How do I get rid of this weed?

Tedr 8/27/2016, 12:52 pm

It's a nasty one. Creeps along the ground and winds around the plants. Has a long thin white root, sometimes I have pulled out 6 inches of root in soft soil. I have never seen a flower on it and it doesn't have sap. It grows quite fast and I can't keep up with it. Can you tell me what it is and how to control it?

How do I get rid of this weed? Img_2210

Judy McConnell 8/27/2016, 2:11 pm

Welcome, Ted!!

It looks like bindweed to me - it might have white morning glory like flowers soon. The articles that I searched on google, show arrowshaped leaves but my weeds have leaves shaped like yours.

http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nursery-weeds/feature_articles/bindweed/field_bindweed_email.html

Tedr 8/27/2016, 2:49 pm

I did some research on bindweed and it's not very encouraging. My weed has round leaves and I don't recall seeing flowers, but otherwise it seems to have the characteristics of bindweed. It climbs up inside my cedar trees (and tomato plants and leaf lettuce plants) and I have seen a few flowers but I thought they were from some other weed. The plants along the fence line - as seen in the picture - don't seem to bloom, or I have missed it when it happens.

I think I will dig up my vegetable garden at the end of the summer and try to get rid of as many roots as possible. Then I guess I just have to pull them out in the spring when they try to grow back. The problem is they hang out with the good seedlings so it's hard to get them without destroying the good plants.

Argh!

TCgardening 8/28/2016, 12:25 pm

Try the vinegar & salt spray. It may take more than one treatment but it should work.

**sanderson** 8/28/2016, 2:54 pm

As a last resort, elevate the beds off the ground. Sad

**jimmy cee** 8/28/2016, 7:11 pm

sanderson wrote:As a last resort, elevate the beds off the ground.

Tedr 8/28/2016, 10:33 pm

Elevate the beds? I'll check that out but I think that may be difficult to accomplish and expensive. And the vinegar and salt idea might work along the fence line but not in the garden itself because the veggies will be harmed. But in other areas this could be quite effective.

Thanks for the suggestions.

**sanderson** 8/29/2016, 3:31 am

Ted, Some of us have had to do it. Once the chore is done, it's worth it.

**jimmy cee** 8/29/2016, 6:55 am

Tedr wrote:Elevate the beds? I'll check that out but I think that may be difficult to accomplish and expensive. And the vinegar and salt idea might work along the fence line but not in the garden itself because the veggies will be harmed. But in other areas this could be quite effective.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Yes it can be expensive. Yes it can be difficult. Both can be as much as you make it.
I did mine the expensive and most difficult way, that's usually the way I have always done things. Elevating my bed though was worth every cent and labor I put into it. It definitely will be a sellng feature if I ever need to sell my home, depending of course, if the interested party has gardening tendencies.
There are many other ways of elevating beds, I believe all labor intensive though.
A little thought or maybe a lot of thought could provide one with a lot of different directions.
If you decide to do it and after it is all completed, I guarantee, you will be very pleased.

How do I get rid of this weed? Cover_10

BeetlesPerSqFt 8/29/2016, 9:05 am

I think I read something about boiling water treatments - wouldn't work during growing season in the garden, but could be used in the off-season as it wouldn't leave residue behind. It would temporarily harm your microbes, but they can recolonize. And it might solubilize some of your nutrients; wait to top off your bed with fresh compost until after (that would bring microbes back, too.)

I also read about constantly cutting (not pulling) the tops off the weeds off until they exhaust their root-stored energy reserves and die. But again, this is difficult if you're trying to actively garden simultaneously, and are trying to not cut veggie stems at the same time.
http://organicgardening.about.com/od/weeds/p/Bindweed.htm

Judy McConnell 8/29/2016, 10:38 am

Goodness, Beetle - those flowers are pretty, HOWEVER the bindweed in VA has little (1-1/2") WHITE flowers like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convolvulus_arvensis

Also it looks like there are a couple of sub-species for this nasty! May that is the difference??

mileandahalfhigh 8/29/2016, 10:44 am

could be be wild buckwheat if you don't see flowers.
for lookalikes see:
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nursery-weeds/feature_articles/vines/vine_weeds.html
see control measures further down that page.
If it is bindweed, there is now a biocontrol (mite) for it if you have a large enough infestation in your area.

BeetlesPerSqFt 8/29/2016, 12:20 pm

Judy McConnell wrote:Goodness, Beetle - those flowers are pretty, HOWEVER the bindweed in VA has little (1-1/2") WHITE flowers like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convolvulus_arvensis

Also it looks like there are a couple of sub-species for this nasty! May that is the difference??

If you scroll down the wikipedia page does have an example in pink... but I have to say the photo on the page I linked to looks more like a morning glory than bindweed. Yup, several different species in the genus, probably several of the species have subspecies. The leaves on yours are definitely oddly round vs the plants I've seen -- but variation happens. None-the-less, I'm really curious what color flowers yours will/would have had. Some of the related genera bloom at night, but I think you'd still be seeing spent blossoms when you looked during the day.

**Scorpio Rising** 8/29/2016, 7:57 pm

If this stuff is going to make the difference between garden or no garden, I would pull out the big guns, nuke, then rest the bed. Compost early to recover. Or hardcore polarize it. Solarize....

Tedr 8/29/2016, 10:17 pm

Thanks to everyone who commented. I'm convinced it is a form of bindweed, and I have seen some white flowers that closely resemble pictures you have pointed me to.

When my garden is finished I'll cultivate it and remove as many of the roots as I can find. Then I'll try snipping the weeds off as they re-grow until they are sick of me and quit trying. If all else fails I'll have to consider raising the beds. They are about ready for a rebuild anyway because the wood perimeter walls are starting to fall apart.

yolos 8/29/2016, 11:30 pm

Scorpio Rising wrote:If this stuff is going to make the difference between garden or no garden, I would pull out the big guns, nuke, then rest the bed. Compost early to recover. Or hardcore polarize it. Solarize....

That is what I finally did. In a 4 x 4 area in my 4 x 32 bed, I have some kind of weed that I have been fighting for years. I finally said to heck with it and actually sprayed that area twice with roundup. I have planted buckwheat cover crop there and will plant some other cover crop when it cools off again. Then it should be rehabilitated by the spring. But unfortunately, I was out looking carefully in the bed today, and it has already come back again. So, when I see a new sprout emerge, I am pulling it out as far down in the soil as possible. But I can tell that I am not getting the roots out when I pull the weed. If it comes back in full force in the spring, then I will try to solarize that area.

**sanderson** 8/30/2016, 1:08 am

Solarization
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74145.html

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