Bindweed

[LauraLG]

Hello! Does anyone have experience eradicating bindweed from their property? The landscaping was completely overgrown at my house before I came through and began clearing it out so these weeds have had a lot of time to put roots down. They are everywhere! I’ve dug up what seems like hundreds of these, roots and all, but they just keep popping up. In my gardens, on my lawn, between the pavers....everywhere! They are such a nuisance. Any advice on ridding my gardens of this weed is much appreciated!

*The picture was taken by the side of the road, not my garden, to show you what is plaguing my nice, neat beds!

 

[seedcorn]

IF it was that bad on my property, I’d use chemistry to take it out. Unfortunately you have decades of seeds that will last for decades.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Unfortunately Seed is right, bindweed produces a lot of seeds and they can last for years in the soil. You cannot eradicate it completely without a long long fight.

Bindweed is a perennial, it returns from the roots. If you leave a piece of the root in the ground when you pull it it will come back. You always leave some if it is set up. If you immediately dig it up when it re-sprouts you may be be to remove all of that piece. If you consistently and persistently keep on top of it, you may eventually get the roots out but it is not a one time thing. Or you can use chemicals and let them kill the roots for you. If you have anything else right there you wan to save that isn't necessary a realistic answer though a few people use a small paint brush and paint the leaves with chemical to limit its damage to what they want to kill. That still will not get rid of it but may get it under control.

Those seeds are still in the ground. They can keep sprouting for years. You might try solar heating. Use black plastic to cook the soil and kill the seeds. But that only gets the seeds right at the top of the ground. It will get hot under there but the heat will not penetrate that deep into the soil. Some seeds may be active in the grow zone but some will also be deeper. When you disturb the soil you can bring more seeds up to the grow zone. Solar heating is effective but it has its limits.

The only other thing I can think if is to never let those seeds that sprout get roots established, let alone go to seed. That's a long term fight but if you can reduce it you may be able to control that. I'm trying this with nutsedge, another weed with those properties of perennial and seeds that last forever. It's hard to be consistent and persistent but I'm not dong that badly at it. I could do better.

Do not put this stuff in your compost. Bits of roosts or especially the seeds may survive. Then when you use your compost you are planting seeds. A burn barrel might come in handy. This would be something I'd send to the landfill just to get it off my property.

 

[Prairie Rose]

I have been fighting bindweed for ten years now....when I had just a small garden, I would cover it in black plastic and use drip irrigation. It didn't eliminate the bindweed from my garden at all, but it did keep it manageable. At the moment my aims are to keep it from setting seed in the yard, and pulling it regularly when it sprouts in my garden.

I do put the bits of bindweed in my compost, but not until after they have been tossed in my driveway for a few days and been burnt by the sun into a crisp. If it's even the slightest bit still alive, it goes into the trash.

Knowing now what I do then, I would have just let my father chemically kill out everything when it first started popping up, and then there is something you can mix into the soil or mulch that stops seeds from sprouting. I am so close to commercial fields the sprays they use drift across my entire property anyway, and it would have saved me so much heartache. Now I couldn't do that without losing so much time and money and effort, so I continue to pull weeds and pray I'm weakening it.

 

[digitS']

I will start with the negatives :

The neighbors where I once lived closed the alley by connecting their fences across it. The alley dead ended behind my garage. Across the alley was another garage. The neighbor there was okay with me using the alley for a garden. How's that for being a silly gardener ?

Drainage off the roofs and narrowness meant that there was only room for 2 beds. There had to be a path between so ... that left me with digging up the tire tracks and a little soil on each side of them.

It wasn't really all that difficult but I was younger, then. Young and inexperienced with bindweed. I did feel that I should dig nice deep trenches - right at 2'. Then, what to do with the weeds that had been growing in the alley? I dumped them in the trenches; the deep soil on top must mean that they would just decompose, right?

Of course, over the course of the growing season, the bindweed reappeared. Seedlings - they are easy to pull. I almost decided not to replant the next year. I mean, 2 foot roots! But, it was a small space (and actually, a good growing area) so I fought with it.

Two foot wide mulched paths in another garden? Forget it. The weed will have no trouble finding their opportunity to come up in the beds.

Oh, the positive? Already mentioned it - the seedlings are easy to pull. Just don't give them too many days to grow long roots and bloom, producing more seeds themselves.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

bindweed is another morning glory relative and for sure i won't let those grow anywhere i see them here. i have some coming up on a fence that i will need to pull out before they flower. not today as it is raining, but it is on my list.

like poison ivy seedlings these are kill on sight plants and yes, it will take long dedicated efforts to get rid of them entirely.

cardboard and mulch to smother is my preference for really bad weed infestations. cardboard breaks down here by the end of the season so if you have weeds coming back up through you can scrape aside the mulch and put down a few more layers and then cover it back up. once the seeds that are in the germination zone of a garden are eliminated then as long as you don't till that soil you should not have too many more new sprouts to contend with. the stirrup hoe is really good for keeping any bare areas scraped of any new growth. once every week at least but it can go quickly if there aren't too many edges or other things in the way.

 

[Niele da Kine]

Sheep think they're really tasty, I don't suppose the weed is in areas you can get sheep to help?

 

[ducks4you]

I have a war going on with bindweed (AND burdock AND curly dock). With bindweed, it will take some sweat equity to eridicate it. Here are the steps, AND do as I SAY, NOT as I have always done, bc I have 5 acres and fencing to tend, so some doesn't get done:
1) DON'T let it go to seed
Bindweed makes more bindweed from seed pods, that look like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"...but smaller.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) ⭐ 7.7 | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

1h 20m | Approved

www.imdb.com

Volunteer plants in the garden: Not necessarily a good thing

Who knew? I was just out in the garden ripping up Bindweed—yet again, sigh—when a truck showed up with USDA flyers about an invasive species moving up the banks of the Bear River Preserve into the neighborhoods.And sure enough, the plant turned out

www.petoskeynews.com

They are green, about 3 inches long, and open to spread their seed in early Spring. Throw them in the trash.
It won't hurt a landfill to have bindweed growing there!
They, like many other successful weeds/plants/trees (like Aspen), send runners out underground.
2) Dig deep with your shovel to remove underground runners and THROW THEM IN THE TRASH.
NEVER, NEVER compost these bc they will proliferate in your compost pile!
I bring my wheelbarrow, a bucket, and wear gloves, and hand manipulate the underground bindweed runners out of the soil. The runners go straight into the bucket and then into the trash can in the garage, and the dirt goes back where it was.
3) Buy 2D-4 herbicide and a cheapo package of children's paint brushes. Save a "to go" plastic glass. You will want to mix the dilutable herbicide and 1/2 fill the plastic glass. Save the lid and put the paintbrush through it. Refill, as necessary, but 1/2 full means less to accidentally spill.
ANY bindweed that you cannot dig out can be treated with the herbicide by paintbrush and have a minimum impact of other nearby plants.
I have pretty much eradicated whole beds of bindweed, but be ready to dig maybe over a foot deep.
DON'T worry about breaking them with your shovel. Just dig deeper. They won't explode like a mushroom which sends spores everywhere.

 

[Zeedman]

Bindweed is the most difficult perennial weed I've had to deal with - and the only one I could not completely eradicate. It was already established in the lawns which became my garden locations. As others have already stated, it takes a great deal of persistence to control it - especially if you are an organic gardener. I do a search & destroy at least once a month, digging/pulling any emerging vines. If the shoots are never given a chance to recharge the roots, they will weaken & eventually die. I've driven it back from the center of my gardens, but it still creeps back in from the edges... where my tiller then spreads it. So the battle goes on. As annoying as bindweed is though, it has very little impact on nearby plants, unless it is allowed to twine around them unchecked.

I use a lot of hay as mulch, purchased from whoever is selling locally that year. I always check to ensure no chemicals were used, and examine the hay for noxious weeds (like thistle). Farmers are usually very helpful when I explain that the hay is for a vegetable garden, and they generally steer me away from anything weedy - but sometimes I get a bad lot. A few years ago, a load of "organic" hay turned out to be full of crab grass, ragweed, and bindweed seed. I plucked all of the bindweed seedlings as they appeared, so they didn't gain any territory... but I'll be battling the ragweed & crabgrass for years.

 

[flowerbug]

i think it would be a great place to put a chicken coop for several years. i think they'd keep it under control and then after 3 years or so you could probably move it and try to return it back to a garden.