This clipping came this morning from Kate Chatot (Chatot Rd.) from this week's Hardwick Gazette. It may be difficult to read - but you can make it larger by clicking on it, and if it still doesn't work well for you, there may still be copies at Hastings Store. What it's saying is that there may be a test project in the works in Craftsbury. The plan seems to be  to inject the stems of the plant with a chemical solution at just the right time so it will be drawn down into the roots and thus kill the plant. 

 

      This seems to me to be a very labor-intensive process, but it also seems it may be the only really effective way to rid an area of this very invasive plant.
     I have not seen it myself, but since the first mention of it here on the blog there has been some conversation and apparently it is here at Joe's Pond! I'm told we have some dedicated people trying to control it on their own, but it sounds from this article as if it will take an "army" and some expertise such as perhaps this test group can offer. I believe the email address in the article is for Joe Houston: coachhouston@myfairpoint.net, or you could contact the Craftsbury  Conservation Commission through the town offices. 
     I looked at the minutes of the Conservation Commission and found they are still very much in the beginning stages of plans.
     In looking on line for more information, I came upon this: 
 

RETHINK JAPANESE KNOTWEED – It’s not all bad; it
depends on your perspective
To be honest, I’m one of the world’s biggest
admirers of the plant, Japanese Knotweed. This plant has helped define and
shape who I am and has provided me strength and healing, as well as motivated
me to write a book, while it continues to provide me a source of income. We are
now seeing it flourish, in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene, and the plant
is gaining a further bad reputation for spreading throughout the flooded area,
though I see it as a gift. From a human centered perspective it is a devastation
to have this plant around, though I see it as Nature doing what Nature does.
And Nature doesn’t always comply with the way we wish it to be.
As a health care
provider over the years, I have successfully used this plant as medicine for
hundreds of individuals suffering with Lyme disease, including myself. It has
powerful antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant effects, especially
for the central nervous system. And we have also seen the plant spread in
nearly the same trajectory and at the same rate as Lyme disease has spread
throughout the Northeast, providing the remedy along the way. To me, it is not
a coincidence this plant is flourishing, especially with us hearing of
increased incidence of Lyme disease in Vermont. The roots of Japanese Knotweed
contain resveratrol, the powerful compound touted in red wine which gives you
the liberty to drink as much as you like, and in fact, this plant possesses
higher concentrations of resveratrol than any other plant in the world! And
many pharmaceutical and supplement companies make use of this plant to extract
this compound, and it provides hundreds of millions of dollars in yearly
revenues for them.
Ecologically speaking,
Knotweed is a pioneer species, spreading over disturbed lands to help stabilize
the soil and create biomass to enrich the land. It also tolerates some of the
most polluted water and soil, and even in some cases can sequester the toxins
and heavy metals and transmute them into less harmful chemicals, and therefore
clean the ecosystem of the pollutants. There is a good reason Knotweed moved in
with the floods, and as we all know, those waters carried some nasty, toxic
things in it, and now a plant is there to help remediate the soil. I also
observed that it assisted in stabilizing some river banks while the floodwaters
tore away at other, more “native” areas.
And with this plant’s
widespread presence and great growing ability, I also see potential of using
Japanese Knotweed as a biofuel source. It can grow inches a day and reaches
8-12 feet tall, and one can get at least two harvests a year. The stalk becomes
woody when dry and it is growing in convenient and accessible roadsides and
fields.
Oh, and by the way, we can eat the plant as well and is very tasty. Now is the time to harvest the spring growth up to a foot or so, and cook it up sweet or savory like rhubarb or asparagus. Another thing is bees make wonderful honey with the flowers as well. Of course it is important to not harvest the Knotweed for consumption in
polluted areas.
So to me, I see this circumstance of Knotweed flourishing as a way to provide a potent remedy for a devastating disease that is spreading like a weed throughout our area. I feel we should
recognize the plant not as a menace to be fought, but as a valuable resource to
make use of. Knotweed is a reflection of the destructed and polluted landscape
we’re living in and is there to help clean and rebuild the soils and waterways.
By using toxic chemicals to try to remove this plant, which is being widely
proposed, will be a waste of time, energy, and taxpayers money, and will add
more pollution in our soil and waterways. My belief is that Nature does not
make mistakes, and more often than not, it is the human that does.
Timothy Scott, author of Invasive Plant Medicine, gardener, acupuncturist, herbalist, living
in Dummerston, Vermont