I find that if you have a small patch of it, go out every two days and snip it right at the ground whenever it pops up, and plant Virginia Creeper or day lillies to out compete it. Because both Virgina Creeper and Day Lillies have rhizomes like knotweed, they are competing underground by their root system. Oh ya, almost forgot, it hates salt, so if you can use that and dont want to grow anything else that might be something to try. Wherever I use salt on the sidewalk in the winter, it seems to avoid those areas.

Great job, Bob. Been binging JK videos for natural ways to eradicate it...& don't want to set the neighborhood ablaze. Glad to find a short & simple video that I can share 'round!

I’m killing knotweed in my yard with ease and I hope I don’t regret my experiment in the spring. A year ago I acquired 3 kittens and decided to use pine pellet cat litter. It’s the same stuff used in horse stalls for bedding. When the pellets get a little wet they quickly expand & break apart into sawdust. I use a sifting litter box- the bottom is full of holes, a kitty colander if you will. This box nests in a solid bottom box into which I sift the cat pee sawdust. One day I thought, I bet this combination of acidic pine dust and pee ammonia will kill that knotweed that’s growing up next to the house. So, this past summer, every time I had filled a kitchen trash bag with used litter, sans poop, I’d haul it to the back yard and dump it at the base of the offending plants, a couple inches deep. Now I know what you’re thinking. That’s gross and must stink like crazy. But it’s not that bad. The sawdust isn’t saturated because those pellets the cat actually pees on start breaking down and the surrounding dry pellets absorb the wet & break down too. Then the wet & not so wet sawdust mixes together in the sifting process. On top of that, the pine wood neutralizes the worst of the cat pee. This is the least offensive litter I’ve ever used. Once spread around in the garden beds, it doesn’t take long for the remaining odor to dissipate. I admit it has it’s yukky factor. But it works at least as well as glysophate without the risk. I used quite a bit of roundup on my 5 acres for years before I & the general public became aware that it’s a carcinogen. In 2005 I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. This pee pee sawdust is a much more appealing solution to me. Now the question is, what’s it going to take to recondition the soil in the spring? I’m hoping the worst of the ammonia will have been neutralized and that much of it and the acids from the pine is diluted and drawn down deeper into the soil when the snow melts. I plan to shovel off the litter & then do soil testing to see how much amending will be needed so I can put in some nice foundation plants. Wish me luck!

If I remember correctly, they are like bamboo in that they have mitochondria (which animals have), which is completely unlike other plants. So as well as photosynthesizing, they have aerobic resperation (what our muscle cells do). So they can put much greater amounts of energy quickly into growing.

I have about 5000 sq feet of this stuff to tackle, worrying about it spreading into the forest from the road frontage. I've been cutting it with a machete and I've been noticing the more often it's cut the slower and weaker it gets but I still haven't gotten to getting all the affected area once, but the driveway that was over-ran last year when I bought the driveway it's only able to grow to 2' or so from like 8-10' initially.

Cutting it helps spread it as only 10mm of stem can cause a new plant were it then becomes rampant

Can we get an update, how are things moving along with the knotweed?

Very helpful! How is this patch doing now? Do you have newer or better methods to suggest that you've had more success with? Do all the rhizomes eventually need to get pulled out after all of the cycles of cutting low before it grows past a foot high?

Hi Bob. Thanks for making this video and proving you don't need pesticides to remove unwanted plants. I would love your thoughts on my 'Japanese Knotweed Garden' video. We were very badly mis-sold on our garden and house. But I have managed to turn the Japanese Knotweed into a powerful positive. Did you know that Bamboo (Japanese Knotweed) honey won an award in the USA? There is a video about it on KZfaq. They are also making Japanese Knotweed Paper in Europe which saves trees. I've made organic Japanese Knotweed plant based soap. Oxford Bio confirmed that Japanese Knotweed has been used in the cosmetic industry for well over a decade for anitageing products. This plant is high in Resveratrol. Japanese Knotweed has also been used to treat Lyme's Disease. This plant cured my Asthma. My Government MP wrote to the Health Minister about my success with this herbal plant. I love it. Keep it away from neighbours fences and it stays put. Also mowing the lawn keeps it from spreading.

Hi, how has the knotweed been? I am trying this method. But my yard is really overrun. I have so far only tried pulling them out at the root. Some were very large and heavy rhizomes. They appear to grow back thinner and smaller. Just not sure what to do next. Considering mowing over them, as my neighbor’s yard is all grass and my knotweed stops abruptly where their lawn is. So my hope is mowing helps but I’m reading online people saying not to do that. But I understand the letting it grow and cutting it, I suppose my real issue is there’s so much of it it’s hard want to let it grow.

Bob, are you overrun with knotweed yet? Because from everything I've read and seen, that's exactly what NOT to do with Japanese knotweed: don't pull it up breaking off the rhizomes underground. Hope all is well.

Totally edible and is an important plant that helps heal Lyme disease.

Do you know if steam or propane fire weed killer can be used? What do you do with the shoots you pulled out? How do you dispose? I don't want to spread it further.

Can I grow grass with the bamboo? My whole yard is nothing but Jappanese knotweed.

Ok you want to get rid of it.. I'm looking to grow some.. This plant just doesn't want to die..because it's sooooo medicinal. For lyme etc.. I'd like to know what area does it grow. And if I can grow some in a pot. Because I live in NYC and well it's difficult here

Now u do know Japanese knotweed are edible and you can use it for medicinal purposes.

Spray glyphosate before the first frost