Volunteers gathered at the Debdale park community centre last week for a talk by one of our experts in Invasive weed removal. The group who chose to help with clearance works on the site as part of their companies Business in the Community commitment spent the first part of their day learning about the invasive weeds present in the park before moving on to the physical task of their removal.
Manchester City Council Park Wardens discovered the park contained Japanese knotweed and Himalayan Balsam, both of which should be treated to stop the spread as outlined in the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Time constraints and budget pressures faced by councils meant that removing the weeds would require extra help from volunteers such as those who attended the seminar. As Japanese knotweed should only be handled by experts, TCM focused on ‘Balsam bashing’ stopping the spread of Himalayan balsam. The volunteers, after a simple demonstration were able to pull the weed and clear a large area with the problem.
The Japanese knotweed due to be sprayed by TCM has been so far left untouched. The surrounding plants have been cut back as part of the day to allow easier access to the JK. With TCMs presentation showing what could happen if enough care isn’t taken when handling the weed the volunteers were careful enough not to disturb the infestation in any way.
TCMs Ray Holderness who was the contact for the park offered our extra free service as part of an earlier agreement to tackle the problem. He commented “After discussing the issue with the warden I felt that TCM could offer some extra support and by tailoring our CPD seminar to the Himalayan Balsam on the site we could educate the volunteers, allowing them to help with the problem rather than being restricted to clearing non invasive plants. Hopefully this has been helpful to the council and sped up the process of eradicating these weeds “
TCM offer free CPDs to anyone who may be interested in learning more about invasive weeds whether this is residential problems or commercial. The Seminar mentioned above contained legislative and identification information plus removal techniques, however TCM are happy to present on any other invasive weed issues you may have. For more information please contact us on 01638 560066 or email info@t-c-m.co.uk
To learn more about CPDs please visit our website
