Summer Invasion: Managing Bindweed

It begins innocently enough, an almost pretty vine, with appealing white flowers, starts filling in the empty spots in your beds. “At least something will grow,” you surmise as you stroll through your yard.

Two months later, this not-so-innocent vine (a.k.a, bindweed or morning glory), carpets your beds, has moved into your lawn, and is clambering in and out and on top of all other existing plants. And, as a bonus, the once pretty flowers have faded and the vine has set seed, releasing an almost

uncontrollable generation of invasive vines that will plague

this area for years to come.

Do not let this scenario play out in your yard this summer.

A few facts about bindweed: its seeds can live in the soil for many years, just waiting for a little irrigation water to sprout. Bindweed develops long taproots that go several feet into the soil, making pulling the weed an ineffective method of control. In fact, breaking the vine simply encourages the taproot to send up additional growth.

Did you notice in the title of this column I used the word, manage, and not eliminate? That’s because bindweed’s characteristics described above make the weed next to impossible to eradicate. At best, we can control its growth. On the bright side, if you and your neighbors are diligent about control, bindweed can be reduced to a minor nuisance instead of an overwhelming hurdle to a beautiful yard.

 If bindweed is an established resident in your yard, the first thing you must acknowledge is that Round-Up (or its generic counterpart) is your friend--your best friend. Buy a two-gallon pressurized sprayer and a container of concentrated Round-Up. On a warm day with no wind, take your new best friend outside and spray the vines. A word of caution, Round-Up will kill all plant material so if bindweed is growing in your grass or on desirable plants, see below for additional advice.

 Once you have sprayed, store your sprayer in a safe location and continue this process every week. Be consistent! This is key in bringing bindweed under control. Within two or three applications, the vines should be dying. Once they look dead, remove them as you would other weeds. You will want to leave them in place while still alive so that the plant can carry the poison down to the taproot.

Once the initial plants have been removed, continue to go out at least every two weeks and spray any new vines. If you spend one summer spraying, you will see a significant reduction of volunteer starts. This plan is most effective when your neighbors are also doing this in their yards.

If bindweed is in the lawn or growing on desirable plants, control is tricky but not impossible. For the grass, use a broadleaf weed killer every week; spraying each vine individually. The broadleaf weed killer is not as strong as Round-Up but will be effective if used weekly.

If bindweed has invaded your flowers and shrubs, pull the vine off the plants as much as possible. Then carefully spray the vine. Again, be consistent and look carefully for new starts. If the vines are established and cannot be separated from the plants, you may be left with no choice but to remove the plant and then control the bindweed. But this should be a last resort.

 Probably the best advice concerning bindweed is to never let it go to seed. This happens soon after it flowers. Be sure to spray or remove the vine before the flowers fade. Installing your yard and putting down mulch will also go far in keeping this invasion at bay.