Japanese knotweed hidden by snow

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!

Snow covered trees

Last weekend was probably not the best choice of weekends to travel to Norfolk but, as it had been arranged such a long time ago, nothing would stop us.  After the Phlorum Christmas bash on Friday afternoon which was enjoyed by all (some later than others by all accounts!) we set off to Norfolk. The motorways were fine and we were wondering what all the fuss was about. Then we hit Norfolk and everything ground to almost a standstill! Nevertheless, we battled on through the blizzard and finally arrived at our destination only about an hour late.

We were lucky also with our booking for the Christmas spectacular in Thursford as the two performances on the Friday had been cancelled because of the snow, resulting in some people having to camp overnight as roads were shut and power cuts ensued. There was more snow on Saturday night and it looked likely that performances on the Sunday might also be cancelled.

Jane.