How do I get rid of bindweed?

Bindweed is one of the most persistent and resilient weeds in the garden. Its roots grow several feet (up to 15ft) deep in the soil and stems and roots and very fragile, easily breaking off into small pieces. Each one of these pieces has the amazing ability to regrow very quickly into a whole new plant.

There are two approaches to dealing with bind weed depending on the way you garden and some gardeners use both systems in a desperate attempt to free their garden from this pest.

Manual Control

Most gardeners start off trying to remove bindweed by hand. Regular digging and removal of the thick, white spaghetti like roots helps to reduce the vigour and the spread of this plant. Dig over the ground in winter and then keep a close eye out for fresh shoots in spring, which should be carefully dug out.

If bindweed is growing among your existing plants then it can be very difficult to remove manually, the roots quickly grow into the root ball of your plants where they become almost impossible to remove. Some gardeners advocate digging up all the plants, digging over the whole area, covering it with a WeedBlock or black polythene for a few months and then digging it over again. The ground is then left fallow for 12-24 months and every piece of bindweed that reappears is dug out and destroyed.

Usually the problem with this is that the weed is prevalent in the surrounding soil, often this is a neighbours garden over which you have no control. You can place vertical root barriers along boundaries and fences, but since the roots can grow up to 15ft deep this is not very practical or effective long term.

If you are not able to dig the plants up then ensure that you keep removing the shoots as they appear and don’t allow the plants to flower.

Chemical Control

To get to grips with the really deep bindweed roots you can employ a systemic weedkiller, which is applied to the top leafy growth and then transported down through the plant to the roots. Choose a glyphosate-based product, which blocks essential pathways within the plants make up and is not a hazard to wildlife, pets or children. Apply it to vigorous plant growth in spring and summer when the weeds are growing most strongly but beware, every drop of this chemical that reaches any other plant will work its way through that plant to kill it to, so do not apply on a windy day or to bindweed that is clambering over your precious plants. Some gardeners train bind weed up garden stakes away from their plants and then spray the foliage with glyphosate, others untangle as many stems as possible, leaving them attached to their toots and place the shoots inside a bin bag where they apply the spray. The important thing to remember is that this chemical can take up to two weeks to work down to the roots and you won’t see results immediately. Because the roots grow so deeply it may be necessary to apply the chemical more than once, but you need healthy top growth to get it down to the roots. Don’t be tempted to pull up the top growth after application as you may prevent the chemical from working down to the roots.

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