Japanese Knotweed in Birmingham

As a Japanese Knotweed surveyor in Birmingham, we were requested to survey a site where our client suspected that he had Japanese Knotweed. Once we arrived at the address we surveyed the site for Japanese Knotweed as well as other invasive species. Surveying for Japanese Knotweed in Birmingham included looking over all of the boundary fences to see if there was any knotweed growing on the surrounding properties. This is in line with the RICs guidelines which we abide by very closely. It is considered a private nuisance if you allow Japanese Knotweed to encroach onto neighbouring land. Therefore, the client was correct to call us as soon as they suspected they had knotweed on their property. On inspection of the site, the suspect weed was growing not just in his garden but also in the adjacent garden. 

However, on this occasion, the client had mistaken Common Dogwood (Cornus alba) for Japanese Knotweed. Due to it’s similar appeatance, this is quite a common mistake as Dogwood has creamy white flowers, similar to those commonly seen on Japanese Knotweed in late summer. Therefore, we recommend looking at our identification page. 

Another plant very often misidentified as Japanese Knotweed is Common Dock. When Common Dock, flowers, it also looks very similar to the flowers of Japanese Knotweed. The client was also very aware that there are a lot of outbreaks of Japanese Knotweed in Birmingham.