Bust bindweed for good
Firstly, it must be said that if your bindweed isn’t troubling you or your precious plants in your garden then leave it be – its pre y flowers contain excellent food for pollinators. However, if left to grow larger than you’d like it’ll soon completely swamp your borders and weaken plants in its path, so it’s sensible to get rid of at least some. Bindweed roots grow for metres underground, making it really difficult to eradicate. Its seeds can remain in the ground for years, too. The best way to be rid of it is to dig out every bit of white root you can find – but be prepared for broken-off fragments left in the ground to soon multiply. Hoeing off on allotments regularly is effective, too. Persistence is key. The more you pick out and dig up, the weaker the plant gets. Try sticking bamboo canes in the ground and coaxing your bindweed to twirl around it. Once the weed has twined itself, use a weedkiller spot gel, such as Roundup, applied to the leaves to kill only the plant itself and not others around it. Spraying is effective but it’s essential to avoid spray drift onto other plants. Untwine all the foliage, hold it on the ground away from other plants and spray with glyphosate-based weedkiller.
However, thorough digging, ripping up and sieving out root fragments is the best – and a more environmentally-friendly – way to weaken the weed to try to be permanently rid of it. Finally, dispose of it in your council green waste bin.