Allotments 4 All

Just a tale to warn others not to do what I have done.
Got rid of bindweed on my very small way. This is my seventh year. Normally, I take the pieces of root home and dispose of it in the household rubbish.
Last year I bunged it in an old compost bag, which also became filled with small offcuts of wood from various projects. Burned the contents of the bag, together with lots of other woody debris on an area of my plot which has never had bindweed on it. The heat was fierce, you couldn't get within 8 feet of it. I spread out the ashes and raked them into the plot.
This week - literally dozens of small bindweed plants are emerging  :(

I am not a deeply religious person, but I do respect the faith/faiths of others. I would ask one question though-why was bindweed ever created?

dose any one know how to get rid of it iv got it at home on the plot and its every where at home no speck of soil is safe from it i cant dig it out id need a jcb just to do the grass  ;D and it is popping up through the flags on the drive it is driving me mad  for home i would use the strongest killer i can get if  i knew what  that was  :o the allotment i can pick it out every time it appears thats not a problem butt home even my hedges are bindweed not hedge any advice other than the dig it out method would be  very very welcome  thanks from loulou

Loulou - I applied a glyphosate based weedkiller like Roundup twice during the first year of the plot, and then pulled up any that emerged - it did go, honest!

Cleo - to punish us for our sins? Seem to remember someone saying "if only it was edible, I'd never starve"

That would be conventional; God made weeds (thorns and thistles in Genesis) and hard labour as a punishment for eating forbidden fruit. I tend to look at it and say that these are weeds of agriculture, which we encourage by clearing spaces for them! But then my religion is anything but conventional.

Oh Jenny! what a nightmare.........

it is a true evil isn't it. Our lottie is covered in it. I spent ages digging it out last year and it is like I never bothered.

Same here, until I remember just how much there was when I started. I dug a load out over the winter, and ther e it is coming back up again. But when I began the soil in places was solid with massive great roots. A lot of that area is clear now.

I've given in after 3 years of dig, dig, dig and gone the glyphosate route with the bindweed that's coming in from next door's garden.  :( May have to zap it a few times though before I start planting that border.

Not sure about the bonfire method, but many climbers need light to get started and colonise quickly after forest fires, as light gets to the floor, the seeds may be resistant to heat/burning to get them to germinate.... the religious aspect is interesting but often it is man messing with nature... Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed were both introduced as ornamentals.... Bindweed would be sought out if it were only half hardy like Morning Glory!
;D

I keep picking at it, becoming like a chore!! Found it wrapping itself round one of my squash runners, could this have been bad news for my squash????

In my last plot I tried just about everything to get rid of it (burning off, black plastic covering for 2 years on some patches, digging out, training it up a stick then encasing the lot in a plastic bag and spraying systemic weedkiller inside). It always came back. I came to the conclusion that the only way to be rid of it is to move house to a place where there isn't any. What is the point of it? No idea. Does there have to be a point? If so, what is the point of humans?  ;)

The point is probably that it's a plant which can flourish in forest clearings or some similar habitat. We've just created vast quantities of suitable habitat, then complained when it made use of it.

Does anybody Know enough Plant History/Botany to know if it is native or introduced? Field Bindweed with small Pink and white flowers is a much gentler soul. In another thread somebody said they grew an annual MGlory and it got to over 70'... a forest climber if ever!
;D

Our lotties are covered in it.  This week I noticed that it is even growing through the tarmac on the pavements next to the lottie.  What hope have we got?

Quote from: janebb on May 16, 2006, 19:55:29
Our lotties are covered in it.  This week I noticed that it is even growing through the tarmac on the pavements next to the lottie.  What hope have we got?

Tarmac is not "solid"  I once saw a crocus growing through someones tarmac drive... It did look rather amusing  ;D

mat

When I took over my plot last year I had a bonfire out of all the bit of wood and tree branches that had been left behind. I was quite delighted afterwards at the clear space only to find that in only a couple of weeks, bindweed had colonised the whole area and liberal doses of weedkiller made no difference.

Quote from: saddad on May 14, 2006, 11:08:33
Does anybody Know enough Plant History/Botany to know if it is native or introduced? 

It's native to the UK (and much of europe & asia). It was introduced to the US and Japan and many other places and is classed as an invasive alien there - our revenge for Knotweed etc? As Robert_Brenchley said, it's a weed of agriculture and has become more of a problem recently because it can deal with herbicides better than other plants.

As for what use is it, well it makes pretty decent string if you don't have anything suitable to hand  ;) There's plenty of butterflies which like it, too.

Eradicated it from my fruit cage by repeatedly removing roots every few weeks, took about three years, but I notice some has appeared in the hawthorn/elder hedgerow this spring and I don't think I'm going to be able to get at the roots of that too easily.

I've got the darn stuff in the gooseberries. Not much chance of eradicating it from there, either!

moonbells

Keep hitting it with Glyphosate, it'll be worth it in the end - and there will be one!

Put a cane in to let it grow up then do as Telboy says ...
If it has got plenty of leaf Glyphosphate(Roundup) will take it out in one application ..It  don't work so good if it is just popping through soil ...cheers Jim