The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: demonfarmer2630 on April 28, 2015, 06:27:02 pm
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my hens love the stuff but have eaten it to death dose any one have any i can dig up and replant please im in kennoway so let me know asap any info on wild growing stuff would help too please if you can help let me know :raining: :raining: :raining: :raining: :raining:
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Is this the stuff that is a non native invasive species our Rivers Trust are trying to get rid of along our riverbanks?
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may be non native but its great in a salad and the hens love eating it its high in vitamin c and if looked after its a brilliant plant for chickens and goats
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see reply on other thread
moving it or replanting it is a crime under scottish law
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I'm sure you can be prosecuted if your found be be knowingly moving or planting it.
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Do you really mean japanese knot weed?? The presence of such a plant is capable of ruining the saleablity of any land, has to be disclosed by a seller and is a seriously invasive plant. I am sure planting it is probably illegal.
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Are you SURE this is what you have?
http://www.invasiveplantcompany.com/japanese_knotweed.php?kw=japanese%20knot%20weed&fl=285851&ci=44632374747&network=s&gclid=CjwKEAjw3_ypBRCwoKqKw5P9wgsSJAAbi2K94SXlRBOdmYvO-vK5ZSELNIVZcMrdcvoGaOASS9teERoCoN_w_wcB (http://www.invasiveplantcompany.com/japanese_knotweed.php?kw=japanese%20knot%20weed&fl=285851&ci=44632374747&network=s&gclid=CjwKEAjw3_ypBRCwoKqKw5P9wgsSJAAbi2K94SXlRBOdmYvO-vK5ZSELNIVZcMrdcvoGaOASS9teERoCoN_w_wcB)
Some gardeners still consider F. japonica to be an attractive ornamental plant and may therefore plant it in ignorance.Recently in the UK, mortgage lenders have been refusing to lend against properties with Japanese knotweed present and this has resulted in the devaluation of properties which has been highly publicised in the press.
I'd be inclined to call in experts to eradicate it if it regrows - which it may well do from what i have just read. It's almost impossible to kill.
But it may not be what you have - do you have any photos?
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yes im sure its knot weed and it can be kept bought and sold not illegal and you can only be prosacuted if it grown in to someone elses land if done reserch and iv even consulted with the gov.co.uk check link below
https://www.gov.uk/prevent-the-spread-of-harmful-invasive-and-non-native-plants (https://www.gov.uk/prevent-the-spread-of-harmful-invasive-and-non-native-plants)
so im only interested in genuine responses not people telling me im in the wrong i have done a solid year of checking and making sure it was japanese knot weed so please only respond if you are being helpful
thank you for reading and responding though
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I don't think anyone is criticising you. We are all on here to help each other, and if some of us thought it was illegal to plant this then it was because there is a lot of adverse publicity about this invasive weed; and it was said with the best of intentions and bona fide, in order to prevent you having problems.
I understand some breeds of sheep take a delight in eating it too. I think there was an experiment done last year but I can't find it on Google at the minute.
You might like to check your mortgage agreement too if you have one. ;)
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i rent and have the owners perms sorry if people thought i was having a go just find it odd that people listen to rumors and what they have heard still should be some one with some pm me if your worries at the response on here
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I just hope the people you rent your land from know the consequences of it growing there- and didn't you say you owned the land in the other thread? :thinking:
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i rent the house and own the field just to make that clear
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Sorry, no help because we're miles away but I know they're having huge problems with it in one of the Kent County Council owned country parks near here. They're trying desperately to eradicate it which involves digging down miles over a huge area. I reckon they'd snap your hand off for a few chickens to eat it all if it really is that easy to control! Meantime I hope your hens can find some other tasty treat - I'm sure there are plenty that aren't quite as invasive.
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if your having trouble with it pen it off snd get a few goats they will clear it in a week or too they wil eat any plant and are quick at it too
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I am not having a go or criticising you - but i do have an anxiety about this stuff growing from some personal experience. I shall watch your thread on this with interest as i thought that cutting it down, presumably akin to grazing, caused an increase in vigour. Attempting to dig it up certainly has that effect. Having said that my mother has been snapping bits of what she called 'ornamental bamboo' in her garden and it has not spread very much further.
If your experience of grazing it with hens and goats works then i for one will be interested but presumably you dont want to erradicate it but actively cultivate it. If you can find a value in this plant that too would be interesting. I do know that the presence of this on land has to be disclosed if you are selling and a buyer would have real difficulties in raising finance to buy (unless, perhaps, there was a clear management to erradication proramme in place .
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Ok, clearly you have my attention! I have looked further on the grazing issue. It is a frequent animal fodder in Asia (I have learned) and, apparrently, can be cooked ( no thanks) Grazing CAN be part of the control of it but it will not erradicate it.
I am far from convinced it is a good idea but let us know how your experiment goes if you do it.
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i only have hens but have used goats to clear unwanted plants befor eg blackberry bushes shrubs etc they love an overgrown field and iv no anxiety abut the plant iv had it before as iv said in both threads its an edible plant even people can eat it high in vitamin c
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Sure. It's just like rhubarb apparently.
The worry I'd have is if it escapes your hen run, then you may have a job controlling it. Personally there's just no way I'd risk it, as there are loads of other crops you can grow for hens etc.
I've also spoken to a colleague of mine who has it in his garden. He's spent thousands trying to eradicate it as a condition of his mortgage, with varying degrees of success (oh, and he has plenty of hens too!).
He did say you can come and take as much of it as you like for free, on one condition: "he'll have to take every last ***ing bit of it" :innocent:
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This is the link to our local rivers trust. http://www.scrt.co.uk/cfinns/welcome. (http://www.scrt.co.uk/cfinns/welcome.)
It has really good info on invasive species that that are trying to eradicate from our river banks and why.
I can not understand why anyone would want to cultivate it so I really have a problem with any landowner actively seeking it out to plant?
OK your hens love it. There's plenty of other stuff they'll love so why pick on something that is bound to get people cross? I am also struggling to see if it is so easy to keep it in check with a few hens how has it managed to get so out of hand elsewhere? Maybe there was some other reason it died off?
So, it is rich in vitamin C. I think there are better solutions to avoid scurvy.
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i forgot to say this before just re read my post and comments to make sure i plant it in an old bath quite a large one with a sealed plug so roots cant spread really should have said that earlier lol as i said iv had it before and the hens ate it to death just looking for a replacement that isnt £30 as they are online i know its an hated subject but it grows fast and is edible and dosnt die easily in a chicken run if you have any suggestions of other plants that can be planted in a hen run that grow fast and are edible and dont die in the first week please let me know
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if you have any suggestions of other plants that can be planted in a hen run that grow fast and are edible and dont die in the first week please let me know
Have you thought about Siberian Pea Shrub? The pods are edible and hens love them.
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or sprout some barley?
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I admit I always thought it was illegal to plant it, so this has made me do a bit of 'googling', interesting reading. not illegal to plant but you can be prosecuted if you allow it to spread onto other land.
I'm trying to remember how much my goats liked it (in a previous 'life' 1980's), I think I used to walk them up to a patch, but they didn't make much headway with it, now the whole area is covered with it.
Hope the bath can control it, beware the roots can go down a long way (though the plug hole?) then may escape?
I'd try my goats with it but I'd be worried about it starting up here.
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Spinach beet? My poultry love it and you can grow it most of the year. We also have trouble with Japanese knotweed along our riverbanks also Himalyan Baslam(sp) which is great fun for the grandchildren(if you touch the ripe seed pods they snap their seeds into the air like a firework) but will take over and kill all native plants.
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If the goats and hens eat it would they not spread the seeds as it goes through their system and out tuther end? :thinking: just a thought
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noo seeds from the one i had is spreads mosly by roots
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Arragh knot weed, it's evil stuff in the UK as there is nothing that eats it in the UK's insect world .
I'm happy to post you a few rooted cuttings of perennial kale if you like ..let the chooks destroy the knot weed forever.
If you landlord found you'd caused the plant to kill the foundations of the property by you cultivating it I'm betting they will be after the contents of your piggy bank as easy compensation & you'll be looking for some where else to live , no matter what you've said you have verbally agreed ( unless it's in writing and held by your solicitor etc. )
The kale grows well all year round and can be eaten as kale by humans & all animals it's high in vitamin K it is a very hardy plant .
Most of the plants will grow to be a metre high and a metre across it's so easy to take cuttings off as well to get it all year round .
I also have some comfrey that you can have some cuttings off this max's at about a metre high and across as well I've been taking four harvestings each year. It's old name used to be " Knit Bone " because of the poultice healing properties it has , it's long been used a a cheap animal feed that virtually self perpetuates & when in flower it is a real bee magnet
It only grows well from mid April if it's mild till the first frosts . It makes a good manure as well, for the tap toots go down a long way collecting all manner of minerals & nutrients not found in many plants . Chickens thrive on it as it is also a conditioner for all herbivores, the eggs are supposed to be superior from comfrey fed chickens . Pigs horses cows & goats pigs like it too .
Growing small plots of kale & comfrey make them it a sensible cheap crop to use as feed stock in a rotation pattern
If your'e interested , drop me a PM with your full name & address inc post code & I'll start the cuttings off to be ready for sending of to you in about four weeks time .
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i forgot to say this before just re read my post and comments to make sure i plant it in an old bath quite a large one with a sealed plug so roots cant spread really should have said that earlier lol as i said iv had it before and the hens ate it to death just looking for a replacement that isnt £30 as they are online i know its an hated subject but it grows fast and is edible and dosnt die easily in a chicken run if you have any suggestions of other plants that can be planted in a hen run that grow fast and are edible and dont die in the first week please let me know
The stuff can grow through concrete so i dont reckon your bath is going to contain it. It can also grow from tiny bits of leaf and stalk that are broken off so i reckon your chickens will be spreading it far and wide.
Not heard of anything as bonkers in a long time :rant:
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"The stuff can grow through concrete so i dont reckon your bath is going to contain it. It can also grow from tiny bits of leaf and stalk that are broken off so i reckon your chickens will be spreading it far and wide.
Not heard of anything as bonkers in a long time :rant: "
Agreed :roflanim: - I presume this is a windup, and that even with the well known shortage of vegetables in Scotland, it is not so cold, wet and bleak that the only way to get adequate vitamin C is to grow a noxious weed in a bathtub in your henrun. :-J Surely, having spent a year researching the subject you must have spotted the bit about the 2 year prison sentence if it escapes? :dunce:
But each to his own. . .
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Folks... Don't Feed the Troll ;)