During June and July, The Invasive Plant Company are offering all commercial enquiries a free site survey for any site within a 30 mile radius of our Bury head office.

Should your site be further afield, please do not hesitate to call us and see what sort of deal we can offer you.

The 25 Best Progressive Rock Songs of All Time – a recent article on Popmatters.com listed at number 24 a song by Genesis.

`Return of The Giant Hogweed’ is a song by Genesis, from the days of Peter Gabriel and his time with the band in the early 70s.

It isn’t really my kind of rock, am a rock fan but find this a bit too `glam’ for my liking. I had to listen though.

The Invasive Plant Company is a small part of a large wheel.

The plant & the problem

Japanese knotweed, a rhizomatous perennial was introduced from Asia to Europe in the mid-nineteenth century as an ornamental and fodder plant. It is an impressive species which grows to a height of 2-3 meters, with bamboo like stems, arching branches and clusters of creamy white flowers appearing late in the season. The orange to brown coloured, woody, dead stems persist erect throughout the winter and new shoots, produced from the extensive rhizome system, grow up amongst these the following spring to form dense thickets. The dead stems and leaf litter decompose very slowly and form a deep organic layer which prevents native seeds from germinating. Once present at a site, Japanese knotweed increases in area very rapidly and soon forms monoculture stands.

Reproduction is primarily by vegetative regeneration of rhizomes and fresh stems. The rhizome system may extend from a parent plant up to 7 meters laterally and to a depth of 2 metres. Very small fragments of rhizome (as little as 0.7 gram) give rise to new plants. Fresh stems produce shoots and roots when buried in a soil medium or floated in water. Stems in water may produce viable plants within 6 days.

Japanese knotweed thrives on disturbance and has been spread by both natural means and by human activity. In riparian areas, high water flows disperse fragments of the plant downstream where new colonies form. In the past, fly-tipping and transportation of soil containing rhizome fragments have been a major cause of spread, particularly in the urban environment.

Specific problems caused by Japanese knotweed are:

* Damage to paving and tarmac areas
* Damage to flood defence structures
* Damage to archaeological sites
* Reduction of biodiversity through out-shading native vegetation
* Restriction of access to riverbanks for anglers, bank inspection and amenity use
* Reduction in land values
* Increased risk of flooding through dead stems washed into river and stream channels
* Increased risk of soil erosion and bank instability following removal of established stands in riparian areas
* Accumulation of litter in well established stands
* Aesthetically displeasing
* Expensive to treat

We here at The Invasive Plant Company are usually called upon to remediate sites from Japanese Knotweed, the most commonly known species of invasive plant.

But among other species, we are also called upon to remediate Giant Hogweed.