Help needed in identification

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shiplemw
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Help needed in identification

Post by shiplemw »

Hello - The following was already growing near an outbuilding when we bought our property. It is starting to appear 10-15' away as little plants. These typically get mowed over to knock them down. The plants get about 10-12' tall, ~1-2" in diameter at the base.
pic below:

Image

Image
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JWH
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Re: Help needed in identification

Post by JWH »

That isn't bamboo, it's most likely japanese knotweed.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_knotweed
shiplemw
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Re: Help needed in identification

Post by shiplemw »

JWH wrote:That isn't bamboo, it's most likely japanese knotweed.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_knotweed
Thanks I appreciate the information. Now I just need to figure out what to do with it. So I cut down a bunch of it, will it spread if I move those cut down sections somewhere else to dispose of them and start using herbicide on the exposed sections?
Tarzanus
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Re: Help needed in identification

Post by Tarzanus »

It's japanese knotweed. Not nearly related to bamboo, and by my opinion much harder to eliminate. Roots from which it can resprout can go deeper than 1 meter deep, it only needs a couple of grams of rhizome mass to start anew. It's hard to kill it, using any means, from herbicide treatment, covering it with black PVC, moving it,...
Get it out as soon as possible and kill any new shoot that emerges, before it gets big enough to start photosynthesizing. Since it's close to the house, it won't be a problem detecting any new growth. It doesn't seem like well established clump, which hopefully means you'll most likely get rid of it soon (relative term).

We have problems with it around here. When it gets established, there's not much you can do. Some places around river banks are covered with it and there's no way of removing it. Perhaps by planting bamboo that would kill it eventually by totally shading it out. :D
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Re: Help needed in identification

Post by johnw »

Here's a little trick a friend showed me to eliminate knotweed. Cut the knotweed down to about a foot from the ground making your cut just below a node. Chose about 6-10 good healthy stubs and with paper towel drain the water out of the exposed intact hollow sections. Fill those sections with full strength roundup and cover the tops with saran wrap and secure with elastics. The saran avoids possible dilution. Knocks the hell out of them but you may have to repeat on the few shoots that reappear.
johnw coastal Nova Scotia
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foxd
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Re: Help needed in identification

Post by foxd »

Yeah, here the knotweed has spread all through the neighborhood. I could get a lot of really scary pictures of the areas it has invaded and would only have to walk around the neighborhoos to do so.
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Re: Help needed in identification

Post by dependable »

I doubt it will spread from above ground cuttings, but can and will spread even from the smallest section of root. Even if the root has been sitting in a truck bed for a couple of months. The easiest way to get rid of it without repeated herbicide is by constantly cutting it back. If it is growing in regularly mowed lawn for instance, it will eventually give up.

If you are going to go with herbicides, it is most vulnerable when flowering. Johnw's method sounds like it might work too.
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