Bindweed

[pargyle]

I've been down at my allotment all afternoon .. I've had it for nearly 10 years now and it has always had a bindweed problem .. I dig it over by hand in the autumn and again in the spring and fastidiously remove every scrap of bindweed root I find. During the season I either dig up bits that show their faces or hit them with a squirt of Roundup .. and still I get buckets full of the damned stuff every time I dig it over. I no longer use a rotovator as it just chops it up and spreads it further.

The stuff I dig up I dry and burn, I won't risk putting it in the compost - although, occasionally, I put it in with the comfrey, nettles and seaweed in my home made fertiliser bucket and let it stew in the water for a few months until it has all broken down and then water the soup down and use it as liquid manure.

Two weeks ago I had a bonfire and burnt some dry raspberry cane trimmings, some pallet wood, old fenceposts and other bits of combustibles. The heat was so great I could not stand within four feet of the fire, the ashes were still warm the following morning.

Today I decided to dig over the area where the bonfire was, the soil was red with the heat .. an inch below the surface.. bindweed growing !

When we have finally destroyed the planet the one thing that will still be alive and thriving is BINDWEED !!

Anyone got any suggestions for a permanent cure ?

 

[Buzz Bee Babe]

And Mares tail GRR!!!I call it nightmares tail.
Have you tried injecting glysophete with a syringe? Personally I haven’t but have heard it can be effective.

 

[pargyle]

And Mares tail GRR!!!I call it nightmares tail.
Have you tried injecting glysophete with a syringe? Personally I haven’t but have heard it can be effective.

No ... but I'm willing to try !

 

[Bee Bumble]

My other half had an allotment with the same problem. He told me he double-dug it (two spits deep) to remove the bindweed and it never came back.

 

[pargyle]

My other half had an allotment with the same problem. He told me he double-dug it (two spits deep) to remove the bindweed and it never came back.

Sadly, almost impossible on mine .. one deep spade depth down and I'm into solid Fareham clay with flints ... double digging is a non-starter .. it's such a solid and infertile substrate that even the bindweed does not penetrate it !

 

[Erichalfbee]

Depends how much you have
It pops up in our garden all over the place.
We let it grow to about six inches then dab it with glyphosate gel then surround the shoot with a pop bottle.

 

[enrico]

Attach half a plastic bottle to a spray can and glyphosphate it by putting the bottle over the bindweed.
I have had both, bindweed and mairstail. Hate them both. We now know to check for both when buying a house as we are keen gardeners

 

[Murox]

Systemic chemicals do seem to work very well as long as you do it when the shoots/leaves are young, same goes for invasive forms of bamboo as well though it might take a couple of goes at it.

 

[Hachi]

No ... but I'm willing to try !

Good luck with that, didn't the EU ban Glysophate a few years back?

 

[Curly green finger's]

I've found spraying the growth in the early autumn better than the spring after letting it twist up canes
Round up 75% to 25% petrol or diesel obviously don't forget the water and don't smoke!

 

[pargyle]

I've found spraying the growth in the early autumn better than the spring after letting it twist up canes
Round up 75% to 25% petrol or diesel obviously don't forget the water and don't smoke!

I'll try that in the autumn as I'm bound to have a good crop of the stuff ...fortunately I don't have mare's tail as I know that's a right beggar to defeat ...!! I'll also try the drinks bottle trick as well ... I have it in small bits in my strawberry patch and it always gets in amongst the roots so I could use a pop bottle to isolate the bindweed shoots from the strawberry plant - really neat idea ...I use 250 ml sprite bottles as mini cloches (almost unlimited supply from the vending machine at work) after cutting the bottom off and removing the cap - a thin split bamboo cane down through the bottle keeps it in place... great for starting off seeds like squash and cucumbers...

 

[pargyle]

Good luck with that, didn't the EU ban Glysophate a few years back?

I think Roundup is glyphosphate ?

 

[enrico]

I think Roundup is glyphosphate ?

It is

 

[Curly green finger's]

If you can get it get your herbicide spray from a licensed supplier because the spray you get from the garden centre is weak as nats piss. Roundup Pro is good harvest is another herbicide which is also very good.
The petrol / diesel part of the ratio will kill just about anything that's in leaf an old farmers recipe.

Sent from my YAL-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[enrico]

Google progreen, they supply anything with good information but they are not cheap because of postage.
E

 

[Somerford]

Unless you’re prepared to continually dig and re dig a plot to double spade depth then you’re unlikely to eradicate Bindweed or the smaller cousin, field bindweed.

Herbicides containing Glyphosate such as Roundup, Or Gallup ProVantage can knock it back but will kill all green vegetation too for a period of some 4-6 weeks.

You can also use Dicamba which is sold under the name Diablo, or Vanquish which is an older herbicide.

One option which may help which is less broad spectrum is to apply using a weed wiper rather than a spray.

Glyphosate hasn’t been banned, just the formulation available in many retail locations has been diluted compared with the professional stuff.

Farmers still use it to clean land before planting, to desiccate OSR and burn off potato haulms prior to harvest.

Whether it decomposes as is claimed to is subject to much discussion as is the subject of residue in the crop but we can discuss that in the relevant part of the forum.

KR

S

 

[Buzz Bee Babe]

I can recommend Gallup 360 from EBay. Very good and can be purchased in 5l bottles.

Dougie

 

[pargyle]

I can recommend Gallup 360 from EBay. Very good and can be purchased in 5l bottles.

Dougie

That looks good .. compared to what I've paid for Roundup in the past - bargain.

@Somerford .. yes it is vile stuff and I don't spray it indescrimately, I have a small pump hand sprayer and just treat the bindweed shoots once they have a few leaves on them .. very carefully I would add ...

I'm not a fan of weedkillers generally .. I prefer to dig weeds up rather than kill them but bindweed is the one exception - if you leave a millimetre of root behind it will grow again. When I took the plot over the previous plotholder had not done anything with it for nearly three years ... the Site manager had hit the whole plot with weedkiller and there was no sign of anything much on the surface .. I only discovered the extent of the infestation when I started digging it and all these years later .. it still returns and I have to keep on top of it or it will really take over. I look after the soil and unfortunately there is nothing that bindweed seems to like better than a well fed and well dug and raked soil ... if I could find something to do with it I could retire on the annual crop !

 

[citrus]

so my hives are in my garden ... and so is my bindweed

so what is the best plan ... spray discretely in the evenings to avoid the insect life .... and use full covid protection with gallup 360 ?

 

[enrico]

Once dry it is ok