Strimming

[Greenleaves]

Is it OK to strim top growth of bindweed?

[Kristen]

It will come back ...

But I expect you've got a reason for wanting to chop its head off ?

[Greenleaves]

Just thought it would make life easy whilst digging, at the speed I go it's likely to start climbing up my legs

[Kristen]

If you are going to dig out its roots then chopping its tops off would be fine, and it would slow down its re-growth a bit - but maybe it would be easier to dig out if you had a bit of "top" to follow down into the soil?

Depends rather how you are going to dig I suppose, so if you think that the tops won't be any help, during digging, I should strim the lot off so you have a clear area to then dig

[Alison]

I strimmed my entire plot when I first got it, I found it very helpful to be able to see where I was going - found half a bike somewhere in the middle but never did find the other half!

[Greenleaves]

If I find half a bike I will send it too you Alison, you will have a whole one then!

Thanks all for the advice

[Two_Sheds]

I dug out all my bindweed in year one. And in year two, and three.

I now think it's a waste of time: if you just hoe it off as it appears you will weaken it as much as if you'd dug it (because you never get it all out), but a lot less effort

[meteor]

I strimmed an area covered in bindweed on Friday and dug it up today and as Alison commented I found it much easier than a similar patch I tried to dig last week with the same bindweed growth but as I have found to my cost last year never touch it with a rotovator, it just compounds the problem.

[Two_Sheds]

I strimmed an area covered in bindweed on Friday and dug it up today

Actually, if there's no rush, Greenleaves should strim an area, water it, then cover it with cardboard or wet newspapers for a few weeks.

Not only will the soil be super easy digging, but it'll be full of worms too, plus warm & moist ready for new plants

[The Nichols']

Strimming should be okay as it's much easier to dig over if you haven't got to get through all the foliage.

Rotavating is a definite no-no. Each tiny piece of root will spawn a new plant and until someone comes up with a decent bindweed beer recipe, that's just not worth the hassle.