Invasive Weed Blog: ‘…not all about knotweed’
The PCA represents many important specialist Property Care industries but if column inches in the newspapers this year is a guide, then Japanese Knotweed Control is surely one of the most topical! But neither we, nor our members, are just ‘all about knotweed’ and this is demonstrated by the publication earlier this year of our guide to the practical management of over 40 species of non-native invasive weeds (available from Packard Publishing here).
Conservation Land Management’s Autumn issue also features a review of the manual which can be accessed here.
The creation of this guide was a many-handed task with each contributor being selected as they had specific practical/commercial experience with the species in question and were able to say with authority what works and what doesn’t. Certain species like Bamboo need an approach not dissimilar to that for Japanese Knotweed (rhizomatous root system) but others demand something completely different as they produce large quantities of viable seeds. Some entries to the Guide have evolved from long-standing PCA Guidance Notes (e.g. for Himalayan balsam) whereas others are completely new. In particular, many aquatic species are included, like Water primrose which is on the Environment Agencies ‘watch list’.
So, for anyone who is involved with property or environmental management, who might be bewildered by the long list of Schedule 9 species (not to mention the EU list ‘Plants of Concern’), this Guide will provide a useful resource to help you develop effective strategies with the confidence of knowing that over 100 PCA Contractors and Consultants have done the ground work for you!