Smiths, which was a great song of choice. Everyone present had a great time, and Paul is now on his honeymoon staying in a tent in Wales, partly due to the financial toll of a wedding, and partly as he believes in giving Flick an insight into the realities of married life as soon as possible.
We all wish Paul and Flick the best of luck as husband and wife. Congratulations!
It’s actually often easier to survey sites for Japanese knotweed plants in the winter. This often surprises our clients who want it identified and eradicated.
In the summer you have thickets of brambles and other vegetation that can hide smaller Japanese knotweed stems. In the winter, when the shoots or leaves of most other plants in the field layer have died down, Japanese knotweed crowns can be identified by the dead, bamboo-like knotweed canes that persist – even if the old knotweed shoots are only 10-50cm tall. However, with the recent snow covering much of the UK, finding Japanese knotweed on sites where it would otherwise be relatively easy, has become very difficult… Hurry up spring!
David Bellamy was a personal hero of mine and was responsible for my interest in botany as a young boy. His enthusiasm for science, plants and ecology led me to pursue a career in these fields of study. When I was first involved in Japanese knotweed eradication as a conservation volunteer, almost twenty years ago, it was David Bellamy who inspired me.
It is rather sad then that David Bellamy is currently about as popular as Japanese knotweed in the environmental assessment industry. In a recent article in the Telegraph he denies that manmade CO2 is a cause for concern. More worryingly, the article states that CO2 is an airborne fertilizer, which is good for plants. However, it is for this precise reason that increased CO2 is bad for plant ecology. Species like Japanese knotweed and other pioneering colonisers can make more effective use of available nutrients, like CO2, which can result in their out-competing native, less adaptive and less vigorous growing species. This can result in significant reductions in biodiversity.
We still don’t know enough about the effects of elevated CO2 and climate change on diverse plant communities, but we certainly know enough to discredit the simplistic and ill-considered views expressed by David Bellamy in the Telegraph article.
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