Japanese knotweed is one of the most high profile and damaging invasive weeds in the UK, Europe and North America. |
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It can grow more than a metre a month and is famed for pushing through tarmac, concrete and drains. Its effect on native species is often devastating as it out-competes indigenous species covering large tracts of land to the exclusion of the native flora and associated fauna.
Introduced from Japan to Europe in the mid-nineteenth century as a highly desirable and expensive ornamental plant, it soon fell from grace. It is now illegal to cause it to grow in the wild and is more recently notable because of its threat to the 2012 Olympic site.
A recent estimate puts the cost of control, were it to be attempted UK-wide, at over £1.5 billion. These control methods which rely mainly on chemicals have been deemed unsustainable by many and so a longer-term solution to the problem is required.
To research ways of controlling the plant naturally, the Japanese Knotweed Alliance was established in 1999. This website is dedicated to providing information about Japanese knotweed, the research that has been undertaken to date and the potential for more sustainable control.