Topic: bindweed - an amazing plant

[Unwashed]

OK, in fairness my soil is quite light, so once I'd dug it through the new year's growth pulled out without much resistence.  I think it's a different story on clay.

[Tulipa]

OK, in fairness my soil is quite light, so once I'd dug it through the new year's growth pulled out without much resistence.  I think it's a different story on clay.

Yes, my soil is heavy clay, that might explain it, thanks.  Each lump has to be carefully broken up and the pieces of root removed - a painstaking job!

[goodlife]

I've had an area that has been infested by it...I have kept it empty now for 3 years..and yes..I have sprayed it too..and I really thought that I have finally managed to kill it all ..and what did I find...yes "tons" of the roots..not killed by the round up..all nice and crispy..ready to go..so now, yet again I dug,,,and dug..tried to get rid of every possible bit..but I know it is not done...
I'm not keen of using weedkillers anyway..but now that I know it just don't reach the roots far enough down..I'm going to result yet another summer for desperate digging...and next winter the area is going to be planted with apple trees...membrane and mulch..and what ever comes from underneath then..well..I worry then... ::)

[amphibian]

I have several species of bindweed on my plot, I have an enormous pile, about the size of a small car of rhizomes dug over the last two years. The hdege bindweed is thick rooted and doesn't penetrate too deeply, it is almost gone now, the field bindweed is a different beast and far harder to eradicate. I dig my entire plot twice a year and remove all bindweed, I then dig out any bindweed that emerges, unless it will disturb nearby crops too much, then i just hoe it off. Just before the field bindweed gets going it grows a crown of rhizomes just beolw the surface, remove this before true leaves form and you seriously impact on the energy reserves.

It is radically reduced now, I am winning and I will win, but it takes time.

Boundaries are an issue, the fence line is choked with hedge bindweed, but last year I found it was out-competed by Sharkfin squash. The empty plot next to me is now in cultivation, so hopefully that will help. I have no permanent paths, I dig the whole plot and then walk my paths for teh season down, to deny the bindweed a permanent base within my boundaries.

In my area bindweed comes up everywhere, every crack in the road, in my lawn at home, up every fence; everywhere. I suspect the whole of my town is just one giant noodle bowl of bindweed underneath.

Having dealt with couch grass in the past, though, I'd prefer bindweed any day. Couch will pierce potatoes and rhubarb roots, bindweed doesn't have that kind of strength.

Sweet potatoes are a relative, pity it is not them that grows like a weed.

[gwynnethmary]

We had it growing in our hedge at our former home.  I dealt with it by wearing rubber gloves with normal gloves on top, then dipping my hands in weedkiller and stoking the tendrils all the through to the top-worked a treat!

[goodlife]

Ahhh...so it is not only me then....when you have hedges around the plot + bindweed there is always roots left amongs the hedge..and they must grow 100ft in season ::)
One of the blonkers in our lottie in one desperate moment sprayed the bindweed on hedge..yeah....hedge is no more... ::)..and the bindweed... ;D doing well ;)

[lincsyokel2]

the roots on Field Bindweed can go down FIFTEEN FEET!!! Glyphosate is the ONLY way to get rid when you're faced with that sort of entrenchment!!

[amphibian]

the roots on Field Bindweed can go down FIFTEEN FEET!!! Glyphosate is the ONLY way to get rid when you're faced with that sort of entrenchment!!

I disagree, if the plant is not allowed to set leaves then all the energy used to gow from a spit and half down to the surface has to come from the rhizomes, eventually they are exhausted.

I know bindweed can penetrate to ludicrous depths, but I think for most of us it does not reach that kind of depth.

We don't need to be so obsessive, as long as it does not jeopardise our crops just remove it.

After all the seed can be viable for 30 years, are you going to spray with glyphosate for 30 years?

[Robert_Brenchley]

No, really.  I think it makes new roots each year and last year's die.

The roots must be perennial as they get thicker from one year to the next. Leave it a few years and you end up with great ropes you'll never see in a recently colonised bed.

[antipodes]

HAHA I can see that I really hit a sore spot with this topic!!
I have field bindweed, with small leaves.
I remember the last time we talked about this, TeeGee said just to keep hoeing the seedlings, He may have something there. Digging is just a waste of time, it comes back, but I think the key may be to continually stunt the growth of the seedlings, so the plant has to keep making new shoots.
I find that it is a real bugger because it grows very close to existing plants, like onions, and you have to be really careful pulling it out not to damage your real crops.  HOWEVER this year I am trying this tactic, really concentrate on it now, in APril and May which is when it starts to grow, because once it starts winding itself around the young plants, you are buggered. So everytime I see a shoot, hop, out it comes and into a pot specially for this purpose. It does eventually get composted by me, but I rot it down in plastic bags first till it is a slimy mess.

I admit that I will not use Roundup on my plot, or any other chemical for that matter, except Bordeaux mixture. Even on the bindweed, and despite some people saying it is safe, I just don't wish to be ingesting any more chemicals than I already am. I will try and take some pictures of the bindweed though, because it is a bit of a love hate relationship, we spend so much time on it, and there is some satisfaction gained when you pull out big roots, it really should have a bit of blog time devoted to it  ;D ;D

[JJane01]

I agree the flowers are pretty on it, and I'd imagine insect life gets a buzz from such delights... but it does like to think it's king of the land, and I disagree.  This time of year is when it does really take off (as everything does - growing inches and feet in a blink), but persist and enjoy the boost to the eye that is the heap of "got you out you fiend!" bindweed whose hopes of taking over the world have been thwarted!

[caroline7758]

I also have a constant battle with bindweed. There is a satisfaction in digging out those nasty big roots,I just try not to think about all the little roots I've left behind, and it's impossible to dig it out when it is close to plants. Iam trying this year to nip off every shoot I see above the ground in the hope of weakening it but am under no illusion that I will ever get rid of it completely. >:(