Weeds damage homes as the climate warms

Paul Kelbie in Guardian, via the Observer (UK): A combination of a warmer climate, increased rainfall and a ban on the use of chemicals has created an epidemic of weeds causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage to homes and public buildings. Homeowners are facing large bills due to weeds damaging pipes and buildings as climate change produces an explosion in plant life.

According to Peter Brownless, horticulturalist at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, long periods of warm and wet weather combined with increasing volumes of detritus in gutters and drains is encouraging plants to grow out of control at a faster rate than ever before. "A recent change in European legislation means there are far less herbicides available for local authorities and home gardeners to use to control weeds," he said.

According to Brownless many problems are caused by alien species which are thriving in Scotland's increasingly mild climate. "One plant that's causing quite a bit of concern at the moment is the New Zealand waterweed which established itself on Duddingston Loch in Edinburgh a few years ago and has out-competed many of the native plants….

Overgrown weeds in the Algiers section of New Orleans, shot by Infrogmation, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2