Ye Olde Enemy

I know there are a lot of posts on here about bindweed and I'm sorry to add to them, but I find myself in need of suggestions from more experienced gardeners. I've had my garden for a year. The first year involved a lot of digging out bindweed because there was space; lots of soil. This year though because so many of the plants have established and are circa 1m tall, the issue is that the tiny shoots of bindweed break out of the soil at/near the centre of my plants. Sometimes I don't realise it's there until I notice that it's entangled itself all around the plant. I can't dig to get to the roots without uprooting my plants, so this year I've taken to disentangling the threads, stretching it out across my gravel and blitzing it with glyphosate. It shrivels up and disappears for a while, but like a hollywood villain, it simply never dies. Do you have this similar blight? How do you/cope in situations like this?

Many thanks.

 

I think you're doing the best thing you can, short of digging up everything and thoroughly cleaning out the roots. If you keep repeating the process the bindweed should eventually give up and die, but it has deep roots so it's very resistant. It can help save time and fiddy work to stick some tall canes in, let the bindweed grow up those, then lay the canes with bindweed on the gravel to treat it (not worrying too much about any bits that don't go up the canes. Glyphosate is systemic so you don't have to treat every bit of the weed (although the more the better).

 

This year we have had so much bindweed...hedge? Never had so much in the garden and when we close our eyes it is everywhere. Never had the plant around the garden as now.

 

I don't bother with weedkiller - I pull it up or snap it off at the base, and leave the stem and leaves to wither and die. I don't do any untangling. It only takes a moment to do.
It grows back weaker, slower, smaller leaves.
I snap it off again.
I find that after the third time, it tends to give up for the year.
The following year there's less of it, and it only needs a couple of snaps through the season.

 

I would prefer avoiding chemicals, obviously, but what do/would you do if you can't get to the base? Often, I can't even see where the base is. Many thanks.

 

You do not need the base of the bindweed or any other weed for that matter. It is best to spray the growing tops with glyphosate. It is taken in through the leaves and carried down to the growing part of the plant internally where it does its job and kills the weed from within. You can collect several stems. put them inside a plastic bag and then spray them if you want to protect your garden plants from spray drift.

 

...Then I break it off as low as I can get...

 

Agree with this but would suggest a second application to 'double down ' after 5-7 days. It works best when the plant is actively growing, so April-May to Sept; it transfers the products of photosynthesis down, taking the glysophate to the (growing !)roots . Persist, you will win ,eventually.
Check to see whether there is a site adjacent that may be harbouring this pestilence, such as neighbours land, paths ,lawns , even beneath patios, sheds etc.

 

Unfortunately, I'm assailed on three sides by this blight. Bindweed is growing in the borders of all three neighbours (both sides and back). I'm less concerned by these because I can spray those areas. It's the bindweed growing in the soil of my planted areas that entangles my plants that concerns me more.

 

I just break it as low as I can get. If it’s really tangles around something which might break if a pull it out then I will just leave it in situ. It will soon wither and disappear and/or become easier to extract.

 

Yes. Except when bindweed is broken off above soil level it often encourages it to develop side shoots and it forms a bush rather than lots of leggy strands.
It is a nightmare weed to have in soil and is like a life sentence to eradicate, especially if it is in surrounding gardens as it spreads by seeds as well as vigorous underground roots.
Good luck

 

You need to physically disrupt the connecting root stems at your boundary fences, for one area will sustain the others; they are likely connected at depth.Trenching , cutting bindweed roots and inserting a barrier such as this* to at least 400mm deep should help.
https://www.screwfix.com/p/damplas-damp-proof-course-black-30m-x-450mm/387yn