Swam Ltd provides our customers absolute piece of mind with Insurance Backed Warranties for periods up to 20 years!

Our insurance backed warranties are fully bonded; so that the warranty agreement is controlled by a third party on behalf of the customer ensuring service delivery and importantly complete financial security.

What does this mean? Well, if for what ever reason we failed to deliver the warranty service or even became insolvent, the contract money is held secure by the third party. If required this then enables another knotweed specialist contractor to complete the warranty agreement or the remaining contract money would be returned to the customer forthwith.

As a professional and reputable knotweed specialist Swam Ltd are able to provide these types of warranties, which are compatible with all major lenders requirements when buying a house / property, after we have eradicated the knotweed.

If you’ve found knotweed and/or knotweed is causing you a problem we can solve it and provide an insurance backed warranty.

Call us today on 01794 511 057 or email quotes@knotweed.co.uk

Swam Ltd were pleased to provide a presentation on Japanese knotweed to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in London last month.

The request for this educational presentation was made to provide an understanding as to why lending is being refused on properties with Japanese knotweed. RICS surveyors are now under increasing pressure to correctly identify the presence of knotweed for the lender and buyer (if commissioned) whilst surveying a property.

Our presentation provided explanation of knotweed, in-depth identification, actions and solutions if found. This was well received by RICS surveyors present, who felt it bolstered their knowledge and confidence.

These presentations as well as actions being undertaking by others to educate insurers, lenders and surveyors about Japanese knotweed will ultimately provide a sensible appraisal of the property risk that Japanese knotweed presents.

A recent invasive weed conference hosted by RPS Planning and Development Ecologist Consultants at London Zoo and attended by Swam also announced actions by head of RICS to address conveyance issues relating to knotweed.

If you have a knotweed problem on a property you are trying to buy, sell or re-mortgage call us on 01794 511057 or email us at quotes@knotweed.co.uk for a prompt and professional response.

Japanese knotweed is considered by some lenders to be an unacceptable problem and therefore can prevent the sale of a property. In some cases the same can apply if there is knotweed on an adjacent property.

If you are considering the sale of your property, immediate excavation and removal of any knotweed on or adjacent to your property (possibly backed with a twenty year warranty) may be the only option you have to ensure a successful property sale.

Working throughout the UK, our expertise and experience with Japanese knotweed enables us to deliver problem solving solutions in a timely and cost effective manner. Call today 01794 511 057 or email quotes@knotweed.co.uk.

On our travels across the country this week the bright yellow flowers of Common Ragwort have been very noticeable. The non-native invasive weeds; Giant Hogweed and Himalayan Balsam, have and will also now start going into flower.

All three of these weeds are undesirable (in most situations) and you have a legal obligation to eradicate Ragwort from your land! Ragwort is poisonous to handle (and toxic to horses when ingested) and the sap of the Giant Hogweed can severely burn human skin.

After flowering each of these plants will produce seeds but disperse them in different ways. Common Ragwort produce the recognisable late summer air born downy seeds. Giant Hogweed produces seeds on mass (up to 50,000 seeds per plant), which are distributed up to 4m away. Himalayan Balsam is also known as ‘Jumping Jack’, for its seed pods split and coil within a fraction of a second of being touched, literally exploding the seeds out away from the plant for up to 7m.

Effective control of the these types of weeds is achieved by killing the plants before they produce viable seeds. Ideally this means manual removal or chemical application before the plants flower, but they can still be treated now in the early stages of flowering before viable seeds are generated. In most situations control is achieved over successive seasons of treatment.

Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) does not spread by seed, as we only have the female form of the plant in the UK and therefore no viable seeds are produced following flowering. This invasive weeds spreads mainly via vegetative re-generation. However this plant is now causing specific problems with sellers and buyers of property because many lenders are now reluctant to provide mortgages on properties with knotweed.

If you have Common Ragwort, Giant Hogweed, Himalayan Balsam or Japanese knotweed please call (01794 521 582) or email (quotes@knotweed.co.uk) and we can provide a control and removal solution.

I’m sure that like everyone here, you are also welcoming the early warm weather this year after the cold winter we’ve had.

The warm days have led to a fairly early appearance for the Japanese knotweed, which is sending up this seasons new shoots at the moment and unfurling its first leaves.  If you currently have an herbicide eradication programme with us we will be attending in the next few weeks to re-commence works, but if your finding for the first time that you have knotweed and need it removed please call on 01794 521 582 or 017942 511 057 or email: quote@knotweed.co.uk and we can help.

The pretty looking but highly invasive Himalayan Balsam will be in its early growth stage at the moment as well.  If you have this invasive non-native weed on your property now is the best time to treat it.  Call or email us and we can provide advice and swing into action.

To help you identify the early season growth stages of knotweed please go the following section of our website:  http://www.japaneseknotweed.co.uk/Japanese-Knotweed-Growth

At the beginning of this year the state of the economy looked like throwing up some challenges for the Japanese knotweed identification, treatment and eradication specialists.

But we’ve had enough knotweed news and media coverage to keep this invasive weed a hot topic and in the minds of the commercial sector and home owners alike:

In March 2010 DEFRA approved the first field trial release of the long talked about psyllid (type of insect), which feeds on the sap of Japanese knotweed.  Although there have been some initial problems with the trial its hoped that this natural specialist knotweed predator will ultimately provide a biological control to the ongoing spread of knotweed in the UK.

And in June 2010 a BBC Radio 4 broadcast highlighted a new development with one of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders refusing a mortgage on a property due to the presence of Japanese knotweed.  This issue has rolled on ever since with other lenders now following suit.  If you are affected by issues relating to Japanese knotweed call Wreford today on 02380 816628 and we can offer you pragmatic advice and hopefully a solution.

The mortgage issue has helped Wreford maintain a steady uptake of our herbicide application programmes, which provide a sustainable and cost effective method of eradicating Japanese knotweed.

The commercial sector though still lays heavy with the burden of the economic downturn through 2010 and although we are busy squeezing in some last minute housing site knotweed dig and dump operations before Christmas, less new development ultimatley means less work enquiries.

Well that’s it for another year pretty much.  We wish all our clients, partners and suppliers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and we look forward to working with you in 2011.

The snow and cold has definitely come early this year, and it has been forecast for a while that we’re in for a long cold winter.

You will often hear it said “the slightest bit of snow and the country grinds to a halt” but I think most countries would struggle with the snow fall we got yesterday.  My parents live in Lincolnshire and have snow a foot deep and when I spoke to a haulage muck-away firm in London early evening yesterday only one lorry was back in the yard, after they received 5 inches of snow.

 The onset of winter brings changes and challenges to most outdoor occupations, including the life and trials of a Japanese knotweed specialist.  Wrefords have to adapt our service but Japanese knotweed can still be treated and eradicated throughout winter.

Knotweed removal methods such as dig ’n’ dump, cell-burials, relocations and root barrier works can take place in winter and remove knotweed, even though the ability to apply herbicide has now pretty much passed until the spring.  For domestic residential customers we also still provide a valuable service clearing the dead winter stems of the knotweed.

It does though get a little trickier to undertake Japanese knotweed site surveys and identification, with the obvious lush green foliage (which makes knotweed relatively easy to spot in the growing season) now gone.   Immature, disturbed or treated knotweed stands are particularly hard to spot, especially on overgrown sites, and when covered by a foot of snow, well good luck just getting to the site.

Although knotweed is now harder to spot, if you know you have it, don’t wait until the spring the do something about it.  As is most often the case, the sooner you act the cheaper it will be to resolve the problem.

We hope you can enjoy the early snow this winter, or at least not be too badly affected by it.

Last week I attended the The New Forest Non-Native Plants Project conference.

The project is a great example of how the national non-native plant strategy can be brought to a local level (a topic discussed by Trevor Renals of the Environment Agency at the conference). The project run by Catherine Chatters (New Forest Non-Native Plants Officer) would appear to have been very successful in informing and involving local land owners, the general public, local public and private sector organisations in dealing with non-native plants in the New Forest.

The New Forest is of course a very important area for wildlife (flora and fauna) making the presence of invasive non-native plants particularly unwelcome.  Himalayan balsam, New Zealand pygmyweed (Crassula helmsii) and Parrots Feather (Myriophllum aquaticum) were all highlighted as non-native plants of current concern in the park.

The conference was interesting, not only informatively but also subjectively as all the speakers (Inc: Huw Thomas, Defra; Dr Richard Mabey; Dr Ian Rotherham and Dr Max Wade, RPS) put across their knowledge, thoughts and advice on non-native plants. It is apparent that the presence of non-native plants may be received by different people in different ways. For example a local authority with a Giant Hogweed outbreak causing a health and safety concern may think very differently on the action they take compared to a land owner with a very pretty looking outbreak of Himalayan balsam.

As Catherine Chatters has achieved with this project, the best that can be done locally (and nationally for that matter) is to raise general awareness of the presence and issues relating to invasive non-native plants and let individuals make an informed decision (more often than not without legislative enforcement) on what they do about them.

If invasive non-native plants are affecting you (i.e. Japanese knotweed presence on a property you are selling) then you can contact Wreford LAPM on 02380 816628 or enquiries@knotweed.co.uk and we can provide help and assistance.

Wreford LAPM Ltd is happy to be working with the ‘The New Forest Non-Native Plants Project’ on sites in the New Forest National Park, helping to control the spread of Japanese knotweed.  We are now also delighted to be involved with the New Forest Non-Native Plants Project Conference on 4^th November 2010 at Careys Manor Hotel, Brockenhurst, Hampshire, where we will be displaying.

The project and this conference is part of the continuing national drive for awareness and action on Invasive Plant species for land owners, managers, statutory organisations, conservation charities and everyone concerned about the spread of non-native invasive plants.

The New Forest Non-Native Plants Project was set up in 2009 to control the spread of five invasive non-native plants:- Japanese knotweed, Himalayan balsam, Giant hogweed, American skunk cabbage and New Zealand pygmyweed.  The Project is a joint partnership between the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, the Environment Agency, The Forestry Commission, Natural England, DEFRA and the New Forest National Park Authority. The New Forest National Park Authority is supporting the Project financially through core funds and the Sustainable Development Fund.

This year the project has been working in conjunction with the ‘2010 International Year of Biodiversity’.

As the mornings get a little chillier and nights start drawing in, we all know that autumn is just round the corner. With this change in season comes a change in the appearance and the nature of Japanese knotweed.

From August and into September the Japanese knotweed becomes easier to identify as it blooms with delicate creamy-white loose clusters (panicles) of flowers. All Japanese knotweed plants growing in the UK are female though and therefore no viable seeds will be produced from these flowers. After the knotweed flowers and before the leaves fall with the onset of winter, the plants nutrients are moving back to the rhizome (root) in preparation for winter. During this period the Japanese knotweed becomes more susceptible to damage from correctly applied systemic herbicides.

Getting an application of an approved systemic herbicide undertaken now, before the knotweed hibernates for winter, can in many cases result in Japanese knotweed being eradicated a year earlier than if starting applications in the spring or summer period (knotweed may typically take 3-4 years to eradicate via systemic herbicide applications).

So autumn is an important time of year for Wrefords with respect to our herbicide application programmes, but it’s also your last chance of the year to get herbicide applied and start treating any Japanese knotweed infestations you may have on your land.

If you have knotweed; in your garden, on commercial premises, on your land, on land banks or even in neighbouring properties then call Wrefords on 02380 816628 or email enquiries@knotweed.co.uk. We will provide you a treatment quote within 48 hours of contacting us and will also listen to and answer any questions you may have.

For home and property owners the presence of Japanese knotweed continues to cause mortgage problems and can devalue property.  It is strongly advised that you get your knotweed treated as soon as possible.

For land owners and developers the advice also stays the same; the sooner you commence treatment of Japanese knotweed on your land the cheaper the remediation of this problem will be.

Please email me with any specific questions that you want me to address through the blog and I’ll try to answer them. Email Ben Lindley here.