Bindweed problems

Our allotment neighbour has a field of bindweed, you literally can't see any of his soil, so we have it coming through and up onto our plot. Every year in the past I have tried digging as much out as possible but this year have gone for the pull it as soon as I see it method and there has been a massive decline where I'm already seeing straggly growth. I'm going to follow the pull it straight away idea as the roots should die off underground if they aren't getting any energy from the stems. It might mean that I have to do more pulling but it's near impossible to get the whole root out anyway and I don't want it to feed and bulk up before I get to it.

 

Someone down the road from me has a pink one growing in their hedge. I must admit it is beautiful, as is the white one in the right place. My Keble Martin says it is a subspecies of the white one.
I have also tried growing the sea bindweed which grows next to the beach with little heart shaped leaves - no luck at all!
If you are clearing a piece of land and don't like weedkillers you can use black polythene, pulling it back every so often and just pulling off the white roots. Needs patience though. I just pull out any bits I see and it isn't really a problem but I don't have it coming from a neighbour.

 

Unfortunately, if you have bindweed growing through from next door, you are on a hiding to nothing unless your neighbour tackles it with as much enthusiasm as you are. You can only keep digging it out and spraying the shoots with glyphosate to keep on top of it. Do not worry about letting the stems grow thick enough, tackle them as soon as you spot them. Keeping a small hand sprayer bottle of made up glyphosate at the ready makes spraying individual shoots much
easier than having to mix fresh each time you need some.
Good luck, you are in for the long haul.
Bind weed is one of the worse pernicious weeds to have in the garden and you are not alone.

 

I do have some glyphosate based weedkiller, but this will be uses as a last resort, as I have pets, I have also got large yogurt pots, which I have drilled a hole in the bottom, this I can use to spray the glyphosate into, so really want this for the bindweed coming from next door. It is a great feeling pulling in a big feeding root out. Notice some fresh bindweed shooting, but will not be able to deal with this until next Monday/Tuesday.