NIR lineside

[jhb171achill]

Anyone know what these bright fluorescent sticks are all along cutting sides near Belfast Central?

 

[airfixfan]

Japanese Knot Weed

[Georgeconna]

Ah so.

[DoctorPan]

Yeah, markers to denote areas of Japanese Knotweed.  Here's the Irish Rail equivalent taken on a lineside walk during a site visit this summer.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2021 by DoctorPan

[Broithe]

There are some areas in the Slieve Blooms, where material has probably been dumped and then propagated onwards.

[Georgeconna]

3 hours ago, DoctorPan said:

Yeah, markers to denote areas of Japanese Knotweed.  Here's the Irish Rail equivalent taken on a lineside walk during a site visit this summer.

 

 

Bit of an over kill wah?, The must love spending cash, How much to install that instead of dealing with the plant itself.

 

[DoctorPan]

1 hour ago, Georgeconna said:

Bit of an over kill wah?, The must love spending cash, How much to install that instead of dealing with the plant itself.

 

That's installed while they are dealing with it. Takes about 7-8 years to completely remove the plant and its root system. It's classified as "controlled waste" so it's an absolute pain to get rid of, as if not done properly, just spreads it around the place

[jhb171achill]

It’s all over the Ring of Kerry too, judging by roadside notices….. awful stuff.

[Broithe]

It's hard stuff to stop. I've had dealings with a patch on the Big Island, allegedly exterminated over a few years before my time, but it kept appearing again for another five or six years, requiring a weekly inspection and instant hit, if any poked up. Sometimes months would pass before it decided to risk it - it's been over two years now since the last appearance, but I'm still not convinced it's really over.

Luckily, that patch was in the centre of a very large garden - if it's on both sides of a border, it can get very 'political'.

[Robert Shrives]

It flew up the Cambrian coast when the new masts for the improved radio signalling was installed - likely little bits of plant on a road vehicle or a boot or two . less than 6mm of the stem contains enough DNA for it to reproduce and spread. Burning does nothing , robust cutting knocks it back and then the buried waste 3m down survives.  Nasty chemicals pour down stems and into ground around over a 8 - 10 year period seems to do the trick- nasty invasive stuff and NR does a little bit half arsed and not followed up .  

Not sure what part it plays in any food chain so possible to eradicate I guess but then to be followed by ... Budlia seems a likely candidate with uncontrolled spreading on the trackside with ineffective cutback over root ball removal- I guess nobody cares enough to lead a good clean up, but it shows nature will win out.   Worse of course it was used by railways to support embankments due to its vast root networks , self inflicted pain....  

  

[Noel]

Roundup might do the job without risk of proliferation.