How do I get rid of bindweed?

Bindweed regenerates from root pieces a centimetre long and roots several metres deep. Anything that chops it up makes the problem larger.

Safety

Step by step

1. Understand the root system.It spreads by deep brittle white roots that can reach several metres. Every fragment left behind becomes a new plant, which is why cultivation spreads it.
2. Avoid rotavating.It chops the roots into hundreds of pieces and distributes them evenly. A single bindweed problem becomes a whole-bed problem in one pass.
3. Push a cane in beside it.Let the bindweed twine up the cane rather than through your plants. This gives you a mass of foliage isolated from everything else.
4. Treat the isolated growth.Glyphosate gel painted onto the leaves, or a careful spray once the growth is clear of other plants. The plant transports it down to the roots, which is what a surface kill cannot do.
5. Treat when it is growing strongly.Late summer, before flowering, when the plant is moving sugars downward. Treating early in the season is far less effective.
6. Untangle rather than pull through borders.Unwinding it from a plant leaves the bindweed intact for treatment. Snapping it off just prompts regrowth from the root.
7. Dig carefully where treatment is not possible.In a vegetable bed, fork through methodically and remove every white root fragment. It will take several passes over a season and it will not be complete.
8. Cover as a long-term option.Thick black membrane or cardboard and mulch for a full growing season or two starves it of light. Slow but effective on a whole bed.
9. Never compost the roots.Bin them or burn them where permitted. Home compost heaps do not get hot enough and you will spread it round the garden with the compost.
10. Deal with the boundary.Bindweed frequently comes in from next door. Treating your side repeatedly without addressing the source means it returns every year.
11. Expect it to take years.Repeated treatment over two or three seasons is realistic. One application will not do it, and stopping halfway means starting again.

Tips

• Let it climb a cane, then treat it there. It is the only way to target it without harming neighbours.
• Treat in late summer when the plant is moving sugars down to the roots.
• Never compost the roots. A fragment a centimetre long regrows.

Common mistakes

• Rotavating or digging over ground with bindweed — Every chopped root fragment becomes a new plant. Cultivation is the fastest way to turn a localised problem into a whole-bed infestation.
• Pulling the top growth off repeatedly — It removes the foliage that would have carried a treatment down to the roots, and the plant simply regrows. It manages the appearance without touching the cause.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask