Who would think that such a pretty little flower, Bindweed, could have roots entangled in the bowels of hell. Well, I sure do now. So, here's what I've done so far.
Not easy to make out, but in this before picture, you can see the flowers in the lawn. THOSE are Bindweed flowers. Apparently when you let them go to seed like this, you have a real problem. Ummm, yup.
With the help of my vegetable gardeners friends on Facebook, I ID'd the horrible weed that I was pulling every day, dozens of new ones EVERY DAY! Did some reading and found that it is almost impossible to eradicate. I love a challenge.
Step one today, rake up all the wood chips etc. I will be bagging them and sending them to the dump. That will enable me to get the tops as soon as they break the soil. They were coming up through as much as eight inches of wood chips. So I need to get rid of it. There could be roots because I was hacking at the roots with a hoe before I knew that you never till or cut up the roots in any way. Yup, they root vigorously and fast. I am literally cutting off about 50 per day.
I have ordered a gallon of 30% vinegar from Amazon. It is the only place I've seen it. I can't imagine how strong that is. Regular is 5%, pickling is 7% and cleaning vinegar is 10%. I am going to get a separate sprayer for this solution.
Step one in the escalated Bindweed Eradication plan...bag up and dispose of the 'cover' of wood chips and manure. So sad. But it gave the Bindweed hiding places and a lot of growing could happen that I could not see easily and they were never going to be totally killed to ground level. So, we bagged.
1 comment:
Sounds like you are meeting the challenge head on, Erin. The invasive weeds drive me crazy: multiflora rose, Japanese stilt grass, and more. Good luck with your project! P. x
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