Wild morning glory

Does anyone have an organic trick for wild morning glory. I'm not sure if it's getting worse but it always comes back.

Hi Wonder,

Are you referring to the tiny vine with the little white blooms?

KM

I bet you mean bindweed.
I pull it out as much as possible by hand, don't ever bother the soil around it, and I pour boiling water on it.
After a while it gets to be less.
You could also spray it with roundup. But it is a very hard to get rid of weed!
Christie

Ugh, I hate hate hate Bindweed!

Field bindweed is on my "most hated" list, too. Does anyone know what its native habitat is? I'd be interested to know what sorts of plants it grew around natively because I'm curious what could possibly compete with it and keep it in check. (Don't worry, I'm not going to introduce exotics. I'm just really interested in plants' native habitats.)

Well, ANYWHERE is its native habitat! We had it in Belgium too, where the climate is more like Washington.
It grows about a foot a week, not kidding, so it is going to be hard to find a match for competing!
I had a beautiful flowerbed that I had to leave for 2 weeks for vacation. When I came back, everything was CHOKED to death by the bindweed.
Now I am trying to kill it too. The flowerbed is gone; I cleared the whole area out so I can focus on this monster.
NO water seems to be working, along with no soil disturbance at all, we don't want to wake sleeping dogs.
And then I use boiling water and handpicking.
I don't know anything about the chemical way of getting rid of it, but digging up your soil won't work; the roots go more than a meter deep!
Good luck,
CC

I mean truly native. I mean, what kind of habitat did the plant originate in?

Believe me, I know how evil an invasive it is here. I've got it all over the place despite much time spent weeding and sheet mulching.

I read that white balsamic vinegar sprayed in the middle of the plant kills it but I wonder if this actually works. Don't want to waste my time spraying in stead of pulling if it doesn't really work, and also might this effect the soil there so that other plants would be negatively affected if grown in that spot where the vinigar was applied. Just maybe lowering the ph too much.

Here's some info I found from the Philips County Noxious Weed Dept. What ever that is: Looks like it native to Europe not here. But I don't know anything about this site it just the first thing that came up on google.
Other common names:
Wild morningglory, creeping jenny, European bindweed. Native range: Europe. Entry into the United States: Field bindweed apparently contaminated crop seed and was identified in Virginia as early as 1739. BIOLOGY
Life duration/habit: Field bindweed is a creeping or twining perennial herbaceous vine that can grow 0.3 to 2 m (I to 6 ft) long. It often forms dense colonies.
Reproduction: This species reproduces by both seeds and rhizomes.
Roots: Taproots may extend more than 3 m (9 ft) into the soil. It also has an extensive system of lateral roots.
Stems and leaves: The prostrate stems produce leaves that are arrowhead-shaped and normally slender with sharp, pointed lobes; they measure 1.2 to 4.3 cm (0.5 to 1.7 in) long. Leaves are alternately arranged along the stem.
Flowers: The funnel- or trumpet-shaped flowers are about 2.5 cm (I in) in diameter and vary from white to pink. Flowers are produced from late June until early fall.
Fruits and seeds: Seed pods are pointed and about 5 mm (0.2 in) long. Four rough, dark brown, pear-shaped seeds usually grow in each pod. Seeds remain viable for up to 50 years.
INFESTATIONS: Worst infested states:
Throughout the temperate United States.
Habitat:
Field bindweed tolerates a great range of environmental conditions and elevations and is found in all types of ground, including cultivated fields and waste places. It grows best on fertile, dry or moderately moist soils and is extremely difficult to control.
Impacts:
Field bindweed is a serious weed in most of the United States, especially on farmlands. It generally grows in dense, tangled mats that may reduce crop production by as much as 60%.
COMMENTS:
Field bindweed is sometimes confused with wild buckwheat. The two species are differentiated by leaf shape: wild buckwheat has a heart-shaped leaf while field bindweed has a spade-shaped leaf.

> Seeds remain viable for up to 50 years.


Augh! Some of mine went to seed while I have been recovering from two different surgeries this year. I can't afford to pay someone to help me eradicate things but I don't have the strength to weed as much as will be required. I think the best case scenario is re-sheet mulching but it's still hard for me.

Burnout II is a organic-okay herbicide that uses high-strength vinegar as one of its ingredients. I've read that it works very well. I want to buy some to use here.

Here ya go, information on how to kill that lousy Convolvulus arvensis (Field Bindweed)-
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/720413/

Spray it with white balsamic vinegar and this crap would probably say "more, more, more" to mock you. Seriously, I've not tried white balsamic vinegar but if you do try it will you let us know if it worked for you?

I thought I'd try Burnout II first. If it doesn't work, I will reluctantly use Roundup.

Equilibrium- Kind of off topic but, how do you create a hyperlink? I'm going yo try the vinegar and weed, weed, weed. I don't have any in one section of my yard. I wonder why that is? Not enough sun maybe. Maybe give up on the sunny garden and plant some trees and make everywhere a woodland setting if the bindweed is get too out of control. Heehee just kidding bad gardening humor.

Hey wonderearth,

The creation of a hyperlink is a very complex ordeal. Only those with very good computer skills should attempt it. Just kidding with you.

Go to the site you want to hyperlink to and cut and paste the entire url from the browser into your post. After you do that, click your space bar and continue typing what ever you want in your post.

When you click the preview button, you will notice that somehow Dave creates the hyperlinks automatically for us.

If I can do it, trust me... anyone can.

Say spidra, better check your label on that Burnout II first. I disagree that top killing of field bindweed is best. That Burnout works too fast from what I've heard. If you use it, I'd love to know how many times you have to use it to kill the Bindweed.

Thank you mystery solved : )

Hey, no problem. It was like magic to me the first time I discovered that they did it for us so I could continue to wallow in computer illiteracy.

I kill weeds for a living and still hate filed bindweed. The problem around here is that the time of the year when it is most noticeable and active is the time when herbicides are least effective - hot & dry. Even if I do kill it off it will be back there next year if the site conditions are the same. It will not compete with thicker and growing turfgrass is the long range solution for in lawns.

What are you finding most effective against Bindweed. I'd love to try what ever you are using. I've been using RU (at the right time of day and when air temps are going to be below 80F for about a week) with some success. I still have to repeatedly apply it and it gets frustrating for me.

I've been pulling this stuff for the last 3 years and this year there seems to be a lot less of it than in previous years. I go out every day for ten minutes and yank what I see. I DON'T let it flower. I'll even pull the neighbors if I see it.

I have this stuff invading from the neighbors. This is the neighbor's yard, it is all creeping buttercup and bindweed. Anyhow, one of the folks at the noxious weed booths at the Seattle Garden show told me to try letting it grow out a bit, perhaps a few feet tall, then grab the stems of as many as you can, stick a big black plastic garbage bag over them, douse them with roundup, and tie the bag at the base of the plants. Check on them in a while, and re-apply the roundup when necessary. I haven't tried the bag yet, ours are almost 1 foot tall, so I just tried dousing them with roundup, and checked in a few days... they laughed at me, all green and twining and strong. :( Good luck!

I still have some. It's mostly under control but...I know what you mean about it laughing at you. It rears it's head up and screams..."BWA HA HA HA HA !!!"

If it weren't for the fact that bindweed is so numerous in my yard, I might be tempted to try this method:

Pull the weed until it breaks off just near the surface. Use a paintbrush to dab Roundup directly on the wounded plant while the would is still fresh.


As it is, I use mulch heavily. I also pull pull pull. And any time I'm digging to put in a new plant, I dig extensively to root out any bindweed roots I find. I'm also good at spotting bindweed cotyledons now so I can pull them before they get established.

What do bindweed cotyledons look like? That seems like a handy thing to know.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/C/W-CV-CARV-SG.008.html

They're squarish, rectangular with a slight indent.

Thankyou Spidra : )