Himalayan Balsam Working Parties

Himalayan Balsam ‘Gardening’ (Removal)

We meet at the Swimming Baths Café at 9.30 a.m. on the date(s) shown below to remove Himalayan Balsam.

As last time, we feel that this activity can go ahead as there will be minimum equipment involved, and social distancing can be maintained easily.
The Himalayan Balsam is once again taking hold, and we need to curtail the propagation as much as possible.

Please bring robust clothing and foot wear (Wellies are good) as there are nettles and brambles around the main locations and it might be wet underfoot. Please bring your facemask and your own gloves. The face mask to be used for the first few minutes when initially getting sorted. We will provide bags, hand sanitiser, and health and safety guidance.
It will be great to see you if you can make it!

Himalayan Balsam Working Party Date(s) for 2020

There will be no further Himalayan Balsam working Parties in 2020

Results for 2020

September 17 2020

This was the last Himalayan Balsam Working party in 2020

Seven volunteers collected around fifteen bags of Himalayan Balsam, to be composted on site. Large areas have now been cleared of the flower, but it has been encroaching on new areas of the Fields. There will be plenty to work at next year!

According to the RHS it is the largest annual plant and can grow up to 2.5m high from seed in a single season. Because it can shoot its seed up to four metres it is able to spread rapidly.  Also, as it likes to live on stream and river banks, the water can carry the seeds downstream, which further allows its rapid colonisation of other areas and its ability to shoot seeds helps it to go upstream.

Once the plant has flowered it creates seedpods which ripen quickly and when ready, or the plant is disturbed, the seedpods spring open sending seeds in every direction.

It is a member of the Busy Lizzie family (impatiens) with a latin name of Impatiens Glandulifera. It has a large pink-purple flower, with a reddish stem and its leaves have small red teeth on the edge.

Unfortunately, Abbey Fields is infested with Himalayan Balsam.  It appears that the best way to remove it, short of excavation or the use of agricultural grade chemicals, is to attack it before it sets seeds and pull it up.

September 03 2020

A group of nine volunteers met up on the 3rd Sept. to make inroads into the spread of Himalayan Balsam. This was our first activity of the year due to the Corvid virus, but we were able to keep safe by following strict health and safety guidelines. WDC advised that, unlike in previous years, the collected Himalayan Balsam could not be taken offsite – the concern was that moving it offsite could cause further uncontrolled spreading – so the bag contents were piled into a heap, in a shaded backwater of the fields, to naturally decompose. Around 20 bags were collected. It was hard work but the results were clear to see!

Himalayan Balsam Leaves and Flowers	Himalayan Balsam seed pods (circled) These can shoot the seeds several yards which helps this invasive species spread rapidly
Bart Bartmanis and Jo Illingworth taking bags of Himalayan Balsam to be composted	Himalayan Balsam compost heap.

Results for 2018:

This is our first attack at the Himalayan Balsam this year. It is growing along the banks of Finham Brook and needs to be removed to help prevent its spread to wider areas in Abbey Fields and surrounding Areas.

On this occasion we only managed six ‘Himalayan Balsam Bashers’ however they managed to collect about 15 bags of balsam.  The volunteers were great, diligent and enthusiastic! It was a pleasure to work with them. In places the Himalayan Balsam was so dense that once removed, it left a totally clear patch of earth with no other plants. This alone justifies  its removal as it obviously just wipes out the indigenous growth .

During the middle of the year on the first Saturday of each month (whenever possible) at 9.30 am we meet at the Swimming Baths Café after the litter pick to do a Balsam Bash – remove Himalayan Balsam. Old clothes and long sleeves are the order of the day and don’t forget your wellies if it has been raining. The WDC has provided us with gloves and bin bags as there is a legal requirement toto bag up and remove any Himalayan Balsam that is pulled up. We also now have some distinctive yellow tabards with our logo on to show who we are.

Himalayan Balsam Working Party Dates

August was our last Himalayan Balsam Working party this year. 
There will be plenty of opportunity next year to get stick in.

Results for 2018:

This is our first attack at the Himalayan Balsam this year. It is growing along the banks of Finham Brook and needs to be removed to help prevent its spread to wider areas in Abbey Fields and surrounding Areas.

On this occasion we only managed six ‘Himalayan Balsam Bashers’ however they managed to collect about 15 bags of balsam.  The volunteers were great, diligent and enthusiastic! It was a pleasure to work with them. In places the Himalayan Balsam was so dense that once removed, it left a totally clear patch of earth with no other plants. This alone justifies  its removal as it obviously just wipes out the indigenous growth .