Roots.........

[DATA311]

All we have done so far is dig, it is a new plot for us, and the plot has not been worked for a few years, so were not sure of what surprises were in store for us.
Anyway during the dig today, my son started at one corner of what is to be our potato bed, and all he seems to be digging up is root?
Now we are reasonably close to the hedgerow which does have some small trees growing along it. But the roots we are digging do not appear to be from the trees, they are fairly easy to snap by hand, and it appears to be a white moist fleshy consistency, it also grows quite deep?
Meant to take some photo's, but by the time we were finished for the day, taking photo's went straight out of our heads.............

[DATA311]

[Chrispy]

Sounds like bindweed.

[I love digging]

Sounds like bindweed to me.  Make sure you try and get it all out - even the smallest amount will carry on growing.  If it's really bad (mine started off looking like spaghetti) it's worth covering the area with black plastic for a few months first.

[DATA311]

Thanks guys, should be fun then. I can remember when I first had an allotment some 20 years ago, we some serious bindweed problems there, and that proved almost impossible to deal with............... :o

[Ru1]

May also be couch grass  ???

[DATA311]

Definately not couch grass Ru1, had plenty of that elsewhere in the plot, and the roots I have mentioned have no comparison to couch.

[digmore]

Just prey its not Marestail

Digmore

[goodlife]

There is two different sort of bindweed and neither is easy to get rid of..particularly if the roots are growing in amongst the hedgerow, in which case you can only dig what you can and manage it by keeping the roots and growth down best as you can.
I find bindweed not so much as 'greedy' for taking food and water out of soil, but  more of a nuisance as it smothers everything  by winding its growth around other plants it will eventually pull everything down into ground if the 'support' is not strong enough.
Bind weed roots are easy to tell apart from thistle..bidweed being more 'spaghetti'-like and slightly knobly going all over the place. Thistle does 'travel' too but more in straighter lines either down and/or sideways and the roots are smoother/straighter too. There is also colour difference, bindweed being more noticeable creamy white and thistle whitish but not as 'bright'/ noticeable.
Either way..both are hardwork to get rid.. ::)    Sorry.. ::)

[Melbourne12]

Unless you're dead set against chemical control, after you've dug it over and removed as much root as possible, it's worth allowing the weeds to sprout again (as they inevitably will) and treating them with glyphosate.

I realise that this may delay planting but IMO it's worth the time.

Another possibility is to knock the emerging weeds back with a flame gun.