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What is this root?

NiamhtreacyNiamhtreacy Posts: 4
in Plants
Hi, we live in a rented property and there has previously been a 5 year treatment for knotweed in the garden. It's now finished so we've been advised we can dig the soil. However, I've just been clearing and found this root with some Sprouts coming off it. Does anyone recognise it as anything or think it could be knotweed again? I'm obviously reluctant to touch it anymore. 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited March 2020
    Hi @Niamhtreacy and welcome to the forum :)

    I can't see what it is yet ... the leaves are too young ... but it doesn't have the very distinctive growth pattern of Japanese Knot Weed.   :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • NiamhtreacyNiamhtreacy Posts: 4
    @Dovefromabove it's not the best picture, the leaves are very small. The root they're attached too seems very large which is my concern. But that is reassuring, thank you. 
  • Pheobe33Pheobe33 Posts: 20
    It's not ground elder is it? It looks like the roots I had on mine (like bean sprouts).  There are some pics of it on my first post.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Not Ground Elder, not from a root like that. Give it another week for those leaves to unfurl the repost. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • NiamhtreacyNiamhtreacy Posts: 4
    Hi, an update on the root. The leaves have started to grow a bit. Not sure if anyone can tell what it might be? 
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    edited April 2020
    Looks like acanthus to me. A thug which spreads with runners when it's happy.
    Bits of root will form new plants
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I will stick my neck out and suggest Acanthus spinosus (I have shoots like that coming up near where I dug one out last Autumn. Most likely I left a few bits of root behind).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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