How tiny ‘heart-shaped’ leaves sprouting in your garden could mean £15,000 bill is coming your way – take action
TINY ‘heart-shaped’ leaves popping up in your garden could mean a £15,000 bill is coming your way.
They’re a sign of a destructive plant that spreads through its underground roots, damaging property.
Treatment for Japanese knotweed costs anywhere from hundreds all the way up to £15,000 – depending on how early you tackle it.
There is also a chance you could be dragged through courts if the plant invades a neighbour while you were aware of it.
And if you plan to sell a home crawling with the weed, you’re legally obliged to disclose it.
“You will also have to state if there is a knotweed management plan in place,” Compare My Move managing director David Sayce told Birmingham Live.
“Concealing or lying about Japanese Knotweed while selling a house will open you up to legal action and you could be sued.”
That’s why identifying the menacing plant is vital.
RED AND PURPLE SHOOTS
According to Taylor Weed Control, knotweed blossoms with red and purple shoots in late spring.
Once the shoots emerge, they begin to grow leaves.
HEART-SHAPED LEAVES
The leaves are shaped like love hearts and can grow as much as 20cm in length, according to the weed experts.
But don’t be fooled by this display of romance.
The green leaves with reddish veins are a key sign of the problematic plant.
WHITE FLOWER CLUSTERS
There is only a short window of time during the year to spot this.
But in late summer, the knotweed produces creamy-white clusters of flowers.
While they may look pretty, it is again vital to call in the plant terminators if this is spotted.
BAMBOO STEMS
They’re not actually bamboo – but the knotweed’s stems are commonly mistaken for it.
They can feature small spots of purple and become hollow as they age.
The stems dry out in winter, becoming brittle.
RHIZOME ROOTS
These are the killers, with the knotweed’s tough root system reproducing like rabbits and difficult to wrench out.
The roots run through the soil, burrowing metres underground.
One way to identify them is by their colour – brown on the outside, but orange on the inside when cut open.
It’s crucial to call in the experts to attempt to rip the entire root system out.
If a tiny bit of rhizome remains, it can simply reproduce.
WHAT IS JAPANESE KNOTWEED
The plant species is an invasive weed that can spread underground, damaging property.
Gardening expert, Kendal Platt, who runs Adventures with Flowers, said: “Japanese knotweed shoots look similar to bamboo shoots growing 2- 3metres tall”.
They are hollow and coloured red in the spring and turn green in the summer.
Their leaves which appear in spring are shield or heart-shaped with a pointed tip and grow at staggered intervals along the length of the shoots.
They can grow up to 20cm long and die back in winter leaving just the brown dead looking canes above ground.
The flowers appear in late summer as bunches of creamy white flowers growing in amongst the leaves.
It spreads through its rhizomes (underground root system) which are dark brown on the outside and orange on the inside.
They can burrow up to 3 metres under ground causing damage to buildings and break easily, so can be hard to remove completely.
If you find it in your garden it’s important to call in a specialist Japanese Knotweed removal company.
They use a glyphosate based herbicide which when injected into the plant at the right time of year can kill it.
It may take a few years of repeated application to eradicate the plant completely from your property which is why many removal companies recommend a glyphosate treatment programme over a number of years