Morning Glories are Fine; Bindweed is Not!
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I recently bought two packs of morning glory seeds. After reading all these post I was confused as to whether I should plant or through them in the trash.
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If you have a nemesis or rival you could plant them at their house and see if you’d want them after a season or two.
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The morning glory sold in the nursery catalogs is an annual and is fine, I believe.
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For melons, squash, and other vine crops (Cucumbers, tomatoes, etc), I lay clear plastic or black plastic around the base of the plants. (Throw dirt on the plastic to hold it down.) This reduces bindweed 100% if you do it right. Yes, the bindweed comes back next year. For my strawberry patch I dip a small paintbrush in Roundup (3 times the normal ratio), and “paint” the bindweed between the rows. I think when you increase the dosage from 3 oz per gallon to 9 oz per gallon it knocks the plant back farther, and it takes longer to return.
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Actually John, we have really high calcium soils here in KS and MO. Lots of limestone. Missouri is ranked as the number 3 state in cement production in the U.S. (cement is basically ground cooked limestone). My soil tested very high in Ca. I can’t remember the numbers off hand, but it was very high. Hasn’t slowed bindweed that I can tell. If it’s not fought, it will eventually make a solid thick carpet. Then spread the seeds more by wind the next year to carpet another area.
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I made a glove of death and I’m petting every single piece I see with it this year. starting today.
- nitrile surgical gloves, 2 layers
- cotton glove
- dip palm side in roundup
- touch the evil little things on the baby leaves
I’ll keep doing it all year. I don’t even care if it kills a few nearby veggies. I’m planting nothing perennial where I’m doing this, so if they die, they die.
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It’s a prolific self sower here. It’s not in a league with bindweed, but it can be a PITA if you’re not careful about where it goes.
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Field bindweed is a pretty common component of hayfields, pastures, and especially meadows in this neck of the woods. I’ve seen it be problematic, and I know that it’s apt to come in on mulch hay and compost from any of the local dairies. IME, it’s not been a major problem. I watch for seedlings in any cultivated area. It seems not overly aggressive at that stage, and it’s easy to spot. The bigger problem is planting into established patches. It’s rhizomes are so many and so deep and tangly. They are seemingly designed to snap off when pulled or molested in any way, so the more you attempt to mechanically deal with the rhizomes, the more pieces you get.
It’s of a certain type, niche wise. I’ve had bigger issues here with poison ivy- the low ground over type. I tried mulching, then occultation, then glyphosate when it still returned, and after years of effort, wound up with a near monoculture stand of the stuff, which was probably less than 25% of what was growing there to start. This is not a cultivated area, per se, but more orchard, and the 2’ tall poison ivy makes for a pretty good deterrent as far actually using the space. It did eventually start growing some grass, and I began mowing it short several times a season with the tractor and flail. That seem to be working, as it’s favoring the grass, which regrows quicker and stronger than the poison ivy can.
I think in these cases (at least of my experience is anything to go on), you kind of have to think more long term. I.E. what dynamics are favoring this plant over everything else, and how to steer those dynamics toward something different. Kind of like steering a container ship though. If a silver bullet works, then hey more power to you. But it’s because that tends not to work that these certain plants are infamous as being problematic.
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Ugg! I’d trade poison ivy for just about any number of weeds. We had it bad in the orchard about 10 years ago. It was in the ditches, and parsed in various places in the orchard. Since we have customers walking everywhere, we made a decision we had to get rid of it at all costs.
We started a policy that anytime we see even one plant, we stop whatever we are doing and spray it. Currently we don’t have any poison ivy on the place, as far as I know. It’s such a pernicious weed, we hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever.
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the glove of death is not helping. roundup is no use. I’ll need the heavy stuff, but this year I’ll be pulling again instead. when fall comes and I’ve put the bed to rest I may treat the whole thing with 24d and see if that knocks it back any. I pulled a root a foot long today, it grew up through plywood, cardboard, 6 inches of wood and pine straw, into the garden bed.
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24d will not kill bindweed. It has about the same effect as pulling it up only to see it come back. Glyphosate used in the late fall about 2 weeks before expected first freeze will kill most but it will need to be repeated to hit escapes.
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I did that last year. it’s still here. I suppose nothing kills it
edit: I treated one area with it in the fall. it’s still there
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If it gets into a perennial bed, it’s there forrever
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pretty much. it’s in my veg beds but also in the remaining lawn next to those and I think will inevitably get worse near the perennials, it’s already at the base of some apple trees.
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Ancient Greece: Hades punished Sisyphus for cheating death by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll back down every time he neared the top with it, repeating this action for eternity.
Modern Day Garden: The gods of gardening punished Sisyphus for no good reason by forcing him to clear out every bit hedge bind weed in a not-that-large a patch of ground before he could plant a few blueberry bushes, but every time he neared the end of the patch, he’d look back and see more hedge bind weed starting to grow back in again, repeating this action for eternity – or at least it felt that way.
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This is exactly the approach our Extension agent suggested. Then hit it again early in the spring as the survivors expend their CHO reserves for spring growth. As others have said, you kind of have to think long term and be dedicated to the idea of attacking it multiple times throughout the growing season. Every year. Every time you see it. Give it no quarter. If you finally eradicate it, count your blessings. You are one of the few.
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Would think grazing goats would wipe out bindweed.
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I think so. But unfortunately I think they would also wipe out young tree plantings and most garden plants, unless they were fenced really well.
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