Battling the Bindweed

by Ether

Bindweed, binding around a garden light

The notorious Bindweed, which plagues our city of Pittsburgh, has begun to sprout vinelings in our garden. Bindweed, also known as Creeping Jenny and sometimes mistakenly as Morning Glory, is a real pest. It’s a viney plant that is hard to kill, and will wrap itself around anything it can find, especially plants that you actually want to keep alive.

So, what do we do? You can’t just pull it out like other weeds due to its extensive root system. Established infestations of bindweed are known to have twenty to thirty lateral feet of roots, and taproots have been excavated to depths of thirty feet. While ripping out the shoots may seem satisfying, the real monster continues living happily underground, and you’ll end up feeling like Kevin Bacon in Tremors.

So, the only option we can really think of is to use an herbicide such as Roundup, which stinks because the Monsanto company itself stinks, and Roundup isn’t exactly organic. Nonetheless, what we’ll probably end up doing is pouring concentrated Roundup into a cup and using a paintbrush to paint the bindweed leaves with it. That plan should help manage things, and with luck in a few years could possibly rid ourselves of the infestation.

Are you not sure if that horrible thing taking over your garden is bindweed? The Idaho Weed Awareness Campaign has some good photographs, and even a nice little slide show which might help you figure it out.

We wish there were a way to handle bindweed without using Roundup. How do you handle bindweed?


4 Responses to “Battling the Bindweed”

  1. Raven Owen Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    I sympathize.. I HAVE to use round up on dollar weed here.. zone 9 because the roots are so delicate that it can’t be pulled out. As far as my research goes.. despite the stinkyness.. roundup .. ehh.. seems to be the best option. I spray the dollars on the dollar weed though, hoping that I “get” enough to go through the network of delicate roots.. and kill the monster.

    I never thought of painting.. that is a GREAT idea!

  2. Mr. McGregor's Daughter Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    I also use Roundup, but I use the brush killer formula & dip a Q-tip into it & then paint the stuff on the Bindweed. I tackled the infestation in my lawn during the drought of 2005. The grass was dormant, so the only thing green was the Bindweed. It worked very well & I had only a few plant of Bindweed to deal with last summer.

  3. patientgardener Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    I dont have too much bindweed but I have heard it recommended that you put a stake in the ground and let it grow up that and then when it is concentrating on doing this you spray it with a weed killing. I think the purpose of growing it up a stake is to make it easier to spray without affecting other plants.

  4. Ether Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    Hmm… brush killer formula eh? I’m guessing it’s stronger or somesuch? I did a round of roundup yesterday and the bindweed seems completely uneffected so far. I might have to get a bottle of the brush killer formula too.

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