BINDWEED and dads

[smallfrog]

Hiya all,

I am sharing an allotment with a friend and am trying to grow as organically as possiable. So far i have strimmed the 1st two foot of grass, nettles ect off. Did this in high summer when we 1st got the plot.

Dug up and removed dock and masses of bindweed was careful to get as near as dam all the roots off and out from the site.

Told my dad who said spray it all and start afresh have got through the autumn/ winter with weeding ect not much bindweed. But i know it going to start coming soon... should i bite the bullet and spray or is there another way.
My dad will spray anything and everything and i'm sure he thinks organic is a swear word.

If i do go down the spray route is Roundup best for the job and how far into growth do i let it get before i spray. Will this also mean i can't plant onto the sprayed area for a set amount of time and how long will this be (ish) and also will it effect the veg i want to grow.

thanks all

[Jeanied]

Spraying only works on actively growing weeds, smallfrog, and it is taken up by the leaves. So now is the wrong time to spray anyway. I have never found a spray that will do the job on bindweed. Its roots go down too far for that. The only solution I have found is to pull it out as soon as it shows its nose above ground, and keep at it. At least then it is under control. Any any that escapes my regime I use to tie up the runner beans and sweet peas with! I much prefer the organic solution in this case - cheaper and just as effective!

[Nicos]

You need to apply roundup to growing plants - so it's too early I'm afraid. Think it takes about 4 weeks to die back. Garden centre roundup isn't very strong- esp for something like bindweed- nip to your local farm supplies shop and ask for some glyphosate- it's the same as roundup but much stronger.

Would I spray? hmm...nope- I'd dig it over again.

We had it on our previous plot and managed to keep it in check by gently removing it whenever we came accross it.
Flipping spaghetti!!

[smallfrog]

thats what i thought i knew i'd have to let it get growing so to speak before i could do anything.

I do the just keep at it method here at home and mostly its under control.

if you drown the weed afterwards can it be added to your compost or is that just looking for trouble???

[Nicos]

Burn it - or stick it in your bin at home!

Why tempt fate????

[smallfrog]

and what about the dads can i use the same approach on him :O)

Will bin it along with the dock as i pull it up. I like weeding at the mo find it relaxing.

[Nicos]

and what about the dads can i use the same approach on him :O)

Nah...harrybrew69 could make use of him!!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ertiliser.html

[zazen999]

Mulch any ground you aren't using with card; in fact mulch it ALL with card and plant through. Dig it up as you find it....and burn it.

It does go eventually, if you keep at it.

And the 5% that you can't get rid of; learn to live with it.

I find growing in beds with dedicated paths helps as you just have to dig that bed area and you know exactly where it shouldn't be.

[maypril]

Should i bite the bullet and spray or is there another way. My dad will spray anything and everything and i'm sure he thinks organic is a swear word.

With age comes experience.

By all means try "organically" digging up each and every bindweed root, year after year! If that's your fetish, enjoy it! You can do it year after year, until the day you die, if that pleases you!

Personally I'd rather spend a season blitzing the infestation with glyphosate and be done with it. After you've killed off the bulk of it, the rest can be controlled with manual weeding.

I'd rather eat food where I know exactly how much and what chemicals have been used than have my yield drastically reduced by weeds to the extent that I have to eat supermarket food where I don't have any idea what chemicals have been sprayed.

If you do decide to spray, wait a month or so until it starts growing. Glyphosate, which is the most effective household herbicide for bindweed is only useful when it's absorbed by the leaves. It's neutralised when it hits the soil, so You have to spray the growing plants, you can't just coat the soil where you know the bindweed will grow.

Once the bindweed is growing, you can spray the glyphosate. The bindweed will absorb it and the plant and roots will be killed off. You'll most likely need to apply once or twice more throughout the season. However next season, you'll be much better off than had you attempted to try and dig out all the roots by hand.

[BFG]

I'd go for a cardboard mulch and removing an top growth that makes it through. The roots will be starved eventually without energy being produced from the leaves.

I'm sure I read that Glyphosate is toxic to aquatic life, so be careful spraying round ponds.

[Hans Mum]

i try & dig it out but some always comes up where its difficult to get to the roots because of your other crops I then just stick a cane in & let it grow up that rather than choking my veggies. If you keep at it it does weaken eventually.

[smallfrog]

I think i'm going to go down the weeding route to start with and then if it gets too much then i'll spray with glyphosate.

I have made beds at present so i can always spray a bed and leave it. How long do you wait between spraying and putting a crop into the sprayed bed?

So i let the bindweed grow, spray wait for it to die back then do i remove it all or just top growth thats dead on the ground. then leave bed covered with cardboard. For how long?? say spray april/may then leave till following year or just till say october and put garlic into the bed.

To go on a bit more glyphosate how toxic is it to use. I'm pregant in fact bout6 mths. If using it should i get OH to do it or even go with tail between my legs to my dad :O). Pregant and weeding i can handle but bit worried about chemicals.

Thanks everyone for there help, oh Hans mum your not married to a Hans dad just checking as i'm a Han when i'm not a smallfrog. :O)

[SarzWix]

With age comes experience.

By all means try "organically" digging up each and every bindweed root, year after year! If that's your fetish, enjoy it! You can do it year after year, until the day you die, if that pleases you!

I've had my plot 3 years. When I first got it, I had 2 patches of bindweed. I've never sprayed it, just removed as much as possible in the initial digging, and then weeded out any that popped up subsequently. For me, it's been a minor weeding job, along with the usual weeding of annual weeds. Last year (2nd year) the bits that were sprouting were small, spindly and pathetic, and no more trouble to remove than any other weed.

I do think that people have a tendency to see glyphosate as a 'weeding solution' and that once used they'll never have to weed again. It's just not true; if you're having to deal with annual weeds anyway, and perennial weed seeds blowing in from other places (dandelions anyone?!), then dealing with the re-sprouting of such as bindweed is not a major issue. It basically means that weeding has to be done regularly, which it should be anyway!

Smallfrog, if you DO decide to spray, then you can plant the bed in the same season. The next day if you want to! Once the stuff hits the soil, it's supposed to become inert, and not bother anything that you subsequently plant in it. But assuming you leave the stuff to work on the bindweed for a good few weeks (it has to have time to get down into the roots), then you can remove either the dead top growth and leave the roots, or, you can try and get the roots out as well. It can be planted in whenever you want though.

Toxicity? I don't know. But I think if I was pregnant, I'd not take the risk. Which is why I'd stick with the digging out/weeding/cardboard mulch method

[di]

I don't know if I'm on my own with this one but I actually find it quite therapeutic digging up bindweed

The only place on our plot that we've used weedkiller was along a fence where we don't grow...it hardly touched it and was back with full determination just a few weeks later.(it now acts as a pretty addition to the fence)
On the actual plot where we've taken the dig it out approach it's almost gone...not sure that it will ever totally leave us but as others have said,once you're in control of it it doesn't take a lot to dig up the odd spots of it as they appear.

I agree with Sarz about using a weedkiller whilst pregnant.I don't know if it's safe or not but would just prefer to err on the side of caution.

Good Luck with whatever approach you chose to take...and all the best with the last few months of pregnancy

[Snadger]

I don't use weeklillers at all but have been told that the best way with bindweed is to put short canes in the soil for it to climb up.

. Once each cane has a nice thick growth on it paint the leaves with a strong mix, not spray. this way you will maximise the effect and not get any overspray on other plants.