Bindweed

This is bindweed. It doesn’t matter which of the many varieties it is, if you see it, KILL IT! And I don’t mean pull it up and compost it, either. It will love you for that. I mean kill it.

I did not take this plant seriously when it first appeared in my garden – after all, if you let it go long enough, it will give you beautiful white morning glory flowers. But by then you are in big trouble! After a couple years of my tolerating this plant and not aggressively eliminating it, it had taken over my peonies (and I have a dozen plants) and spread to other areas. So here’s what to do.

1. Pour a small amount of a strong weed killer, full strength, into a small jar. I use Ortho’s Poison Ivy Killer, but check labels. Maybe Roundup would also work. It needs to be something systemic, that the plant drinks in and gets killed to the root. Get some Q-tips and head out to the field of battle.
2. Follow the vine down to its root. You will often find that several vines grow from the same root.

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1. Hold the base of the plant and paint it with the full-strength weed killer using the Q-tip. Make sure you fully coat the bottom inch or two.
2. Break off the vine within the area that you painted. For good measure, you can also paint the newly exposed tip.
3. Throw out the vines you have removed. Do NOT compost, as they could regrow. They are most pernicious.
4. As you walk away, tired, thinking the battle is over for now, you will see another. Don’t say, ‘Oh, it’s just little. I’ll get it later.’ DO IT THEN! You will be glad you did.

If you see some small and think you can carefully remove the roots, go ahead and try, but I assure you, you will not get it all. The roots break very easily, on purpose, so they can mock us in our attempts to control them. Poison is the only answer. One summer I committed myself to eradicating this menace. I went out weekly with my arsenal, pulled some and poisoned others, and after a month or so I saw a distinct decline. Since then I have to poison a few vines here and there each year, but it is significantly better. I did, however, make the mistake of composting, and now it’s growing back around the compost heap. Argh!

I hope you read this post soon enough to avoid an infestation in your yard, but if not, following these tips will get the enemy well under control. Yes, weeds are flowers, too. But I do draw the line somewhere!

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