Knotweed knotweed knotweed knotweed knotweed

Yes, we have a knotweed problem in the garden.

Yes, we were getting been a bit obsessed and freaked-out by it.

Yes, we spent time talking to all the happy McGill peoples about getting rid of it.

Fighting knotweed the WWI way

And yes, they recently gave us the go ahead to take care of it.

Finally, now we can get down to business. But how do deal with this knotweed.

Some people inject organophosphate herbicides to stop their knotweed, but this practice is polluting, short-sighted, and goes against our permaculture philosophies. There are also no guarantees that this dumb way of controlling knotweed will even be successful.

We looked for sustainable way of controlling the plant, searching on ze internets for guidance as well as consulting our own invasive species specialists at the McGill School of Environment for advice. The consensus among these numerous sources (be they governmental, university, non-profit, our School of Environment, and everyone else in between) of how to "control" and get rid of knotweed is in summary:

1. Pull: Pull as much of the stems out as we can over the season, which we painfully did.
2. Trench: Dig a trench deep trench beyond the perimeter of the knotweed patch to be sure the roots and rhizomes do not spread.
3. Cover: Cover the entire patch with some thick material with high tensile strength to suffocate the knotweed

With the admin's green light and our own knotweed stopping plan, a pack of us came out yesterday and began digging an earthen trench around the knotweed patch with the rest of us getting a truck and a large tarp. The weather on Sunday was warm and humid, with little or no wind where we were. The soil, although loam-like and not too clay-ish, has tonnes of rock in it (maybe literally).

Photo of the beginning; when I could hold the
camera still, before my arms and legs turned to jelly

You had to fight for every inch of soil depth with pick and shovel. In fact, it seemed like there was at least a large rock under every square foot of the ground. Did they have a house on this piece of land before? Considering that the most physical activity I do during a normal work day is push buttons (specializing in computer buttons) and drinking coffee from the machine down in the hallway, this work was rather tough.

Special kudos to everyone on the crew who planned, discussed, negotiated, dug, weeded, excavated, drove, tarped, and toiled into the night for this knotweed project. Shout-out to Keven who, throughout the entire process, was an unstoppable machine.

The fight against the knotweed is still on-going and the tarp is still in the process of being completely installed. Most likely, this will be a long drawn-out battle where the ones with the most endurance and persistence wins. May the best species remain.

Loads more pictures on our Facebook page if you do the fb thing:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/14907499375/