Non-native plants growing problem

[Gav12]

ITV News report on the growing threat to waterways with the rise of non-native plants

 

http://www.itvlocal.com/wales/news/?player...amp;void=223648

[Lady Muck]

ITV News report on the growing threat to waterways with the rise of non-native plants

 

http://www.itvlocal.com/wales/news/?player...amp;void=223648

 

Not actually in the River, but still a big problem-

 

We have a really bad problem with knotweed on our mooring. We have asked BW to stop strimming it, (the worst thing you can do is strim knotweed, bits of it fall in the river, causing it to spread.) But it hasn't happened. i am fed up ofwriting letters about this problem or that problem.

[grahoom]

http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Knotweed.html

 

least you can eat knotweed ... otherwise, it's a bloody pain!!!

[Lady Muck]

Thanks for the website - I know plenty of boaters who would take you up on that - us included. <Considers penning desperate sounding complaint letter to bw>

 

'The situation is so grave in this marina, we boaters have resorted to eating the offending plant to prevent it from spreading.'

[Pie Eater]

Treat the knotweed with a Glyphosate based weedkiller on a regular basis.

 

Steve

[twocvbloke]

Treat the knotweed with a Glyphosate based weedkiller on a regular basis.

 

Steve

 

Why kill off something you can eat?

 

Reading the description, it's a pretty nice vegetable, so instead of wasting it by killing it off, just eat it, if more people eat it the less chance it has to ruin the natural surroundings...

 

Just think, a posh restaurant would probably charge a fortune for it, maybe it would go well with the American Signal Crayfish pest?

[Barry]

Japanese knotweed is a big problem in some areas of Cornwall - the County Council has discovered, after years of trying, that the only way to shift it is to grub it out with machinery on the large scale and then burn the ground (I'm not absolutely certain about the last bit but I think that's right)

 

Given our country's traditional views about food, especially veg, and the rate it spreads, eating it isn't going to work

[Pie Eater]

Burning it is one option if you dig it up otherwise you have to take it to a licensed tip.

 

Steve

[Tiny]

Our MP contacted the previous chief exec of BW about a plant not on the list but one that, according to Defra and the weeds act 1958 they are to eliminate on sight - namely ragwort - which can make horses very poorly. As BW were in full bio diversity mode at the time they sent the MP a beautifully photographed book of our waterways - all weeds with not a boat in sight! (I have not seen this book offered as a handout to us plebs.) There was also a rather bouncy letter in which, as the MP put it, 'The fool thinks ragwort's a pretty flower'

 

One wonders how much this new BW document is more media event than plan for the future. (As you will note they tell us to do but don't seem to promise action themselves.) Recently it was pointed out that even most ecologists agree that Mink had killed huge numbers of voles and other wild life so it would be nice if Defra/BW/tree huggers organisations did something about them but all they do is talk.

[John Orentas]

One of the many obstacles to the restoration of the Rochdale was a seemingly constant stream of do-gooding university dons each of whom had recently discovered a rare orchid growing in the bed of the canal and for that reason wanted the restoration stopped indefinitely..

 

I remember one egghead in particular, when questioned on TV he admitted that he had never visited the canal and when pressed further he conceded that that the plant in question was only rare in the spot where it was found "There's thousands of them further up the canal".

Edited August 20, 2008 by John Orentas

[Tiny]

One of the many obstacles to the restoration of the Rochdale was a seemingly constant stream of do-gooding university dons each of whom had recently discovered a rare orchid growing in the bed of the canal and for that reason wanted the restoration stopped indefinitely..

 

I remember one egghead in particular, when questioned on TV he admitted that he had never visited the canal and when pressed further he conceded that that the plant in question was only rare in the spot where it was found "There's thousands of them further up the canal".

 

On the Monty the professors won - I remember letters years ago from experts who live miles from it saying about the rare plants back before it was even surveyed for eco. Without the eco first - there or not - it could have been restored years ago with boats bringing business for the local traders. Now the restoration drags on - 5 years to here, 10 to there - always remembering that 1 year before opening Aston was 7 and anyway boat numbers are and will be serverly limited when the navigable bit gets extended. I noticed Mr Moody (in the TV clip) was moaning about the wrong sort of weed stifling the rare one. Always wonder how rare the rare one is and how it got here - as in on the bottom of a boat?