DIG DUG: DO YOU KNOW YOUR KNOTWEED ENEMY?

The spring flowers are (kind of) blooming.. The birds are chirping. And the dreaded obnoxious plant the Japanese Knotwood is rising high yet again..

It has been a relatively cool spring thus far. That may change within the next several days, and by next weekend it appears that the Northeast may complain about sudden sweltering summer conditions..

For years now, a personal ritual of mine has been to seek out and hunt down every new blossoming bit of Japanese Knotwood, the invasive species that was brought to America decades ago and took over many landscapes.

It’s an invasive species.. one that is incredibly difficult to get rid of. As a matter of fact, the portions of Knotwood I eradicated took me multiple seasons. And even now, every now and then, a new little root will become visible and the mission starts all over again.

You can try poison.
You can try yanking out each huge stalk..
You can dig up the roots.
And chances are, it will eventually show its ugly growth again. Poised to take over the land you walk on..

Chances are, if you have it growing near your humble abode, it may grow THROUGH it!

That’s right, there are multiple reports in various places, including the United Kingdom, of this invasion now breaking through concrete and bricks in basements and homes..
Stand your ground! Despite what’s growing under it..

KNOWING YOUR KNOTWOOD

During my grade and high school years, the odor of the early school season was a mixture of late summer heat, new textbooks, and a sour smell in the air at the bus stop. When I was younger I took the stench as normal. And those who never smelled Japanese Knotwood flowering to spread itself in the fall don’t quite know the stink it exudes.

In some weird way, the annual decay of that season’s Knotweed plant actual incurs some nostalgic memories..

Until later in life, I didn’t know just how horrid this plant was. It was then when the decision was made to eradicate where it was seen.. It so often feels like a losing battle but when given the repercussions of unmitigated growth, every bit of energy you expel on murdering these hideous plants is so worth it..

Japanese Knotwood was introduced to the United States and other western nations in the 1800s. It was decorative and ornamental.. And eventually some locales used the plant in attempts to perform flood mitigation.

Never did anyone apparently realize just how fast the spread of these beasts would be, and how much it would kill off other plants the were growing around them..

This information is from a website on invasive species:

Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum Sieb. & Zucc.), a member of the buckwheat family, was introduced into the U.S. from Eastern Asia (Japan, China, Korea) as an ornamental on estates in the late-1800s. It has also been used as an erosion control plant. By the mid-1890s, it was reported near Philadelphia, PA, Schenectady, NY, and in New Jersey. Although once sold through seed and plant catalogs, by the late-1930s knotweed was already being viewed as a problematic pest. The plant, which can grow from three to 15 feet tall, has bamboo-like stems and is sometimes called Japanese bamboo. As with many invasive plants, knotweed thrives in disturbed areas and once established can spread rapidly, creating monoculture stands that threaten native plant communities. Japanese knotweed can tolerate deep shade, high temperatures, high soil salinity and drought. It is commonly found along streams and rivers, in low-lying areas, disturbed areas such as rights-of-way, and around old home and farmsteads.

The latest information known about how much of this plant exists in ton the North American continent indicates that Knotwood is in 42 states and several Canadian provinces. Even one state or town is too much!

DO YOU KNOW YOUR ENEMY?

When you see a stalk of Knotwood, it’s over! It already has begun to spread.

As a matter of fact, if you don’t get the entire root system of the plant, be assured that it will keep growing.. Just pulling one or two stalks could stop growth for that particular season, but will not end the endless invasion.

Also if you are able to find the entire root system, you should not bag or throw the remnants with other grass clippings. It is just that easily able to spread.. it’s the COVID-19 of the plant world!

And how did it get here anyway?

An interesting article that appeared in NEWSWEEK several years ago spoke about how Knotweed can not only ruin a once pristine landscape but also devalue a home during a sale. The story describes how this destructive invasion started:

When the German botanist Philipp von Siebold sent a variety of plant specimens to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew in August 1850, he had no idea what he was unleashing on the world.
Originally indigenous to Japan, knotweed was originally shipped westward by von Siebold, and, at the last count, was reported to be undermining man-made structures in some 26 European countries and 36 American states.

From what history tells us, Siebold who first discovered Japanese knotweed growing on the sides of volcanoes near Nagasaki in the mid-nineteenth century..

The gold-medal shrub was prized for its “gracious flowers” and advertised as ornament, medicine, wind shelter, soil retainer, dune stabilizer, cattle feed, and insect pollinator. The stems could be dried to make matchsticks, or cut and cooked like rhubarb. It crested in the dog days of summer with tassels of tiny white buds. It was advertised to grow with “great vigor.”

That was the true part.

Knotweed can grow through cracks in cement, between floorboards, and out from the joints in a stone wall. It takes over riverbeds and hides the water..

COAL REGION GREENS

There have been countless headlines over the previous 20 years in various fishwrappers decrying this invasion.. And with each passing year, despite the coverage and experts that weigh in, the volume of knotweed seemingly continues to spread unabated..

Just a few notables that show the extent of damage that has now taken place over not just the previous decades but DECADES with a S:

On June 9, 2013, the Republican Herald ran a front page Sunday story about the plant..

The Wilkes Barre Citizen’s VOICE described a silent invasion on July 24, 2006

Prior to that on August 7, 1995, the Philadelphia NEWS ran with a story about the Asian invasion:

Back on November 17, 1976, the REPUBLICAN AND HERALD ran a UPI story about a botanist seeking out weird feeds in New York City:

The food prospect? Interesting..

WEED EATERS

Western Pennsylvania has been hit just as hard as many parts of the state .. the city of Pittsburgh, overrun with knotweed in parts, has elected a more primal style of trying to assist in fighting it: Eating it.

Tyler Kelley wrote this in the Wall Street Journal in 2016:

PITTSBURGH—During lunch at Six Penn Kitchen, a fancy downtown restaurant, diner Scott Michael put a forkful of sauteed green shoots into his mouth and chewed. “Crunchy, sour, green,” he said. “I do like it a lot.”
He was eating Japanese knotweed, a savagely invasive plant that thrives on riverbanks and vacant lots, both of which Pittsburgh has in great abundance. Tougher to eradicate than coal dust, knotweed can grow 6 feet a month in the spring, stand 13 feet tall when full-grown and stretch its roots 15 feet.
It even grows through asphalt and concrete, shading out other plants until entire landscapes are knotweed only.
Pittsburgh and many areas around it have so much knotweed that businesses are turning it into beer, paper, kimchi, tinctures, ice pops and honey. At least a half-dozen upscale restaurants have served knotweed, which has the texture of asparagus and tastes like rhubarb. The plant’s reputation as a menace only enhances its appeal.

There is even a scrumptious looking Japanese Knotweed recipe online for puree of Knotweed..

Even if the plant tastes good, our hatred for it will cause us KNOT to eat..

But the recipe page tells you to proceed with caution:Just because you found a big patch, doesn’t mean you should eat it. Park service and state workers regularly spray knotweed colonies with herbicide in my area, especially along roads and railroads. If the plants look at all wilted or sickly, stay away. Don’t compost your knotweed. Knotweed is related to bamboo, and can regrow like a literal plant zombie if you toss it in your compost. Bake, boil, microwave, incinerate, or otherwise denature any scraps you have from cooking to avoid an infestation in a place you live.