Hi,
I made 3 sheet mulched raised beds last fall and have planted them with greens, tomatoes and cucumbers mostly. For the last couple months that we've been having warmer temperatures here the bindweed has been coming up like crazy. I go out with a trowel everyday and remove all the new growth, which is tricky without damaging all the young seedlings, and the next day there's a dozens of new shoots coming up again. What can I do besides chemicals? I'm located on Crete in Greece.
Have a look at Peruvian Black Mint. It's a (very large) member of the marigold family. Apparently it secretes a chemical from it's roots that kills bindweed. I haven't tried it myself, yet, but I have seeds to try.
Also, as others have said, bindweed doesn't like growing in shade.
It grows in almost complete darkness at my place (ipomoea indica and ipomoea batatas), I threw some random garden scraps in my Styrofoam box worm farm and two weeks later I find it successfully establishing inside the closed box. Reading the comments I'm thinking it might have been growing from stored energy alone because it couldn't possibly photosynthesize in such low light
I bought the house next to my parents. It had a black sheet of heavy plastic down over the garden to kill everything under it. As far as we knew, it had been there for years. Everything under it was dead . . . except the bindweed. It was pale and small but it was alive. It regrouped within days and was quickly taking over the garden.
That stuff is the devil in plant form.
Looked it up and The Spruce said
The seeds remain viable for up to 50 years in the soil and the vine grows easily from underground roots and rhizomes.
Vigilance and persistence are the two most useful weapons in your arsenal against bindweed…The best way to get rid of bindweed is to cut it off at soil level. Don't bother pulling it up; it will just sprout wherever you tore the roots, and it is virtually impossible to get all the roots out. By continually cutting it off at ground level, and doing it as soon as you possibly can, you will eventually starve the plant (since it will be unable to photosynthesize), and it will die. Be patient! You may have to do this many times, but it will eventually do the trick.
You'll eventually starve the plant . . . but do you have to wait 50 years to make sure it's gone for good?
Ok that's what I'm doing but will it be detrimental to the crops I'm trying to grow? Especially if it's sending up shoots right next to the seedlings?
You need to keep pulling up the vine when it starts to grow. You can just cut it where it grows above ground, no need to pull it. Over time if you're diligent that will starve the root system of energy because it needs sunlight for energy. If you aren't consistent though it will come back :(
Two big tips If nothing else, take care of it while it's flowering and before it goes to seed or you'll have a much bigger problem next year or later on
Do not till your soil, make sure all the plant parts are properly disposed of or they will simply root again. Roots which are split up in tilling will become new roots/multiply :(
My mom managed to eradicate her bindweed manually over around 4 years. My yard has a real problem and it can be really hard to stay motivated with it..I wish you luck
Thank you. I'm wondering though if the new shoots constantly sprouting up will be detrimental to the veggies I'm trying to grow?
No, if left alone if can travel up and entangle/construct more delicate plants but it isn't dangerous really on its own. If that happens try to snip near the ground and let the vine die off for a bit, it'll get a bit easier to remove when it's dry
It traveled here from another planet to weaken us before the invasion… I cracked after years of fighting bindweed and a few others.
Might try nuking on spot with herbicides, vinegar or a flame weeder to starve/kill the roots. Then add soil on top without disturbing the soil. Use compost and/or some cover crops and let that improve the soil. Disturbance can reawaken the beast
heavy covercroping it will suffocate the the weed, but that will take a couple of years.
Other option it's weedmulch fabric and you poke some holes on it to plant ... but the bind weed will still grow under it, and every month you need to take the shoots under the fabric , so you kill it. the bind weed will eventually die out if it cant do the photosyntesis for a season.
with chemicals you need to use them when it is flowering...
the same if you till it in the end of spring, you have to make sure you kill the shoots when they are flowering and make sure they dont root again so dont water said plot in the next weeks.
If there was ever a case to be made for the inclusion of herbicides in permaculture, bindweed would be exhibit A. You can knock it back with hand-weeding, but be prepared to do it once every other day for 3-5 years.
I wait until it gets noticeably large, like climbing what I want to grow, then just pull the bottom (and maybe a chunk of root) and let it wilt. I don’t try to pull it off the plant. It seems to sap its energy. It’s there, but not much of a problem. Of course your climate is different.
Bindweed is like a zombie. The only thing that kills it are chemicals. It will coil up and stay alive for years under plastic. It's the worst. We have a lot of it at our place in Colorado and have learned to live with it to an extent
I find that with consistent pulling, the problem lessens drastically over the years. The most important thing is to not let it go to seed; the second most important thing is to starve the roots. I personally don't bother digging up the roots, because it's very hard to truly get them all, but every time I spot a tiny piece of bindweed I stop what I'm doing and pull it up (just breaking the root). As other plants get more established, the bindweed has less opportunity to grow. When we had just put our hedge in, the bindweed was all over it; now as the hedge has grown, the soil underneath is too shaded for the bindweed to really get going as vigorously and an occasional pass to pull it works fine. If the problem is in beds you use for annuals, you'll likely have a problem for longer.
So my message is, this year is going to suck and I'm sorry, but if you consistently pull out the new growth, it will get better over time.
Thanks. Do you think the new shoots constantly sprouting up wil be detrimental to the veggies I'm trying to grow?
No, if you don't try to dig up or pull out the roots but just snap them off close to (above or below) the surface, it should not disturb the other plants.
Even chemicals won't kill bind weed. That shit was sent from satan himself. Bind weed mites might work if you live somewhere real dry. Otherwise hand pulling them for a few years is what it takes to kill them. They have a massive underground tuber than can live forever and you have to slowly starve it to death by killing the plant growth before it can provide much photosynthesis.
what fun!
You’re doing it already. You can do vinegar or boiling water or a weed torch or chemicals. It just doesn’t matter with that plant.