Japenese Knotweed and Invasive Weed Eradication - Change of Career - Advice Needed!

I've always thought that Honey Bee swarms are best dealt with by contacting your local bee keepers association swarms officer, that's what I did when a swarm decided to make its home in one of my composters one summer.

http://www.bbka.org.uk/help/do_you_have_a_swarm.php

They will happily take them away and re-home them free of charge.

 

They probably say that for a reason, and one I will honour too, thinking about. Would only (and very carefully) spray around non-flowering plants. Without bees, we'd all be dead within 4 years, according to Einstein's prediction many years ago.

A couple of years ago, my Dad was selling his house and there was a hive/nest of bumble bees in the loft. They were harmless creatures, just going about their daily business, doing no harm to man nor beast (i.e. him, his Mrs, visitors and the dogs).

Even if you walked near or sat around under their entry hole into the roof, they never stang anybody (even though bumble bees are each capable of causing multiple stings, which honey bees aren't, as you'll know they die after a single sting as their heart is pulled out with the singing barb to keep pumping venom into a foe).

Regrettably, Dad's partner decided to have the nest eliminated as she was worried that people may be put off from buying the house if they saw the constant stream of bees entering and leaving the roof. It was a real shame and it took the eradicator two attempts with insecticides to kill them off.

Thank you for your reality check!

Take care,

Mowerman

 

You are bang-on. The PSA provide training but the approved list requires a company (not sole trader) whch has multiple employees and at least two years proof of many requirements to even consider an application for their accreditation. Knowing them, they probably want records of what toilet roll you use and how many slices of ham you put in your sandwiches

But without starting out in the first place, none of the accredited companies would have gained accreditation without experience... talk about a catch 22. Everyone needs to start out somewhere and the accreditation can also possibly be somewhat of a double-edged sword.

More money can be gained by being on their list but the charges for eradication can be asrotonimical, so may put off many people who are inflicted by JK. If a certified sprayer/PSA trained person and non-PSA accredited company who does a thorough job, charges less, gets a good reputation through competence and perseverance as experts in the field, then they may eventually be PSA accredited and that may lead to bigger contracts.

It takes time, patience and a lot of work and paperwork but there is still room in the market for new starters who can offer legal contracts and get jobs done and work the way up the ladder.

Many thanks for sharing your personal experience/knowledge of contracts BTW mate.

 

Thanks, I'm a bit out of date but did had a wealth of experience in construction related procurement.

 

Their on site 'project manager' was disinterested when I pointed out they were excavating in the wrong areas, insisting they'd had a survey done and it had been '"sprayed out" when I knew that it had only died down after being frosted, and that 50% of the overgrown site had been mown down prior to their 'survey' & subsequent spraying (which, if carried out on whatever plants were still visible would have had little or no effect before frosts knocked then down).

And it's not just me (who walked our dog(s) through the site several times a week, every week, all year round for many years, but other villagers who were met with the same response, that they'd had a JK survey carried out, it had been sprayed (once, at the end of August?) and it was sorted, and they also told the PM they'd got the wrong locations - they have even built their site compound directly over a big clump of JK.

About 3 - 4 weeks ago, for some unknown reason, after almost completing the topsoil strip over the site, all works have completely ceased and all site staff and contractors have disappeared from the site where they were previously interested in getting houses on the market ASAP. I wonder if they're now having to wait to see where all the red shoots start appearing later on?

 

@Scrungee - it sounds like the builders have been reckless beyond comprehension and now they're paying the price.

The red shoots should've made an appearance recently and may indeed have put their project on hold, possibly for years - until the area is certified as JK clear by an accredited assessor.

Digging up the wrong area, like you mentioned, is business suicide. You advied them and they didn't listen, much to their detriment.

It seems they're gonna be losing a lot of money for past gross negligence, maybe hundreds of thousands for the treatment. Yet they went ahead despite warnings and if it costs them a fortune, they only have themselves to blame.

Spraying JK is going to take years to kill a major infestation. Stem injection is much more efficient and takes less time to kill it off but is more resource-intensive. Complete excavation is a major-leauge approach, costing ridiculous money and is not infallible as less than 1g of rhizome left behind can cause a new infestation. Whicever way, no decent assessor is going to declare the site free of JK for several years to come.