[mobilekat]

Sorry, need a rant....

I have bindweed, its roots are everywhere.... I have suffered from it for years, and whilst I am gradually winning the battle I really do loath the stuff!!!

Sadly I spent a couple of years working away and it got a bit of a foot hold!

The current plan of attack is...

1, Curse
2, Crawl around on hands and knees removing every bit I can, digging down, removing every root I can see.
3, In June let it grow a little (gives my back and knees a break!) and then hit it with weed killer
4, Hit it again with weedkiller a few weeks later to catch any new shoots...
5, Continue digging and removing all i find over the rest of the summer
6, Repeat for the last 3 years!
7, Consider moving house.... Or Napalm....

Has anyone else got any more suggestions, I keep hoping someone has invented a special bio-control that thrives on eating bindweed......

[Yorkie]

Combination of digging out and weedkiller if you're happy to use it.

Is it in your garden plants?  If so, train it up a cane and then you can deal with it carefully with the chemicals rather than indiscriminate spraying.

[mobilekat]

Its everywhere!!

Including growing up through bamboo!

I keep digging, cursing and weed-killering.

Just some days a random rant helps (plus needed a few minutes out of the sun!)

Thanks for the help, just keep dreaming of a miracle cure!

[Kleftiwallah]

I think I've said this before.  .  .  .But isn't it a shame that a wonderful anti cancer drug / chemical cannot be found from bindweed but only from exotic plants in the amazonian jungle!    

Cheers,    Tony.

[Spana]

This year i've bought a weedkiller in a stick thing, a bit like a big deodorant. You press a button on the side and a small amount of gel comes out of little holes in the top, you then just touch a leaf or two with it. Its working great and its prefect where you have deep rooted perennial weeds in borders and where you dont want a lot of spray about.

Might be worth a try

[arugula]

That product was mentioned in this thread:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=93627.msg1042169#msg1042169

and not necessarily very highly rated.

[Ice]

I don't wait until June to spray the darn stuff, it gets blasted as soon as it has a few leaves showing.  This is year three dealing with it as it arrived with three ton of topsoil when I first moved here.  I don't bother pulling up the roots and use Resolva24h to kill it. 

Year one it was everywhere, year two it was much reduced and this year it is only making token appearances.  I'll never get rid of it completely though.

[Spana]

That product was mentioned in this thread:

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=93627.msg1042169#msg1042169

and not necessarily very highly rated.

I had a bad start with it, couldn't get the gel to come out so took it back. The guy showed me what to do and i had another go, i was just being too impatient.

I've used it on docks, bindweed,coochgrass and other things that i dont know the name of with excellent results.
It doesn't work over night but just when you think its not going to work, down the little devils  go :happy: it takes about 3weeks.

I've used it with great success  between Iris rhizomes which are always hard to weed  :happy:

I've been very pleased with it so far altho as you say its not cheap, but if you consider the frustration and time taken in weeding out this stuff from established borders i think its quite cost effective :happy:

[mobilekat]

I have found a few sites that claim you can eat bindweed, either by tempuraing the flowers or the leaves in a salad, but then they admit it can be a 'purgative' and to be honest I dont think I would ever eat anything just because a guy on the web said its OK to munch on!
(Also I think thats American Bindweed and I am not convinced its the same plant!)

But it dones make you wonder if the roots may be a possible way to produce 'Home Grown Spaghetti'....

[Trillium]

I use the method above - catch it early and zap it with roundup. I used to have a lot, now I have very little because I stay on top of it. Soon as a new bit appears, it gets sprayed.

Apparently bindweed loves soil that's low in calcium so scratch in some very fine powdered limestone wherever bindweed and sow thistles grow. Also make a solution of 2 tbsp of treacle to 6 L of water and sprinkle this over the weeds and surrounding soil. It will take 2-3 years of repeating but will slow bindweed down.

If you rotovate your soil, you only worsen the problem so try other methods for a while until its under control.

[Plot74]

i have it between my rasps  kepping on top is a pain .
with the rasps being shallow rooted i cant get in to dig out the bind weed with out damageing the rasps i just may have to move the fruit for next year.
john

[allotmentann]

I find the best way is to remove (or at least pull as much out as you  can of) every little piece as you see it. It is true any little piece of root left will sprout again, but these new 'plants' pull out easily as the root is tiny. Even if you cannot remove the whole root, if it is in an awkard place, get rid of the leaves. The roots will eventually starve with nothing to feed them. I am sure it is mainly a question of 'little and often' with this weed.

[DD.]

Same principle as Mare's Tail - "Never let it see a Sunday"!

[Ice]

Same principle as Mare's Tail - "Never let it see a Sunday"!

Yes indeed.  Beheading or poisoning is the least it deserves.   I doubt the roots will starve quickly as it has pushed up through the pavements round here.  That must have taken some time and a lot of effort.

[Trillium]

I had it bad between my raspberries but I waited until right after a rain when the ground was soft and most of the roots came out easier. You must hand weed to do that.

Not sure if it's out now but there is a new Roundup that is some sort of wand or paint on form for difficult places where you don't want to kill everything in sight. I'd be interested to try that.