TUPPER LAKE — Japanese knotweed is a fast-growing, prolifically reproducing and ecologically destructive plant that has taken over numerous yards here and throughout the Adirondacks.
On top of that, the plant is nearly impossible to remove by hand harvesting. Its roots run wide and deep, are hard to fully remove and only need a fragment as light as one gram remaining to begin growing again. Just chopping the plant’s stalk from above ground, or even burning it, usually just means it will grow back rapidly.
It overtakes open space quickly, and in the case of several properties in and around Tupper Lake, it renders them overgrown and drastically limits their use.
Town of Tupper Lake Deputy Clerk Jessica Fuller said the plant was becoming more and more noticeable around the area. She said village Mayor Mary Fontana had reached out, stating that residents had asked if there was anything the local governments could do. Fuller took the knotweed photos submitted by residents that Fontana had sent, began mapping them and looked for possible grants for solution treatments.
That’s when she came across Adirondack Research’s invasive species program, which treats Japanese Knotweed and a couple of other invasive species plants throughout the Tri-Lakes area. That program is headed by Justin Wolford and made possible through grants and donations. Last year, eradication efforts focused on Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, as well as past treatment sites in the central Adirondacks.
This year, Tupper Lake was added to the list of serviceable areas, and property owners are encouraged to sign up. Wolford said that Japanese knotweed has grown out of control in many parts of the state, but it has remained manageable to this point throughout the Adirondacks.
Treatment doesn’t begin until August, but Fuller said by signing up earlier, it allows Wolford and his team to calculate their treatment route in advance and be as efficient as possible to make the most out of the program’s limited funding.
To sign up and confirm eligibility — which is available to Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Tupper Lake, Blue Mountain Lake, Inlet and Old Forge currently — visit adkres.org/ismi. The website also contains more details on how treatment works, including herbicide information and application methods.
“It’s a pretty identifiable plant,” Wolford said. “It looks like bamboo and it kind of feels like bamboo. That’s usually the easiest way people will identify it. The other is that it has heart-shaped leaves with red veins in the leaves.”
If property owners are unsure whether or not they have a knotweed plant, or have additional questions about the program after having read the online information, Wolford said people can email him at justin@adkres.org.
How it works
Knotweed treatment requires a relatively narrow window: when the plant sends nutrients down to its roots in preparation for the winter, but before the first hard freeze. That typically begins in August and goes through September, though there is annual variability.
Wolford said property owners will be notified with a treatment window in advance after they formally give permission for treatment. There is no pre-treatment on-site evaluation, as the plant is easy enough to identify, and property owners need not be present when Wolford’s team arrives.
The treatment team applies the herbicide directly into the plant by injecting its stem with a CO2-powered needle. It takes five to seven days for the plant to die off after treatment. Wolford said property owners are given instructions for further options on how to remove the plant after it is dead, if they wish to, though that is not necessary at that point.
Wolford said the injection method has proven to be the only reliably effective means to completely kill the plant.
“If you come and hand-harvest it, those roots are still in the ground there, and those roots are still thriving,” he said. “Even burning it doesn’t work.”
Even if there’s currently just one or two knotweed plants in a yard, Wolford said the scene can change quickly unless it’s properly treated.
“It produces a lot of seeds every year and it’s very effective at taking ground with every seed it produces,” he said. “In the span of just a few years, it can go from one or two small plants in your backyard to your entire backyard. It can come up through cracks in concrete foundations.”
Wolford said the plant has become uncontrollable throughout much of the state, and there’s little that can be done there. Fortunately, he said, there’s still hope locally.
“It’s a really bad infestation statewide,” he said. “If you go down through other parts, you’ll see it along almost every mile of road — but, we’re not like that here in the (Adirondack) Park. Regional control is very much a possibility.”
Wolford credited the state Department of Environmental Conservation with dedicated efforts to treat the plant on state lands and along river banks. The DEC, however, doesn’t have the capability or jurisdiction to treat private property, and that’s where Adirondack Research comes in.
“Here in the Adirondack Park, every acre counts,” he said. “That’s kind of where this program came from — to fill in the gaps that the DEC couldn’t handle.”
A proven track record
Knotweed treatments first began in the central Adirondacks in 2008. That’s when Douglas Johnson, an Inlet summer resident, grew concerned about the plant’s explosive growth. He decided to become a state-certified herbicide applicator and begin a coordinated treatment program there.
Johnson partnered with a number of local governments and civic organizations to begin the herbicide injection treatments there. The need was urgent, he said.
“Back in 2008, they were at the verge of having it be totally uncontrollable,” he said. “If that had gotten out of control there, it could have just destroyed all the watersheds.”
About 17 years later, he said the results have been resoundingly positive.
“Looking at Inlet and Blue Mountain lake, which were being overwhelmed by the weed before this, there’s basically none at all now,” he said. “It’s very gratifying to see.”
Johnson continues to provide consultation through the program, whose active management has changed hands over the years between groups prior to Adirondack Research taking over most recently.
“It’s working out well with Adirondack Research,” he said. “They’re a very, very good group and they’re doing treatments the way you’re supposed to.”
Through it all, Johnson said the mission has not changed.
“The model all along has been that we feel this is for the public good to control knotweeds throughout the Adirondacks,” he said. “We’ve never wanted people to have to pay to have their knotweed treated … but we really rely on the donations from people who also believe we should control knotweed in the Adirondacks.”
Johnson estimated it would cost property owners between $200 and $300 to have a private herbicide applicator come and effectively treat their knotweed. Running this program at no cost to homeowners, and maintaining the funding that makes it possible, he said, is well worth the cost.
“If you go through southern Vermont, you just see miles and miles of straight knotweed, totally along riverbanks, along roads (and) around people’s homes,” Johnson said. “The Adirondacks could easily be looking like that right now if he hadn’t started things back in 2008.”
More information on the program’s history, methods and results can be found at tinyurl.com/4ncrd69s and at noknotweed.org.