9 Steps to Remove Japanese Knotweed from Your Home

Japanese knotweed can be the bane of a great many homeowners, the invasive "ornamental" plant is quite possibly the most hated plant due to its rhizomes. It grows around 7 feet high and the roots, which are the real problem, can go twice as deep.  The plant grows back every year and if you miss even a tiny bit, then well, it comes back, which is probably why your reading this. It can even make it difficult to sell your house, and certainly won't help you sell your home fast, sometimes it can be worth getting in some professionals to handle the job

Step 1 – Cutting

Knotweed doesn’t regrow from the stalks, so trim it down to start with, this will make getting it out of the ground much simpler.

Step 2 – Weedkiller

Best to use a Glyphosate weedkiller, brands like roundup tend to be this type. Apply it to all the stems, it will kill almost all vegetation it touches. Do this immediately after cutting down the stems.

Step 3 – Leave it

This is where most people go wrong, you need to wait for at least 7 days. This gives the poison time to get down to the roots. Now you can pull out and remove the dead roots.

Step 4 – Keep killing it

If you keep killing any remaining upshoots weekly this will prevent remaining roots from regrowing strong.

Step 5 – Reapply Glyphosate

Unfortunately, a one time spray isn’t going to cut it. You’re going to need to do this more than a couple of times. We recommend at least every 3 months.

Step 6 -Bring in the professionals

If this doesn’t work, you may need help, you won't be the first or the last and it is sometimes just all that can be done.

Step 7 – Disposal

Due to its invasive nature, you have to take knotweed to a registered landfill site is common in a lot of countries.

Step 8 – Transport it to a landfill

Pretty straightforward here.

Step 9 – Enjoy

Your garden is now free of Japanese knotweed. If however you can’t wait and you need to let’s say sell your home, there are people like zoom property buyers who will be more than happy to buy your home and deal with the knotweed themselves.

If you do have time to do it yourself however, the above guide should suffice