SOUTH HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) — You can't kill it with spray, cut it out or mow it down. An invasive plant is causing a lot of concern this summer in South Haven.
The Japanese knotweed could be described as the cockroach of the plant world.
“Yes it is. That's a good analogy,” said South Haven Public Works Director Bill Hunter.
The Japanese knotweed is a thick-stemmed, deep rooted weed that's hard to kill and hard to control. It was discovered in South Haven about a year and a half ago.
Most weeds die once you pull them up by the root, or spray them with weed killer. But Hunter says Japanese knotweed has a different reaction.
“It stresses the plant and causes the plant to react to that stress and grow further out, just to keep protecting itself,” he explained.
How it got to South Haven is anyone's guess. The seeds of the weed are known to cling to equipment someone might use to mow it down, causing it to spread to other locations.
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