Eeeuch. :( Japanese Knotweed is evil, evil stuff. It's the only organic material from the yard I put right into the trash bin, instead of composting. Three years of regularly weeding the infestation here have slowed it down slightly, but not much. In your situation Queuetue, I'd be tempted to go through the compost carefully and remove all the Japanese Knotweed you can find -- especially the roots -- and then set the remaining compost aside for a year. Maybe even inside sealed plastic garbage bags, to help anaerobic conditions occur which might help kill and break down any remaining knotweed roots or stems. Or, you could just spread the possibly-contaminated compost as a surface mulch on garden areas which already have knotweed, then watch those areas closely. In the part of the garden here which has knotweed, I don't ever till any more, or even rake the soil. Each year the new sprouts come up slower and fewer, but they still come up. One time last summer when I'd neglected weeding for two weeks, there were fifty of them. And in the summer of 2005, before I found out what kind of plant it was, a single stem grew over my head -- in one month. Good luck Queuetue and all the best, -Patrick Here is a link that might be useful: Wikipedia article on the evil weed

Knotweed control treatment in a 3-pack kit for the eradication of Japanese knotweed, hogweed and other invasive plants. Powerful herbicides for use by professionals only. Japanese Knotweed is a hardy and invasive bamboo-like plant that can cause costly problems on construction sites and in residential gardens. Effective knotweed control requires high strength herbicidal spray treatments and excavation of the extensive root system. Due to the hardy nature of Japanese knotweed, hogweed and other invasive plants, it can often take several rounds of herbicidal treatment to fully control and erradicate the knotweeds outbreak. Roundup Pro-Biactive herbicide concentrate contains Glyphosate and is sold for qualified professional use only. Users must wear suitable clothing (coveralls), rubber boots and suitable protective gloves (not provided). Dilute at the rate of 1 part herbicide to 40 parts of water for treatment of most prenial weeds and 1 to 40 for treatment of hardy invasive plants like Japanese Knotweed and 1:20 for Ivy Here is a link that might be useful: A PRODUCT

Hi - we managed to get rid of knotweed completely - will tell you how I did it. I'm here because of a BBC article and got me remembering and thinking. I don't understand why everyone says this is so difficult to get rid of it seemed really easy to me anyway. 4 years ago we bought a flat - it had knotweed noted on the survey, it was pretty big area of huge tall weeds, but we haggled the price and bought for cash. Told we wouldn't get a mortgage because of the knotweed. Neighbours told us it was a nightmare they had battled for years and told us all the stories of council officials coming out to look at it and trying to apply for grant funding etc etc to get it dug out with JCB's and burned. Anyway, we decided ourselves to get an estimate from a professional company - priced in the £000's. I did some reading and research about the plant and controlling it. Went to b and q and bought a large quantity of the strongest glyphosate I could find, it said it could treat like 500m/sq. this patch was maybe 20 metres by 5 metres - pretty big for me anyway. It was supposed to be pretty diluted but I only used about 10% water maybe. I also bought a £15 manual spray pump and some gloves and some sponges. I went with some ladders on a Saturday morning in August, it was about 15 degrees C, cloud cover and dry. i coated every single leaf I could with the stuff - several times during the day and again after it dried off or was absorbed. I then found all the thickest stems and bunches and cut them down about halfway, and poured the stuff into the stems - filled right to the top. Then topped them off later that evening - and used the last of the strong spray solution I had made for another final spray coating. Over the next few weeks they starting visibly dying. The winter came and went and by July the following year everything was completely dead. I took plenty of before, during and after photos which I still have. That was 4 years ago I did that and not one single sign of it has returned. It cost me like £80 of materials and maybe 12 hours of my time. I knew nothing whatsoever about Japanese knotweed or plants and gardening and still don't. I was later told that national rail and the local council had actually sent 'a man' every season for 'several years' previous to our buying the place to 'spray the plants' to try and get rid of them. With little success apparently. What I find totally and utterly bizarre is that someone like me, completely clueless about horticulture and plants, was able to completely kill - permanently - a pretty substantial bank of this stuff in like 1 day, with stuff bought from the local hardware shop - and yet the Internet is full of stories and news reports of people spending fortunes and despairing in heartache over it. Was I lucky somehow? Genuinely I've always been curious about this and would welcome input from those more experienced.

Hello, I'm seeking the much maligned Polygonum cuspidatum more commonly known as Japanese knotweed. I know it is highly invasive and listed as a noxious weed in Victoria and maybe other states. I intend to grow it in pots in my home and I further intend to use it's rhyzomes to make tea with - so no worries about it spreading! It's roots contain a compound called resveratrol which has health benefiting properties; you may wish to read the following link: http://www.gettingwell.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/res_0224.shtml Anyway, if anyone can find any rhyzomes to send me for planting I'd be most grateful. Typically it invades waterways. You can find photos useful for identification of the plant here: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Knotweed.html Many thanks! Tyler Jordan