Any suggestions for @##$!!! bindweed ?!!!

[southwind]

I just came across this site. and would like to share how I control bindweed in small areas (30' x 30' for example)
I have killed bindweed by covering it with black plastic. I buy the rolls that come 10 ' x 25'. I roll out the plastic and do not cover it with mulch. I anchor it with posts and anything else I can find. (We have a lot of wind here!!) I just let the sun shine on it. I think I left the plastic in place for about two years. It is completely gone. But I do not dig there so if I did dig in that area I might have seeds starting.

It is harder to do to if there are other plants growing, I have worked it around bushes and trees though.

Sheep love bindweed but can be "bound up" if they eat too much. Our cows have lived on it in the fields during drought when the pastures were gone. You can always count on bindweed to grow!!!

I have never heard of it being poison unless it has been sprayed. I have a friend that uses bindweed tea as a "cleansing tea".

I have thought that if we could cross bindweed with zucchini squash we could solve world hunger.

Southwind

 

[Nifty]

southwind, great first post and welcome to TEG!

I love your suggestion on crossing bindweed and zukes! Can you imagine!!

 

[southwind]

I read one of the posts that they sprayed bindweed with roundup or something and it died the next day but it came back.

If the mixture is too strong the plant will burn down (and appear to be dead) on the top of the ground but it has not had time to take up the roundup to the roots. There is no effect to the roots and it just keeps growing under the ground.

Our state fair has an exhibit of one (1) plants root system. It is unbelievable how much spread it has in just one season. The display is approximately 5 ft. x 8 ft! Roots can spread up to 20 feet so it is really hard to contain. If it dies too quickly you might check the mix you are using.

We learned this the hard way when we first started spraying our fields. The bindweed died quickly but came up just as healthy as ever. This is really true with 2-4-D.

When I spray now, it will take up to two weeks before it dies. At first it seems like nothing is happening then one day I go out and look and it is dead.

Weed burners will only kill the plant on top of the ground. To be effective the plant will have to be burnt everytime it sticks up it head. Just don't wait until it has time to grow. The object is to not let it have any sun to do its growing and storing food. There is a term for that but it escapes me tonight. This is the same with vinegar. I tried that too!

Good luck but I think bindweed is here to stay as long as we have birds and deer to spread it and tractors moving from field to field.

Southwind

 

[Nifty]

Southwind, that would be the coolest display. Any chance you took pics... maybe they are on the web somewhere.

Also, very good information about the plant and using roundup. We've never had a problem with it, but I'm starting to think that a big patch of pretty flowers growing in the back may actually be bindweed.

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

I have gotten rid of bindweed in a back yard by taking a dilution of 1/10th strength Round Up and putting it in a cottage cheese container with a slit in the edge of the lid so that I can put the end of the bindweed in. I just put one coil of the end in there and it slowly absorbed so the root died. Don't treat the whole vine and leaf or the root survives, leave the rest untreated so that the root continues to feed. Odd as it sounds you need the upper part healthy to help you kill the bottom.

Southwind same as you have learned, I used regular strength Round Up and it killed the top too fast so the root survived and the plant came back bigger and better than ever. I learned this trick from the Ag specialist at a University. Just cover the container with something so it's pet safe, like an upside down big heavy planter or I used my winter tires with the container under the rims.

Treating one vine tip usually killed everything within at least 5 feet for me. I just kept refilling the container and moving it to a new vine till I was done. Takes about 10 days to know how far to move it. Your kill zone is obvious by then and the damage is done, the root is dead. I never had them come back right away again, however due to the neighbors not joining the fight I did get new plants every couple years.

 

[Nifty]

April that's fantastic info!!!

We have what we think is bindweed growing in the back yard in an isolated spot. Kinda pretty, but after reading all the hassle to get rid of it I think I may do so before it takes over the yard.

Curious: Do chickens eat the stuff? I don't have my girls in the area, but could "encourage them" over there if it would be win-win.

 

[RedClayGardener]

Thank you so much for that bindweed solution. It is what I have been looking for! Have you tried anything aside from Roundup? Do you think vinegar would work?

 

[southwind]

I tried using vinegar and it just hurt the top of the plant. It did not go to the roots.
I have been using roundup and have sprayed several times about a month apart. The plants get really sick looking so I just keep spraying ever so often. New plants will come up forever. That is why I had the best luck using black plastic and leaving it on for a couple of years. It must get hot enough to kill the seeds. The plasitic is not always practical.
I have also used 2-4 D but it drifts and it seems to build up an immunity to it after a while.

I hate to admit it (I do not like WalMart), but they have the best plastic I have found. It is heavier then most and will last for two or three years with care.
Southwind

 

[Mackay]

I have bindweed in my ornamental garden.

The problem with bindweed is that the seeds can last for 50 years or more. The roots go everywhere and the chemicals used up top often never get to all the root segments. Round up will set it back, only to rise its ugly head another day.

In my search to understand MMS I came across an article that states that Chlorine Dioxide will kill bindweed. Something about the two just don't mix.

Now when one uses MMS it is the chlorine dioxide that kills the pathogens in the body. When you prepare mms you can smell the chlorine dioxide. I do it in a well ventilated room.

After reading the article I had thought that perhaps I could make a batch of activated MMS in a spray bottle and spray the plants. I should be done outside where there is ventilation. This will not hurt your skin if you get it on you. Just rinse it off. I haven't tried it. Generally I just pull the tops of the bind weed off, every three weeks or so. Once it is there it is impossible to get rid of short of chlorine dioxide.

I had also read that some farmers, those big industrial guys, have processes to formulate chlorine dioxide on site for bind weed.

 

[Tylianna]

So Morning Glories and Four Oclocks are different from bindweed? I am planning to plant the glories, but don't want them taking over.