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Himalayan Balsam disposal

happycottontailhappycottontail Posts: 394
in Plants
I’d be grateful for advice on the easiest or best way to dispose of this invasive plant which has been hiding at the bottom of my garden. I know that it’s illegal to put it in your garden waste bin. It’s about 4 foot high and has two or three open pink flowers. Look forward to your replies.
happycottontail 

Posts

  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    Burn it?
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    edited July 2021
    Make sure you cut of the flower spikes before they can seed.
    I used to as a child think it was a lovely plant but now see it (like oil seed rape) all along the verges and river banks with no control.
  • Chris-P-BaconChris-P-Bacon Posts: 943
    edited July 2021
    I'd burn it.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Before I knew any better I had masses of them in my garden many years ago.
    They are 99.99% water and disappear in a few days if composted before the seeds set - if you have a compost bin.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,719
    edited July 2021
    Impatiens glandulifera...Himalayan balsam.
    Not a problem to put in  compost while in flower.
    Just make sure you weed out/compost BEFORE they go to seed.

    So very beautiful but a curse in UK.
    Other Impatiens are OK...nothing here eats it.
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • happycottontailhappycottontail Posts: 394
    Thanks for all your helpful comments. I have 2 questions for those with personal experience of dealing with this plant:
    1. Does anyone have a rough idea of how long it takes between a flower going over and it’s seed pod being ready to pop?
    2. To remove the plant, would you cut it down in 12 inch sections, then pull/dig out the bottom section?  Or would you remove the whole plant in one go?
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    1. - can't remember I'm afraid
    2 - I'd pull the whole plant up and put the whole thing in the compost bin - no need to cut it up, it'll go to mush in a couple of days. The roots are near the surface so easy to pull the whole thing out in one go.

    I can remember sitting in the garden listening to the exploding pods - it was quite amusing

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2021
    The thing is, the later flowers can still be blooming while the earlier ones  on the same stems have seeds ... we lived next door to someone who planted one in his garden ...... just the one .... a few years later the entire street had the darned things in their gardens ... they catapult the seeds over high walls and fences for yards and yards.  Pull them up now and get rid of them. 

    They're easy enough to pull up ... I've pulled up hundreds ... they're very shallow rooted (that's half the problem with them on river banks ... they stop anything else growing but their roots don't bind the banks together).  Just get hold of the stem near the base and pull steadily.  

    And learn to recognise the seedlings .... they'll be popping up for years 😠

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





  • happycottontailhappycottontail Posts: 394
    Thank you Pete and Dove, loots of helpful comments there. The interloper has now been removed by a neighbour who also has one in his garden. He hadn’t realised what it was until I told him!
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