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| ‘Weed’ threat to the Olympics |
| Written by News Desk | |
| Wednesday, 12 December 2007 | |
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Suffolk-based Thurlow Countryside Management is partnering with Writtle College in Chelmsford to help eradicate a major plant pest with the potential to seriously damage much of the physical infrastructure planned for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
The two will work to improve the eradication techniques for Japanese Knotweed, a highly damaging invasive weed plant brought over as an ornamental shrub during the 1800’s, which was widely grown in Victorian gardens. Japanese Knotweed proliferates by production of an extensive network of underground stems or rhizomes. These can remain dormant for long periods, but by processes that remain unclear can be triggered to produce whole new plants, even from pieces as small as one gram. With no significant natural predators, new plants grow extremely vigorously, rapidly crowding out neighbouring plants and spreading out at a rapid rate. Furthermore it has the ability to grow through tarmac, brick walls and inside pipes, causing extensive damage to property and roads. Since escaping from gardens, Japanese Knotweed has spread alarmingly across the country over the last 50 years and is now a familiar site alongside waterways, roads, and across brownfield sites including the main 2012 Olympic Games site in East London. The research project, underway at Writtle College’s School of Horticulture, is being funded through a £100,000 Knowledge Transfer Partnership grant obtained through the former Department of Trade and Industry. Led by Dr Pascaline Le Lay and Dr Clive Ireland, the team will use the scientific facilities at Writtle College including a brand new research glasshouse to carry out the research necessary to improve methods for the sustainable control of the species. “It appears to be more and more important to increase public awareness of the issue of Japanese Knotweed and to ensure its eradication,” said Dr Le Lay.
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