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BIG BINDWEED PROBLEM

CopperdogCopperdog Posts: 617
in Problem solving
Hello everyone my son has a huge problem with bindweed in his garden. We have set up sticks in the two beds as per @Hostafan1 great idea and this is working but further down the end of the garden is a huge blanket area of the stuff. Should we try laying a weed control mat or tarpaulin of some sort now until nect spring? Should we still spray with weed killer before laying the matting? Would this amount of smothering and time work? We prefer to garden without chemicals but it’s so extensive down there! Any help and tips please 🙏🏻 Thankyou 

Posts

  • Loraine3Loraine3 Posts: 579
    The only way as far as I am concerned is digging it out; I had a flower bed that was full of it, just kept digging and filled several buckets. I only planted annuals and a few potatoes the first year, now it's gone apart from the odd stem which is easily dug out.
    Just remember to dig every last piece of root, any left will regrow.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Assuming there are no plants underneath the " blanket " which you want to save. I'd spray.
    Others are, of course, entitled to a different opinion.
    Devon.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I would spray, wait till it dies back, remove dead stuff, spray re growth, repeat 2 - 3 times.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    I always dig, never spray. My garden is small, but when we moved in it was literally a bindweed jungle. I find it very therapeutic to pull the roots, and it gave me a chance to see what the soil was like, and also it got much needed aeration from deep digging. While you're spraying weeds, you're also killing tiny wildlife which other creatures rely on for food, etc etc. 
    Another option: Get some friends or family over, give them a fork each, promise them beer and food. 😁
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    punkdoc said:
    I would spray, wait till it dies back, remove dead stuff, spray re growth, repeat 2 - 3 times.
    We got rid of Greater Bindweed that way ... it reached to the upstairs windowsills in the small 'back yard' of a previous home ... there was nothing else growing there ... obey the precautions and follow the directions. Don't use too much, but there's no point in using too little.

    Digging it out risks leaving tiny bits of snapped root in the soil ... and the roots are really brittle and snap easily).  

    I'd dig the pink field bindweed out, but the white Hedge Bindweed (Greater Bindweed) I would spray.  

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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