Stephen Albert
Knotweed grows from long-lived rhizomes but plants live as annuals growing in lawns, vegetable gardens, and ornamental garden especially where the soil is compacted.
Description and Life Cycle:
- Germinates late winter to mid-spring,
- Stems are 4 inches to 24 inches long; stems are swollen at the joints.
- Wiry stems form a mat on soil surface; prostrate growing.
- Slender, ridged stems radiate from taproot in all directions.
- Blue-green elliptical leaves alternate on stem; leaves are ½ to 1 inch long, 3/8 inch wide.
- Small white or pink flowers grow in clusters from axils formed by the sheath and petiole.
- Blooms early summer to fall.
- Reproduces by seed and by spreadinng roots called rhizomes.
- Knot weed thrives in compact soil.
Root System: Knotweed grows from fibrous roots that produce spreading rhizomees. Each lateral shoot can extend 25 to 40 feet. Rhizomes can grow as deep as 7 feet. Individual plants can be 8 to 15 feet in diameter or larger and clumps can cover several hundred square feet to several acres. New plants are produced from nodes along spreading rhizomes. Tops die back in cold winter regions, but regrow from roots rapidly in spring.
Organic Control:
- Hand pull when plants are young and the soil is soft.
- Hoe mature plants; cut the crown of the plant below the soil surface or dig out the root.
- Remove rhizome roots; any rhizome remaining in the soil will produce new plants at each node. A plant that develops extensive roots will be nearly impossible to control completely. Even small fragments of roots will produce new plants.
- Pull up new sprouting plants as soon as they appear. Continue as long as necessary.
- Cover area where plants have been removed with landscape fabric, cardboard, or black plastic mulch to keep new plants from sprouting. Knotweed as been known to grow through asphalt.
- Turn the soil; knotweed thrives in compacted soil.
- Mulch to prevent seed from germinating.
Range: Throughout United States and southern Canada.
Scientific Name: Polygonum aviculare
Four Quick Ways to Control Weeds:
- Weed early. Control weeds in the first month after they germinate.
- Weed often. Hand weed every two weeks through the season.
- Weed by hand when the soil is wet (best to get roots).
- Use a hoe if the soil is dry. Decapitate weeds before they flower and drop seed.
