BindWeed - how to remove this stubborn thing

[SoTiredNeedHoliday]

Hi All, We have bindweed popping up all over our garden thanks to a very 'helpful' neighbour as it is in their garden and seems to have spread. How can I try and rid our garden of it? Its like spaghetti when I pull it up, endless

One method is to train it up a cane, then carefully apply to the leaves a systemic herbicide such as glyphosate, which kills down to the roots

I've never done this, managed till now just by pulling it up but I'm getting more of the damn stuff in a different area so considering it. So I'm not sure which form of the herbicide works best - obviously you don't want to get it on anything else.

We used to have loads as we have some unused ground next to the garden where it comes from.

Be really careful pulling it up to get as much root out as you can as little tiny bits left in will grow into another plant.

You can get roundup in a gel so you can smear it on particular leaves without worry about it getting on to other plants. I used this the first year, and since then have just dug it out whenever it pops up.

thank you both. I pulled out a lot yesterday, but only a tiny patch of what needs doing. For other sections, I have started painting roundup on very carefully.
It's quite a large patch I need to rid this awful thing from I think it is going to take a very long time.

Sounds like my neighbour too 😡😡
I’m using Roundup gel, along with a lot of cursing!

It’s definitely a war not a battle, especially if your neighbours let it run. I have a really good go at it when it first pops up in spring, digging out the roots as far as I can, and rip it out wherever and whenever I can at this time of year if I can’t get to the roots. I know I’ll never get rid of it unless my neighbours do something about it. I only get the odd tendril here and there now and I pounce on them whenever I see them.

I’m not above nipping into my neighbour’s garden when he’s out (he’s absolutely lovely but a bit of a hoarder and only just keeps on top of the grass) and ripping out from his side every so often.

Thick cardboard and mulch 6” on top of it. It’s a dreadful job, I honestly think you can control it but it’s very difficult to eradicate it completely.

I was watching a gardening program the other day, it might have been Kew. The elderly gardener said his first day on the job as a 16 year old was to dig it all out, it’s still there.

I'd prefer to have it than spray disgusting wild life killer sprays on it, there's very little hope left for the world when we can't stand a few weeds.

The one that grows in Spain has lovely blue flowers and they like it.

If ours was blue - morning glories - and/or a bit less thuggish, I'd like it.

Herbicides are (imo) a weapon of last resort ... If I do use any it will be gel applied very selectively, not sprays.

I’m not convinced weed killer works on it anyway, I think the only way is to completely dig it out, and be vigilant daily for about 100 years, oh and not plant anything else there in the meantime as it hides in the roots.

I've got a tiny pale pink and white version of bindweed and I love it, I don't like the bleedin' wild clematis that climbs over everything. esp. this year because I haven't been able to remove it manually, due to dh has being out of action. I still wouldn't administer herbicide.

Our organic garden is amazing this year, (we've just counted 5 different species of butterflies on the buddleia).

I just pull it out, nothing else will work. If I can, I dig out the roots, but the bastard comes back anyway. If it does twine around the roots, I haven't noticed and haven't lost anything to it, but I don't grow delicate plants.

In fact I'm thinking of sticking a cane in the ground and seeing what it does if I leave it when it winds around it

Round Up Gel does work if you apply it thoroughly and carefully. You've definitely got to kill the roots or you'll never be rid. Pulling it out is like pruning-it grows even better!

I have the same problem via a clueless neighbour. Their side of the fence is covered in the stuff.

Just pull / dig it out where I can. I'm seeing loads currently and wonder if it's a particular "good" year for it?!

I managed to get rid of ours with roundup applied first

Then I put weed suppressing material on the beds and wood bark on top it's gone now phew!

Charles Dowding No Dig methods on YouTube looks promising. I'm going to try that this year for ground elder.

I wouldn't mind a bit (a bit, mind) of bindweed. I think the flowers are very pretty. My garden is being slowly taken over by fox and cubs, which both runs and self seeds, and wild raspberries. Sadly the raspberries aren't producing enough fruit to redeem themselves.

@ichundich

Just pull / dig it out where I can. I'm seeing loads currently and wonder if it's a particular "good" year for it?!

I don’t think it has bad years 😢

How much easier would life be if slugs evolved to eat it?

@Billybagpuss I have often thought that!

There is the magnificent Convolvulus Hawk moth, the caterpillars feed on bindweed, but alas, it is a migrant, (usually seen in the South and West), so little chance of it decimating the weeds! (I have battled bindweed for nearly 30 years, and still not quite eradicated it).

I haven't been able to get rid of it completely because the house it's coming from is overrun with the stuff. After initially getting rid of most, I just do a 5 minute walk around the garden every other day and pull up the bits that have started to sprout. The only problem is when I go on holiday. A few years ago I was gone for three weeks and it damaged quite a few plants. Our cabbage tree was the nearest plant and was completely smothered so there are still damaged leaves on it now.

Geoff Hamilton The Complete Gardener is a lovely book with lots of practical advice for having an organic garden.

I think that the rain and bright sun this year has meant the growing conditions have been ideal for ALL the plants! billybagpuss

Boiling water on and around the roots? I crop it as close to roots as possible and then boiling water. I have to do it fairly frequently, but it's better than the stuff trailing all over everything else.

I, too, have a neighbour with it in their front garden that sneaks its way over to mine. And they don't do anything with it