As I said earlier, I don't like using glyphosate except in extremis ... the thing to remember is to apply it according to the instructions and then leave it until all the top growth is brown and dead before pulling/digging up ... that way you'll have to re-do it less and that way you'll use less chemical
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I haven't tried it myself but did see a suggestion once of filling a jam jar with weed killer and pushing the bindweed into that. Variation on the sandwich bag but with less risk of it leaking.
I now only use glyphosate on bindweed and japanese knotweed.
Preparation is key when you need to spray bindweed which is growing through shrubs etc. Firstly, unwind the bindweed very carefully, starting at the top and working downwards. Work out if there's bare soil you can lie it down on, to spray it. If not, get a lot of bin bags or similar and protect everything around with it. If possible, put the unwound top growth loosely into a carrier bag, then spray thoroughly inside the bag...
This may seem like being over-cautious, but when I worked as a gardener, I discovered the hard way that weedkiller spray needs very little breeze to move it to your treasured plants, which are inevitably much more susceptible to the weedkiller than the weeds are.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
If there's one perennial weed that I despise it's hedge bindweed. Our neighbour has given up with her garden and there's a huge nest of the stuff on her side that comes under (and over) the fence. However I still don't like using toxic chemicals so will just have to keep pulling it up this summer again
However I still don't like using toxic chemicals so will just have to keep pulling it up this summer again
and next summer, and the one after that, and the one after that. Nobody " likes " using chemicals, but , as many have said on this thread, sometimes , carefully, it's the only way.
" I have tried painting weedkiller on the leaves before now, fairly successful but time consuming".
Most of the stuff that comes through my fence is all on one tendrilous plant, so painting the back of maybe five leaves with gel will kill the whole thing off. Takes a month or two to work its way back to the root, until the whole thing is dead, but one small application has worked every time for me. The place where I use it is beside a fence, next to a shed and under a tree, so may is less affected by rain etc that a more exposed site. I do it every year as new plants grow, but I catch them when a small finger pokes through the fence in the spring and it's easily dealt with these days. For me too, it's the only time I use weedkiller. Less than a teaspoon a year, all told.
Yes @KT53 I have used and recommended the "stuff it in a jar" method to several people. It is especially effective in areas where there are other precious plants you don't want to risk getting contaminated. I agree with others where you can dig it out, where you can't Glyphosate - sometimes you just have to
However I still don't like using toxic chemicals so will just have to keep pulling it up this summer again
and next summer, and the one after that, and the one after that. Nobody " likes " using chemicals, but , as many have said on this thread, sometimes , carefully, it's the only way.
Hostafan, I don't believe I suggested anyone here 'likes' using chemicals. Only that I prefer not to. Google glyphosate and make up your own mind (this will make me popular)
Fishy, I never suggested you did. You can google lots of things and find very different opinions. I merely gave mine. We all make our choices, it doesn't make any of us better or worse people simply because others make different choices.
Definitely not a glyphosate fan and I can't even buy it any more here but it did have its uses for extreme thugs. Bindweed here is different - more horizontal than vertical and smaller, slightly pink flowers. We had a truckload of chipped bark delivered and the pesky stuff just grew right up through a 3 to 4' high pile.
I've used the bin bag method reasonably successfully and also the total clearing, forking over and then watching for new shoots method. In this new garden we have been advised to use brushwood killer if the black plastic and cardboard methods don't work on our weeds, some of which weren't at all bothered by the dose of glyphosate we gave them before having one area ploughed up and leveled by a mini digger.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Preparation is key when you need to spray bindweed which is growing through shrubs etc. Firstly, unwind the bindweed very carefully, starting at the top and working downwards. Work out if there's bare soil you can lie it down on, to spray it. If not, get a lot of bin bags or similar and protect everything around with it. If possible, put the unwound top growth loosely into a carrier bag, then spray thoroughly inside the bag...
This may seem like being over-cautious, but when I worked as a gardener, I discovered the hard way that weedkiller spray needs very little breeze to move it to your treasured plants, which are inevitably much more susceptible to the weedkiller than the weeds are.
Nobody " likes " using chemicals, but , as many have said on this thread, sometimes , carefully, it's the only way.
Most of the stuff that comes through my fence is all on one tendrilous plant, so painting the back of maybe five leaves with gel will kill the whole thing off. Takes a month or two to work its way back to the root, until the whole thing is dead, but one small application has worked every time for me. The place where I use it is beside a fence, next to a shed and under a tree, so may is less affected by rain etc that a more exposed site. I do it every year as new plants grow, but I catch them when a small finger pokes through the fence in the spring and it's easily dealt with these days. For me too, it's the only time I use weedkiller. Less than a teaspoon a year, all told.
You can google lots of things and find very different opinions. I merely gave mine.
We all make our choices, it doesn't make any of us better or worse people simply because others make different choices.
I've used the bin bag method reasonably successfully and also the total clearing, forking over and then watching for new shoots method. In this new garden we have been advised to use brushwood killer if the black plastic and cardboard methods don't work on our weeds, some of which weren't at all bothered by the dose of glyphosate we gave them before having one area ploughed up and leveled by a mini digger.