Comments | urbpan: 100 Species: Invasive Plant Edition #10, 11 ,12

urbpan

100 Species: Invasive Plant Edition #10, 11 ,12

Mar 25, 2011 07:59

( Read more... )

plants, 100 species, invasive species, japanese knotweed, alexis, garlic mustard, oriental bittersweet, gardening

Comments 18

wirrrn March 25 2011, 12:13:57 UTC

Fascinating. Here in West Oz, we have a problem similar to the Bittersweet. Lantana is a noxious weed that is also very pretty, and it is actually sold at garden centres!

urbpan March 25 2011, 12:20:41 UTC

Lantana is very pretty! People grow it in their gardens here, and I think it grows wild in the southern states. There are laws prohibiting propagation of certain species, but I think they are spottily enforced at best.

wirrrn March 25 2011, 12:34:22 UTC

Lantana is officially a noxious weed here, but it grows wild and in people's gardens anyway!

iheartoothecae March 26 2011, 19:02:10 UTC

How interesting! Here (Texas) it's on almost every "native plants" list. :) We have it in our front yard garden beds.

featheredfrog March 25 2011, 14:34:00 UTC

At least knotweed is edible (didn't know that!): to beat it, EAT it!

Like Kudzu

INRE the bittersweet (burn! burn! burn!) what herbicide do you use on the stumps?

I hates me some bittersweet...

bedfull_o_books March 25 2011, 17:09:58 UTC

Knot weed tastes kind of like rhubarb, but *even more sour* (I didn't think that was possible either....).

urbpan March 26 2011, 15:01:19 UTC

I am going to use glyphosate. It's marketed as Roundup, but I'm going to try to find a competing brand.

(The comment has been removed)

urbpan March 26 2011, 14:51:32 UTC

It's a deal. When I was out there it seemed to be Himalayan blackberries, and they were delicious!

shellynoir March 25 2011, 16:42:53 UTC

I can't help but think that Japanese knotweed would be good for stabilizing denuded slopes in Haiti, and for providing a bit of human and animal food.

bedfull_o_books March 25 2011, 19:11:16 UTC

That's what folks thought about Kudzu (Minus the food thing, I think), and it's taken over the south. (In Japan, where it's native, the cold winters keep it in check.)

Knot weed probably provides some vitamin C, but I am not sure of its over-all value as a food-stuff. It's only yummy if you add a butt-ton of sugar to it.

shellynoir March 25 2011, 19:18:55 UTC

Considering they're willing to eat clay mixed with flour and butter, with a bit of pepper on it, since food is so scarce, it might be worth it. More so if you're able to make useable charcoal out of it to sell.

shellynoir March 25 2011, 19:29:00 UTC

mixed *and baked*

Thread 6

ndozo March 25 2011, 20:09:07 UTC

I wonder if solarizing the area where the knotweed is growing would work. Also, regarding knotweed as food, like a lot of sour-tasting wild plants, I think it has oxalic acid in it, so you have to be careful how you prepare it and how much you eat.

urbpan March 26 2011, 15:01:53 UTC

"Solarizing?" Dunno that term, as it applies to gardening.