I’m just wondering if anyone here has had any experience (success) with making flutes or whistles from Japanese knotweed. It’s similar in structure to bamboo, but different enough that it may not be suitable.
Do not touch the stuff. Even the smallest bit will take hold and spread it. People involved in eradicating the stuff have to disinfect their tools to avoid contamination..
That’s interesting. I do seem to spend a lot of time clearing it from my daughter’s back yard.
Well that is something that I have not heard. It is indeed considered “the world’s worst plant”.
Here’s some of the information going around here
Japanese knotweed information leaflet - Clare county council
I grew up with the stuff. First, yes it’s evil but it’s not something out of Harry Potter. It resprouts from the rhizomes, not from cast-off leaves and dead stems or infected cutting equipment like a virus. Even the rhizomes can be killed by methods such as leaving for a while in a metal trash can in the sun. Think of it as an extremely large and hardy version of mint. The problem is that its size makes it physically difficult to completely dig out and kill the rhizomes and they can last for years underground, continuing to resprout.
The stems make nice construction material, play swords, etc for kids. However, they are much lighter and less sturdy than real bamboo, with a tendency to splinter when you cut into them. So it would be difficult or impossible to make good flutes out of them.
Thanks for the information. It’s doubtful that I will attempt to make an instrument with this. There are other bad uses for my time.
Tom