Overview
- UK outlets issued a spring alert Wednesday, urging homeowners to check gardens for Japanese knotweed as new shoots appear before summer flowers.
- Gov.uk says the plant spreads through underground rhizomes and can regrow from root fragments as small as 1 cm, which makes contaminated soil a controlled‑waste risk.
- Owners must prevent any spread beyond their boundary, with no blanket duty to remove unless it causes a nuisance, and prosecution is possible for release into the wild.
- Confused.com reports only 26% of people know what knotweed is, with 18% saying they have been affected, which explains why problems often go unnoticed.
- The company puts average removal at about £1,910 and notes that home insurance rarely covers removal, so owners should declare any infestation when arranging cover.