morning glory.... a garden parasite

Hello,

I am hoping to get some brilliant advice regarding morning glory. The kind I have is green, doesn't flower as far as I know, and it twists around everything including itself. Oh, and the other small detail: this thing grows faster than anything I have ever seen! I live in an arid climate, and this stuff thrives. It kills everything it gets itself wrapped around because it spreads its broad leaves and blocks the sunlight.

My situation is a little difficult, possibly impossible! You see, I have a large area that is covered with ivy and st johns wart (the two of them are getting along famously). The bed is established, it's probably been there for 25 years and has a watering system so everyone is happy... that is, until I forget to jerk out some morning glory for a few weeks. The morning glory wraps around the ivy so tightly, and the woody ivy bed is so dense from years of growth, that there is truly no way to pull it by the roots. So I just jerk out as much as I can every couple of weeks to let sunlight onto my plants, knowing full well that I'll have to get after it again very soon! The bed also has trees, rhodies, azaleas, and several other plants that I am protecting, but the majority of the stuff is threaded through the ivy.

Does anyone have a magical cure without killing the ivy, etc? I thought maybe there could be a chemical that would kill it without hurting the ivy because the ivy is woody and the morning glory is not. My local gardening store told me I don't have a prayer, but since there are so many really avid gardeners in here, I sure didn't think it would hurt to ask!

Any advice you guys can offer me would be grately appreciated!

Thanks,
Andi

A systemic herbicide may work for you - you snip off the majority of the plant & brush the liquid herbicide on the remaining plant with a paint brush. This kills the plant - completely! have used it on poison ivy with great results. Eventually, with a little work, you will be able to get rid of the plants for good.
Julie

It just takes an enormous amount of patience.

are you sure you have morning glory??? the reason i ask is in your sate in the winter would kill it. if it doesnt seed then you may have the ones below.

the only morning glory faimly thing i know that doesnt flower and has big leaves is the sweet potatoe type. those have tubers you pull up and if dont want throw away. they do make little tubers .

then there is the perinial type impomea indica which does flower some but runs by runners under ground but that should die too due to snow.


Alot of patience and if you really are detirmined to get rid off it heres a suggestion


get a paint brush a small one. if you can locate the different vines from each other at the ground level paint on round up on the ones you dont want. mark the ones you are doing this too so you can go back in a few days and give it more. you may lose a few ivy this way .


ALso can you get a pic of the stufff you want to kill.

I think the stuff is bindweed

and the herbicide is the only way to eradicate it

paint it on the growing plant
don't spray it
cause it will kill everything else too
it spreads by runners

your other option is simple


Sell your house....LOL

Funny, crested :-) Yes, I have seriously considered selling! This property is a handful, and I am a student without a lot of time to garden. I will try the paintbrush method, but I can only hope I can give that project enough hours frequently enough to actually work. Maybe next month I can hit it hard... I'll post a progress report after I get rolling on it.

imzadi, this stuff does die back in the winter, but it comes back in full force in the spring and grows all summer. My entire property is covered with huge trees, so there is a lot of shade... maybe the reason for no blooms??? We don't get much snow, and the winters here are fairly mild. Eastern WA freezes solid, but western WA never gets cold enough to freeze underground. Anyway, the answer to your question is no, I'm not sure it is morning glory. That's just what everyone around here has told me. When I can get my other half to bring our camera home from the office, I would like to post a photo and see what you all think of ID. I sure appreciate all of the suggestions!

Thanks, Andi