Potato vs bindweed

[caroline7758]

Depite diggng out loads of the stuff before planting my potatoes, new shoots are coming up in the plot. I can't dig it out without disturbing the potatoes- will they be strong enough to beat the bindweed?

[caroline7758]

[PAULW]

CAROLINE
If you get some roundup you can paint it on to the emerging bindweed shoots and kill them while your potato's are growing

[saddad]

As you say they cant go... so check the potatoes every time you can and pull the bindweed from the ground, do this carefully so you don't damamge the potato tops. If you find you re just snap the stems of the bindweed so that the top growth dies... when you dig the spuds out take out as much BWeed as you can find...
:-\

[manicscousers]

when you're earthing up, take the tops off the bindweed, it'll worry it a bit  ;D

[caroline7758]

Thanks- I'm hoping that since pots are supposed to break up the soil, it may be easier to get the d**n bindweed out once they are harvested. Meanwhile I'll have regularly trouble-shooting sessions!

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've had loads of experiences like this. couch, bindweed, ground elder; I've had them all among my crops. I still got crops, and got them out afterwards. After a year or two, you get on top of it all.

[dandelion]

Just pull the stems of bindweed out, don't worry about the roots for now. You'll need to pull out the bindweed regularly for a few more weeks, but after that the potato foliage will crowd it out. Then just wait till you dig up your crop and remove the roots. It worked for me last year.

[allaboutliverpool]

Weeds are a problem for part-time allotmenteers. Everyone who has contributed so far put a lot of time in and weeds don't stand a chance with them (or me) Just keep hitting them.
I have been off air while I watched the potential opponents of Liverpool in the European Cup final!

[Slug_killer]

Remove as much of the top growth as possible, even if you cant get to the roots.

Even Bindweed needs to photosynthesize. The less leaves there are, the less the roots grow and less to dig out.

[antipodes]

Yes, why does the bindweed love the spuds so much? It is getting into mine too. Try and get it while it is small, keep pulling up the seedlings or hacking them off. I think the keyword for this problem is control rather than elimination. I didn't manage to get rid of all of mine while digging, so I have bits of it everywhere. I spend about 15 mins each time just pulling it from where the baby plants are. It keeps it at bay for a week or so.
I am going to try planting marigolds around the patch as I have heard that bindweed doesn't like it much.

[RobC]

A bindweed tip I have read elsewehere

Put a cane by the bindweed - they love to grow upwards.  Get some of those plastic disposalbel gloves (the sort that you get at petrol stations when filling up with diesel.  When the weed is a couple of feet tall, hold the plant in the gloved hand, spray with round-up and then remove the glove - turning it inside out with all the bindweed wraped inside - fasten it eg with one  of those twisting things and leave.

Alternatively you could use a freezer bag.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I found quite a big patch of bindweed while lifting my spuds this year, come to think of it. I hadn't noticed them much, and they didn't do any harm. Doubtless some survived - it always does - but 90% of it is gone to the compost bins.

[Kea]

I've just read that Tagetes minuta exudes a chemical when it's growing that actually kills off bind weed. the problem is i can't remember where I read it. Unfortunately this particular Tagetes grows to 3ft tall.
Having written the above I decided to do a search and came up with this so read all the comments before you rush out to plant this!
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Tagetes+minuta

[Barnowl]

I was warned to to cut it down before it goes to seed. Refusing to germinate for me at teh moment so may be a moot issue.

[Slug_killer]

I found quite a big patch of bindweed ...  90% of it is gone to the compost bins.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Poison it, Bin it, Burn it, Drown it, Cook it, Ferment it, but NEVER put it back into the plot/garden via the compost heap. It'll just spread 1000 times over.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I've been doing exactly that for years, and I've never had it re-establish itself. It's been several years since I found any surviving at all.

[growmore]

I think you have been very lucky Robert.I am with Slug _Killer on this. NEVER compost bindweed unless you want  roots like spaghetti inside your compost heap...
Letting it grow up a cane till it gets some leaves snd painting it with roundup(glyphosphate)  does work .. Jim

[Robert_Brenchley]

I had sphagetti like that the first year or two, but after that I'd got rid of the really big roots, which are the only ones that can survive. I just sorted them out of the compost as I went, and while I almost certainly missed some, I never had any problems with it re-establishing.