White funnel-shaped flowers, long, wafer-thin shoots, small round leaves - bindweed is really gorgeous. But many gardeners, in whose beds it proliferates or whose property it encircles, are not very happy to see it.

Bindweed is beautiful to look at, but unfortunately it is very prolific

Consider: is it worth fighting?

For many gardeners, bindweed is seen as a weed that doesn't fit into the pristine and unified look of the garden and needs to be removed. The fact that this weed also has many advantages doesn't bother most of them.

Those who want to fight her should know that she is extremely stubborn. It has meter-deep roots and likes to propagate via offshoots and root shoots. It is often hopeless to destroy them in the long run. Even chemistry is no more promising here than mechanically working the soil.

Method #1: Dig up bindweed and remove roots

Worth a try you might think? Then try this proven method. But consider beforehand: digging up usually only slows down the growth of bindweed. Rarely does the plant disappear forever.

That is how it goes:

  • start in spring
  • pull out above-ground shoots by hand when the soil is moist
  • Dig up the earth with a digging fork up to 1 m deep
  • Put the soil together with the fine roots through a sieve
  • Read and destroy roots

Method #2: Cover bindweed

Covering the bindweed with a black film is less appealing to the eye:

  • dig up the earth first
  • remove larger parts of plants
  • Put foil over it
  • Lay bark mulch or stones on top to weigh it down
  • wait for 1 year

Method #3: Fill in new soil

It is really effective if you remove the soil that is overgrown with the bindweed and replace it with new soil. This is particularly useful if bindweed grows in the bed and is difficult to remove from there.

Other control methods

Here are more ideas:

  • Mulch the soil thickly
  • destroy with vinegar and salt
  • Kill young specimens with boiling water
  • Plant tagetes or phacelia in the immediate vicinity (repel bindweed)
  • regularly chop the soil and thus destroy the roots
  • in the lawn: mow regularly
  • use of herbicides

tips

Anyone who does not remove the roots after chopping them up must expect the bindweed to spread more (via root shoots and runners).

Category:

Herbs