• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • John F Dean
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • r ranson
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Jay Angler
stewards:
  • Liv Smith
  • paul wheaton
  • Nicole Alderman
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Eric Hanson

Japanese Knotweed more effective than antibiotics for Lyme disease

 
pollinator
Posts: 3700
Location: 4b
1337
dog forest garden trees bee building
  • Likes 9
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Japanese Knotweed article

Japanese knotweed and other plants more effective treating persistent Lyme disease than antibiotics
 
gardener
Posts: 950
Location: Galicia, Spain zone 9a
248
2
dog duck chicken cooking food preservation fiber arts pig bike bee solar ungarbage
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Unfortunately,  Japanese knotweed is extremely invasive outside of Japan, where natural predators control its spread. Always nature has its swings and roundabouts!
 
pollinator
Posts: 3847
Location: Marmora, Ontario
591
4
hugelkultur dog forest garden fungi trees rabbit urban wofati cooking bee homestead
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I wouldn't call it unfortunate that an opportunistic pioneer effective against Lyme disease thrives in places prone to Lyme disease. I would call that fortuitous.

All we need to do is introduce our own Japanese Knotweed control. Our Lyme disease sufferers can become Japanese Knotweed predators.

Oh, and wasps just love the stuff. If you have Japanese Knotweed anywhere near your garden, I seriously doubt that you'd have issues either attracting pollinators or predatory insects. I know I didn't.

-CK
 
Trace Oswald
pollinator
Posts: 3700
Location: 4b
1337
dog forest garden trees bee building
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Yeah, Lyme disease is a terrible disease here that can destroy a person's quality of life forever.  I'm more concerned about it's invasiveness than knotweed's.  Anyway, I believe you can buy it in supplement form if you don't want to grow it.
 
pollinator
Posts: 2339
Location: Denmark 57N
598
fungi foraging trees cooking food preservation
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
You also won't have anything else except knotweed, it's taken over entire valleys in southern England and killed EVERYTHING there, It's probably not as bad as people make it out to be but in the UK if it is in the garden or close by you will not get a mortgage and you MUST employ a licensed company to remove it. It has apparently knocked £20bn off property values in the UK.

SO most certainly Never plant it but sure go grab some to use if you wish.
 
pollinator
Posts: 517
Location: Derbyshire, UK
105
cat urban chicken
  • Likes 8
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I have it (knotweed, not lyme disease) in my garden in Derbyshire (UK), and it was an uphill battle to get the mortgage (but I did get one).

But a few years later and placing the chicken run on top of it has quite effectively killed it.
 
pollinator
Posts: 96
Location: Ozark Border
39
fish hunting urban
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

James Freyr wrote:

Let's please keep this thread on topic and discussion focused on knotweed and lyme disease.



I don't mean to rock the boat, but invasive species can favor disease-carrying ticks  by creating a suitable microclimate or favoring tick hosts like whitetail deer.  

I don't know if the research has been done on Japanese Knotweed specifically, but the tall, dense stands sure seem like great tick habitat when you're walking through them.  The history of both invasive species and miracle cures is absolutely riddled with cases of unintended consequences, and I think there's value in acknowledging and learning from those experiences.  If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, I think there's value in proceeding cautiously.  
 
Trace Oswald
pollinator
Posts: 3700
Location: 4b
1337
dog forest garden trees bee building
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

Tom Worley wrote:

James Freyr wrote:

Let's please keep this thread on topic and discussion focused on knotweed and lyme disease.



I don't mean to rock the boat, but invasive species can favor disease-carrying ticks  by creating a suitable microclimate or favoring tick hosts like whitetail deer.  

I don't know if the research has been done on Japanese Knotweed specifically, but the tall, dense stands sure seem like great tick habitat when you're walking through them.  The history of both invasive species and miracle cures is absolutely riddled with cases of unintended consequences, and I think there's value in acknowledging and learning from those experiences.  If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, I think there's value in proceeding cautiously.  



*sigh*
 
pollinator
Posts: 288
Location: WNC 7b
77
4
hugelkultur goat forest garden trees chicken homestead
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
hey, hey, here's another note about lyme and knotweed...

https://www.facebook.com/thesacredscience/videos/episode-5-the-silent-epidemic-lyme-disease-interview-with-stephen-buhner/303508987138634/

We find what we seek and we seek what we find. If we look to invasive plants as harboring (and being) the enemy, then we potentially miss an opportunity for medicine of food.

I don't want to get off topic too much...there's a lot of info on lyme disease. Folks with lyme disease don't seem to get supported by their doctors. We studied lyme disease in school. Our herbal professor had lyme disease. After many years she was able to walk again. She was/is amazing! Then we had clients with lyme disease. I'm not an expert, it's difficult to get a correct diagnosis and just as difficult to treat.

 
I suggest huckleberry pie. But the only thing on the gluten free menu is this tiny ad:
Back the BEL - Invest in the Permaculture Bootcamp
https://permies.com/w/bel-fundraiser
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic