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Author Topic: Himilayan Balsam !?  (Read 3459 times)

arobwk

  • Joined Nov 2015
  • Kernow: where 2nd-home owners rule !
Himilayan Balsam !?
« on: April 04, 2017, 08:28:36 pm »
I've tried so many web searches to see how experts describe the reproductive nature of H Balsam (HB).  They all say that HB is an 'annual' plant.  Now, my understanding of an 'annual' is that it re-grows from seed only, but that is clearly not so as regards my friend's patch of what is obviously a Balsam (Impatiens) of some sort.   
Went to view his known patch of Balsam yesterday on land that has been un-managed for many years.  Just a smattering of new Balsam growth this early in April, but it is not seedling growth - it is almost all renewed growth from old roots as testified by digging some up.  And those roots (I would call them rhizomes) are as thick as a thumb, very long (I didn't find any obvious 'ends') and very difficult to pull out. My friend obviously has a problem that repeat strimming is not going to solve any time soon.
Because the area surrounding the well-defined 'patch' is made up of very dense tussocky grass, I have suggested we leave it like that on the assumption that any spread Balsam seeds have been unable to germinate successfully or have been suppressed and failed.
I reckon the only economic/practical option for clearance is herbicide application over at least 2 seasons on and around the patch.
Any thoughts on any of the above please, including any thoughts on whether his infestation it true HB or might be some other Impatiens species or hybrid that is not, strictly, an annual?
Ta.

       
« Last Edit: April 04, 2017, 08:56:59 pm by arobwk »

Penninehillbilly

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • West Yorks
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2017, 09:32:23 pm »
Are you positive it's HB an not Japanese knotweed. I know they are very different plants but because they are both talked about and invasive many people get mixed up.
Can you put a picture up?

Terry T

  • Joined Sep 2014
  • Norfolk
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2017, 09:46:48 pm »
Doesn't sound like Himalayan Balsam to me. Whenever I've pulled those out, they pull out quite easily with no rhizome type structure. More like a small tap root. And we don't have regrowfh on the odd one we can't reach on the bank of our stream. So in my view it is an annual although I guess its possible for plants to behaive differently in duffrent environments.

big soft moose

  • Joined Oct 2016
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2017, 09:48:54 pm »
Balsam is definitely annual - its one of its major problems, in that it swiftly out competes everything on river banks, forms a balsam monoculture then dies in the autumn after seeding , meaning that some the winter floods there is little to hold the river bank together

It does grow back voraciously in the same place every year from seed and the best way to kill it is to take off and nuke the site from orbit, its the only way to be sure .... assuming that's not an option the best way to kill it is to bash it with a stick before seeding time, breaking the stem, but not totally killing the plant , that stops seeds developing unlike strimming which will lead to it regrowing it from the cut.

You also need to work on a whole catchment basis from right upstream down, as it only takes a few plants left untouched to waste the effort of everyone down stream

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2017, 10:04:12 pm »
Doesn't sound like HB to me either. Ours grows from the spread of seeds but where OH has strimmed before the seeds have had the chance to spread it has nearly been eradicated.
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Steph Hen

  • Joined Jul 2013
  • Angus Scotland.
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2017, 08:18:10 am »
Agree with others, prob not hb.
Any chance of a pic? Has he/you seen it flower in the past?

Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2017, 05:33:03 pm »
Yeah doesn't sound like HB at all -  we need some photos, of the new shoots and of the root if you have any.  Snap a root open - if its orange inside it's knotweed.

arobwk

  • Joined Nov 2015
  • Kernow: where 2nd-home owners rule !
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2017, 12:10:15 am »
Thanks all for comments.  (I would post a pic if one were available - I'm so wishing I had taken one of this year's starter re-growth.)  However ...

It is deffo not JKW (to clear that option out of the way).  Also, the friend is horticulturally trained (but gave that career path up);  he has also received opinion from an agri' contractor he engaged last year for a bit of a pasture tidy-up.  We have all identified this as a Balsam and have assumed it is Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens glandulifera), but, as you all affirm, it is just not behaving according to given wisdom on HB reproduction! 

Unless there is another similar Balsam species/hybrid that has rhizomous roots, I would suggest/warn that HB is possibly not a true annual (at least not in the fairly mild climate along the Tamar valley - Cornwall/Devon border) and any roots should be pulled in the year of first growth!  (Best not put it off.)

Any other thoughts/comments anyone? (TY in advance)



Penninehillbilly

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • West Yorks
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2017, 01:21:49 am »
I don't pull our balsam, just cut it when it starts to flower. But definitely not rhizomes.
Would still be interested in a picture, really curious now.

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2017, 12:09:22 pm »
Maybe you could describe the plant as you have no pics?  Overall height, flower colour and form, leaf and stem height, seed heads and if seeds ping when ripe.
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

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Foobar

  • Joined Mar 2012
  • South Wales
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #10 on: April 06, 2017, 12:32:07 pm »
This page has good photos of all bits of HB: http://www.shim.bc.ca/invasivespecies/_private/himalayan_balsam.htm

Been trying to think of other plants that look like HB ... but struggling!

There are annual and perennial impatiens varieties though, and some have rhizomes, like this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens_omeiana 

Buttermilk

  • Joined Jul 2014
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2017, 01:32:37 pm »
As a child I used to get balsam and rosebay willowherb mixed up.

hexhammeasure

  • Joined Jun 2008
    • golocal food
    • Facebook
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #12 on: April 06, 2017, 05:08:30 pm »
the description of the leaf and stems sounds more like loostrife to me. we have it growing in the borders and I can't get rid of it

Ian

Celli

  • Joined Jun 2016
  • Fife
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2017, 08:31:23 am »
My hens go crazy for Balsam seeds

arobwk

  • Joined Nov 2015
  • Kernow: where 2nd-home owners rule !
Re: Himilayan Balsam !?
« Reply #14 on: April 10, 2017, 12:06:19 am »
Well;  this is extremely embarrassing!  Rather than "deffo not JKW" (as per post 6 Apr), I now have to say, very humbled and contrite, it is almost certainly JKW - actually deffo JKW.
I have never considered myself to be a gullible person, but re-appraisal may be required!
There I was, prepared to help pull a bit of early H Balsam growth, amongst other tasks, looking at a smattering of leafy growth a few inches high (with none of those distinctive fat JKW shoots) and being told by my long-since horti-trained friend that it had been identified as H Balsam. 
It dawned on me eventually after some more web searches:  wish I'd done a search for pics of HB v JKW 'roots' on the web before posting on 6 Apr!
Mystery over and am awaiting 'explanation' from my friend,
So thank you fellow members for pointing me in the right direction.

Now, how do I get this thread deleted for all time so that I am not constantly reminded of my embarrassment?



« Last Edit: April 10, 2017, 12:25:40 am by arobwk »

 

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