Topic: Bindweed bind

[TrailRat]

My new plot has a big bindweed problem. My initial plan is to cut back to the soil, turn over to expose the roots and torch them. Is there anything else that can be done apart from laying DPM? I don't want to use chemicals as I'm going organic.

TrailRat

[feet of clay]

I have bindweed and horsetail in my raised plots.  I grow mainly salady leaves and a couple of courgettes, a few toms, herbs etc.  I don't spray and just keep pulling it up - the theory is that without the top, the roots will get weaker!  Still waiting.  Can't believe the speed at which it can regrow - even outgrowing healthy plants.

[tim]

Can't you just spray and then go organic??
No worse than what the previous owners did?
And Roundup doesn't leach into the soil? = Tim

[TrailRat]

Tim has a point, I have no idea what the previous owner used. What is the best, least harmful (to crop  :) )  weedkiller?

TrailRat

[Mrs Ava]

I am the same as you FoC, just keep pulling it up!  I am getting more and more out and no longer feel like I am fighting a loosing battle.

[sarahr]

According to my mother, who's garden has been totally invaded by it. "The more you pull it, the more it runs." Apparently she had some up her garden in a small area and got nagged into pulling it and now she has it all over the garden. You need ot dig out the root, there is no way in heck those thick roots are going to get weak. That's just wishful thinking. If you can't dig out the root, you're going to have to get the roundup down to the roots by diluting it by a third RU, two thirds water and tying a bag full of the solution on the leaves

[rdak]

sarah, if you're talking about marestail/horsetail, you can NEVER dig it out! the roots have been know to go down 30ft. best hope is to crush it, then spray with roundup. Excluding light will not kill it- I heard about someone who had no marestail, then knocked down a Victorian brick wall and the marestail emerged from where the wall had been! Lying dormant for over 100 years!

[growmore]

Hi Tr,
       Roundup  will kill the bind weed but you have to wait till it has plenty of leaf on it  before You spray..I took a second allotment on year before last and  one part was full of it all over compost heap and fence ..I sprayed it and it killed it ..Never came back there again
If any little bits pop up any where else on plot as in where I am  growing I dont pull it up .I put a cane in where it is let it go up cane awhile then paint roundup on it with a brush this does the trick also ..Tried the digging it out method on my original lotty and it didn't work for me ..

[campanula]

roundup! be brave, sod the organic police and just spray - THERE IS NO OTHER WAY! and even then, you will be pulling forever. hoeing - pulleeeeze! I have it and have finally given in to sadistic chemical blasting after frantic hoeing, digging (not once or twice, but FOUR times, minutely, on my knees, over every inch of my flower bed area, sifting evry trowel of soil down to the subsoil and STILL IT GROWS.- the veg have to fend for them selves but they grow so quick it doesn't matter - try having anything a bit longer lasting such as perennials though!!, I loathe it more than any other weed.
in sympathy and horror, suzy

[Doris_Pinks]

This may be of some use
http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/gardenplants/weeds/index.html

[Spurdie]

Hello, TR
Did you see "Gardeners World" last night?
They did a bit on growing the bindweed up bamboo canes, then painting the leaves with a weedkiller.
Hope this helps!