BINDWEED

[Piglet]

Started an allotment 3 yrs ago, and its nextdoor neighbour 2 yrs ago, have been organic from the start - decided to do it the hard way and didnt like the thought of loads of chems on my food.  But...... bindweed, couch grass i have managed to resolve after 3 yrs dig dig dig it out, but bind weed another problem altogether.  I unfortunately made the fatal mistake of putting a manure heep to rot down where bindweed crept it from the vacant overgrown plot nextdoor and then i managed to spread it around some areas of my 2nd plot in the manure. clever girl!  I have 2 problems, 1st the area at the front of my plot around size of a garage i would like to use as a composting, manure rotting area how do i clear it completely it is covered with plastic with grass growing on top but under the plastic looks like string - i am toying with a chemical solution and the 2nd problem how do i clear it from the 2nd site where i grow veggies without chemicals?

Please can anyone help!

[Piglet]

[Hugh_Jones]

Ah, Bindweed. Next to runner bean trenches one of my favourite subjects.  Unfortunately there is no quick solution.  With regard to the area in front of your plot there is no doubt a great temptation to dig up all those lovely white roots, but please resist this temptation, as every bit you break off and lose will start another colony. Moreover it`s too late in the year to do anything with weedkillers, because even the bindweed is now becoming dormant.  I suggest that you leave your plastic in place until the spring to stop anybody trampling on it, then take up the plastic and give the area a thorough soaking with an ammonium sulphamate based weedkiller (e.g.Deep Root).  This acts both on above-surface plant matter and on the roots.  Don`t worry about poisoning the soil - ammonium sulphamate breaks down in the soil in a matter of weeks into ammonium sulphate.  This will see off a good deal of the bindweed.  However you must leave the plot uncultivated to allow for regrowth (and there will be plenty), which you should allow to make a foot or two of growth before dousing them with more of the same. To get rid of the bindweed completely you will probably have to repeat this for two or three years.

I used to recommend SBK, but nowadays the formula is much less affective than the original one, and I consider glyphosate products as being mere palliatives where bindweed is concerned.

I regret that unfortunately I cannot help with your second problem - I don`t believe that there is any chemical-free way of really getting rid of bindweed, and the most you can hope to do is to keep it under control with constant handpulling which will certainly slow it down considerably if done often enough.

[Doris_Pinks]

Piglet I too suffer with bindweed.oh nasty stuff! I dig it up as best as possible, but you always get some left behind  >:(  was watching a fellow allotmenteer digging into his bindweed infested bin, sifting it and putting it into bags, where are they going I enquired, oh taking this lovely compost home was the reply, just sifting out the roots. i replied very nicely that did he realise that bindweed can grow from a tiny bit, and the reply was well he was sieving it! I wouldn't bring any compost from my bindweed ridden bin home.  Wonder what his garden will look like in the spring  ???  Good luck!  DP

[Chloe]

I've learned to live with my bindweed over the years.  It has a pretty flower, especially when trained up canes ;D

[ina]

I just dig and pull. No chemicals in my lottie thank you. It seems to be getting less over the years. -Ina

[Piglet]

Thanks guys,  i think its a no go area for my new manure / compost heaps and lots of weeding then, glad to hear i wasnt the only idiot who spreads it around via compost.

[rewsal]

Hi, I have an old compost heep that has bindweed in it.What can i do with it that would make it safe to spread on plot it seems a shame to waste it.I have been though it once and removed all the roots i could find,should i wait till spring and do this again when anything missed will start to show.would be glad to hear your suggestions.
regards
rewsal

[Mrs Ava]

hmmm.....yes....I think I would wait like you say, until spring, just to make sure.  Doesn't the heat produced in the heat kill the darn stuff off?!?  I guess the heap has to get really really hot to do that.  Wonder if you can eat it.......should email hugh fearnly whittinstall, he seems to eat just about anything!

[Tenuse]

I have inherited a massive old heap of two year old compost, which has bindweed growing through it.

The allotment holder that I inherited this from, said that as long as I picked out the long, fleshy roots, and made sure that I did not leave any pieces behind, the compost should be OK to use.

So I have been gently pulling enormous roots all September, but leaving the little roots (the ones that are about the thickness of a hair?) as I was told these do not have enough "energy" stored within them to become new bindweed plants.

I guess I will find out if this has been correct in the spring!  :P

Ten x

[Mrs Ava]

hmmmmm, I thought even the tiniest flecks of root could grow.  Its like war huh!?!?!

[Tenuse]

Oh dear lord  :o I truly hope not - if so then I would urge you all to visit the

Amazing Bindweed Plantation
that will be appearing on a Sheffield allotment next year...

Ten x

[Doris_Pinks]

Hate to say it, bt I am with EJ, I too am under the impression that the tiniest little piece will regrow..oh dear! :( DP

[Palefire]

For anyone interested in reading up on Bindweed physiology and life cycle, including it's vegetative propagation abilities, the following site is quite good:

http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/weedinfo/CONVOLVU2.html

Love, Palefire

xxx

[rewsal]

Thanks all I'm not going to spread this stuff untill spring.Have enough bindweed already to last a lifetime without any more.Must have removed close to a wheelburrow full "it's going to be trench warfare" Ho Hum !

[Tenuse]

Super link, thank you. I have been pulling out the "lateral roots" and have not yet found a taproot! I'm not worried about its feeding roots as they are "short lived".

I could be eating my words (and a lot of bindweed pies) next year though...
 
Ten x