Knotweed Gin, Severed head & Excavations

Well it’s getting to the time of year where the Japanese Knotweed programmes shift more from Herbicide treatments to excavations.

Projects are in full swing and we have already completed excavation projects for Japanese Knotweed in Sheffield & horsetail in Leeds.

A part of the client package we installed a root barrier membrane & also re-landscaped the area with some rather nice decorative stone products.

When we are out and about across the country we are lucky enough to meet some great people, take in some beautiful views and sometimes encounter the unusual.

A prime example of the latter was when one of our staff was out stem injecting Japanese Knotweed earlier this year in Birmingham.

The client has an overgrown area to the rear of the property and the Knotweed covers this and another 2 properties. Whilst beavering away injecting the canes of the knotweed he noticed what appeared to be a severed head out of the corner of his eye. After the understandable “what the f…” was uttered upon closer inspection a mannequins head was discovered partially buried in the knotweed.

You can see from the picture it looks pretty realistic! After mentioning this to the client they did the understandable thing and wet themselves with laughter!

We also some across some interesting ideas on the dealing and processing of Japanese Knotweed and a guy in Belgium has discovered a really novel way.. Knotweed Gin! It’s safe to say we at IWM love gin & Japanese Knotweed so will be keeping an eye out for this stuff. The full article is here

https://tedxinnovations.ted.com/2016/06/20/one-way-to-deal-with-invasive-species-make-them-into-gin/