Bramble & bindweed roots... when you say *every* bit...?

[Norm]

Thats why youre a rooter Norm.

Not what I'm usually called

[HimIndoors]

I took a plot on at christmas and when I started digging it over in Feb I found I have clay soil and a serious bindweed/coochgrass infestation. I don't think there could be a worse combination than bindweed and clay soil AND digging in February, the bindweed broke up very easily making it hard for me to get it out with such heavy soil.

I dug two beds in February that are now growing onions, shallots, garlic, carrots, parsnips and assorted catch crops in one bed and potatoes and jerusalem artichokes in the other. Both beds do have a few bindweed shoots popping up but I find that now the ground is dug I can usually get a hand fork into the offending area and root out any bindweed as it appears.

So as far as bindweed is concerned I'd say dig out as much as you can and get planting, so far it hasn't caused me any great problems other than a few garlics getting tangled up because the bindweed root is exactly where the garlic is planted.

Good luck to you and don't give up!!

[grass routes]

Bind weed blues

I nearly gave up my allotment after the first year and a half due to bindweed but one of my neighbours a few years ago said that if you dig out as much as you can and keep hoeing any new shoots that come up, it will be gone in two years. He was almost right. If you can just keep on weeding the bindweed so that they do not see the sun, they weaken after two years and practically give up. It is much more managable now. Good luck

[chuffa]

Ive just been reading about the Roundup stump and path clearer. It kills brambles also says that its the only thing that will kill bindweed to the root.

[OverWyreGrower]

We've given our couch grass and bindweed 3 doses of extra strength roundup, and we've burnt it, and covered it over with landscape fabric and woodchips and it's still growing.....

I'm just resigned to digging the ground over and picking the roots out, and weeding as usual. I'm sure eventually it'll go away!!

[SAFIA]

i have to say the only thing i have managed to grow successfully is bindweed

[winnie]

Hi, bindweed will creep in from pathways, the plot next door, or from deep underground. We have lots of it and in heavy clay it just snaps, so can't be removed completely- EVER!!! Life is definitely too short, so we just pull up the shoots when we see them, and keep pulling it. My father in law gave me a great piece of advice when I started gardening-no plant can survive without it's leaves, so keep pulling them off & the plant will eventually die. Has worked for everything-except bindweed. Learn to love it???

xxxx

[Growem]

To be honest, bindweed doesn't bother me that much. It's easy to spot and to pull out to the ground level at least. It dies back in the winter, so you don't have to keep fighting the battle then too. It also grows fairly individually, not in big clumps like couch grass. If I could only choose to remove couch grass or bindweed from my plot, I'd take out the couch grass.

Oh, and I do try and take out all the bits I can, but I'm not chasing down more than a fork's length to get them!

[HeyWayne]

I piled a load of horse poo onto an area of my plot that had bindweed last year. When I say piled, I mean about 3x8x4ft and there are shoots coming out of it. I wasn't going to dig my hands into the manure to get at the roots - so glyphosated the lot!

[Arachne]

Ive just been reading about the Roundup stump and path clearer. It kills brambles also says that its the only thing that will kill bindweed to the root.

I used that the other week on a stump, and went around zapping the bindweed at the same time. I'll try to remember to report back and let you know if it's worked.

[Mushroom]

When you say brambles, do you mean blackberry bush? I have some that has started to grow in my garden and thought I could let it grow and try to tie it to a trellis or something - is that a bad idea? will it just go mad and take over? It does seem alot more rampant than my raspberry..

[Mikey]

I wonder if bindweed is so named because of how it wraps itself around things or because its a bind to keep digging it up.

I am doing my best to dig it up from heavy clay, you can't however slice the clod you dig up as you also slice the bindweed into tiny little bits, so I have found that bashing it loosens the soil enough to tease the strands out. You'll never get it all but as others have said hoeing at the first signs of shoots helps keep it at bay.

[di]

am i mad?!?i find it quite therapeutic getting bindweed roots out,knowing if i miss a little i can just hoe it away when its little green head pops up!as 4 couch grass(which i'm presuming is the same as "spear grass"?)....?we lost a whole crop of spuds 2 it 2yrs ago.our top plots nice soil so wasn't too bad getting rid of,bottom plot however is heavy claggy horrible clay soil.guess where we're putting the chooks!&the kiddies play area!just a shame we cant get us a pig!LOL

[Madasafish]

I eradicated bundweed with no digging: just painted systemuc weedkiller on the leaves... every week all spring and summer for 2 years.

PIA but MUCH easier than anything else...