NORTH END, Idaho — North End residents’ backyard have been overrun by an aggressive and invasive weed—Japanese Knotweed.
- Experts say it can be identified by its green, heart-shaped leaves, white flowery seedlings, and bamboo-like stems
- The invasive and fast-growing plant can grow over 9 feet tall and overrun yards and gardens.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
For North End resident Suzanne Bell, her backyard is her sanctuary.
"This is my happy place, this is my love, this is my life," said Bell.
But an unwelcome guest has overstayed its welcome.
"Japanese Knotweed everywhere! Look at this," Bell added.
The invasive and fast-growing plant can grow over 9 feet tall.
On a tour through her backyard, Bell told me, "So let’s go this way. I did 15 bags in march and then I just did 15 bags on Monday. Look at this! If I start spraying, everything back here is going to die!"
For months, it’s been overrunning Suzanne's other existing plants.
“So, you can see them along here. You can see this and this and this," she added.
Experts tell me it can be identified by its green, heart-shaped leaves, white flowery seedlings, and bamboo-like stems.
The weed has been spreading into yards like Suzanne’s, year after year.
"I'm too old, I can't do this every year," she expressed.
Suzanne says she started reaching out for help as early as April, but after unanswered texts from the canal manager, she turned to the Ada County Pest, Weed, and Mosquito Abatement Department.
After making initial contact with the agency in May, she says they just now came to clear it out.
So, I asked the agency what caused the delay.
“Typically if our response is delayed its basically due to being short handed. But, if you have a noxious weed infestation we treat it very seriously and we do want to make sure we get out there and identify it and try to get action taken on it," said Adam Schroeder, Director of Ada County Weed, Pest, and Mosquito Abatement.
Now Suzanne’s yard, which just last week looked like this, has been cleared of the pesky weeds—for now.
“If you’re very careless with how those plantings are treated then you could be creating other weed infestations," Schroeder added.
Once those weeds are removed, they must be discarded in plastic bags and sent to a landfill.
“We don’t need Japanese Knotweed all over the city because it makes people cranky," Bell concluded.
