BINDWEED and dads

[maypril]

I have made beds at present so i can always spray a bed and leave it. How long do you wait between spraying and putting a crop into the sprayed bed?

Personally, I spray repeatedly over a season until the beginning of August if necessary (for really stubborn weeds). Then plant at the beginning of the next season and manually weed from then on.

I think 6 weeks is the minimum time you have to leave.

To go on a bit more glyphosate how toxic is it to use. I'm pregant in fact bout6 mths.

Some things are too important. If there's any doubt in your mind that glyphosate might be unsafe then keep away for a year or so. In the very unlikely event that something bad were to happen, you don't want that playing on your mind. Get the OH to "weed for two" when it gets to the point that you can't

Though whatever you do, I think it's better to eat your own food where you know what chemicals have been used rather than eat supermarket food where you just don't know what you're eating.

Pregant and weeding i can handle

Come back in 10 weeks and tell us that

[Alison]

I double dug last spring as a first preparation and got out as many roots of this and other nasties as possible. If any crops up I just pull it out as I go along. I won't be spraying as I don't see the need and anyway, it's another thing you need to spend money on.

[smallfrog]

Harrybrew
i'm collect waste to put in my own bean trench so I am saving him for myself :O) sorry.

Thanks for giving me the idea though its alot less work than digging up the patio.

[Lazgaot]

I'd dig it out since its only March. How long till its in full growth and you get a few dry days that are woth spraying it? 2 months?
Direct action with a good fork will sort it out straight away and keep it out of sight for a couple of months. As soon as it re-appears just loosen all the soil around the new growth with the fork and pull out as much of it as you can, often 4-5 strands about 12" long. Each time you do this you are depleting the ain roots and the new growth comes back weaker and weaker.

[harrybrew69]

Nah...harrybrew69 could make use of him!!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ertiliser.html

well ive got a bean trench with nothing to go in it now so send him over

[Snadger]

I don't use weeklillers at all but have been told that the best way with bindweed is to put short canes in the soil for it to climb up.

. Once each cane has a nice thick growth on it paint the leaves with a strong mix, not spray. this way you will maximise the effect and not get any overspray on other plants.

[di]

I don't know if I'm on my own with this one but I actually find it quite therapeutic digging up bindweed

The only place on our plot that we've used weedkiller was along a fence where we don't grow...it hardly touched it and was back with full determination just a few weeks later.(it now acts as a pretty addition to the fence)
On the actual plot where we've taken the dig it out approach it's almost gone...not sure that it will ever totally leave us but as others have said,once you're in control of it it doesn't take a lot to dig up the odd spots of it as they appear.

I agree with Sarz about using a weedkiller whilst pregnant.I don't know if it's safe or not but would just prefer to err on the side of caution.

Good Luck with whatever approach you chose to take...and all the best with the last few months of pregnancy

[SarzWix]

With age comes experience.

By all means try "organically" digging up each and every bindweed root, year after year! If that's your fetish, enjoy it! You can do it year after year, until the day you die, if that pleases you!

I've had my plot 3 years. When I first got it, I had 2 patches of bindweed. I've never sprayed it, just removed as much as possible in the initial digging, and then weeded out any that popped up subsequently. For me, it's been a minor weeding job, along with the usual weeding of annual weeds. Last year (2nd year) the bits that were sprouting were small, spindly and pathetic, and no more trouble to remove than any other weed.

I do think that people have a tendency to see glyphosate as a 'weeding solution' and that once used they'll never have to weed again. It's just not true; if you're having to deal with annual weeds anyway, and perennial weed seeds blowing in from other places (dandelions anyone?!), then dealing with the re-sprouting of such as bindweed is not a major issue. It basically means that weeding has to be done regularly, which it should be anyway!

Smallfrog, if you DO decide to spray, then you can plant the bed in the same season. The next day if you want to! Once the stuff hits the soil, it's supposed to become inert, and not bother anything that you subsequently plant in it. But assuming you leave the stuff to work on the bindweed for a good few weeks (it has to have time to get down into the roots), then you can remove either the dead top growth and leave the roots, or, you can try and get the roots out as well. It can be planted in whenever you want though.

Toxicity? I don't know. But I think if I was pregnant, I'd not take the risk. Which is why I'd stick with the digging out/weeding/cardboard mulch method

[smallfrog]

I think i'm going to go down the weeding route to start with and then if it gets too much then i'll spray with glyphosate.

I have made beds at present so i can always spray a bed and leave it. How long do you wait between spraying and putting a crop into the sprayed bed?

So i let the bindweed grow, spray wait for it to die back then do i remove it all or just top growth thats dead on the ground. then leave bed covered with cardboard. For how long?? say spray april/may then leave till following year or just till say october and put garlic into the bed.

To go on a bit more glyphosate how toxic is it to use. I'm pregant in fact bout6 mths. If using it should i get OH to do it or even go with tail between my legs to my dad :O). Pregant and weeding i can handle but bit worried about chemicals.

Thanks everyone for there help, oh Hans mum your not married to a Hans dad just checking as i'm a Han when i'm not a smallfrog. :O)

[Hans Mum]

i try & dig it out but some always comes up where its difficult to get to the roots because of your other crops I then just stick a cane in & let it grow up that rather than choking my veggies. If you keep at it it does weaken eventually.

[BFG]

I'd go for a cardboard mulch and removing an top growth that makes it through. The roots will be starved eventually without energy being produced from the leaves.

I'm sure I read that Glyphosate is toxic to aquatic life, so be careful spraying round ponds.

[maypril]

Should i bite the bullet and spray or is there another way. My dad will spray anything and everything and i'm sure he thinks organic is a swear word.

With age comes experience.

By all means try "organically" digging up each and every bindweed root, year after year! If that's your fetish, enjoy it! You can do it year after year, until the day you die, if that pleases you!

Personally I'd rather spend a season blitzing the infestation with glyphosate and be done with it. After you've killed off the bulk of it, the rest can be controlled with manual weeding.

I'd rather eat food where I know exactly how much and what chemicals have been used than have my yield drastically reduced by weeds to the extent that I have to eat supermarket food where I don't have any idea what chemicals have been sprayed.

If you do decide to spray, wait a month or so until it starts growing. Glyphosate, which is the most effective household herbicide for bindweed is only useful when it's absorbed by the leaves. It's neutralised when it hits the soil, so You have to spray the growing plants, you can't just coat the soil where you know the bindweed will grow.

Once the bindweed is growing, you can spray the glyphosate. The bindweed will absorb it and the plant and roots will be killed off. You'll most likely need to apply once or twice more throughout the season. However next season, you'll be much better off than had you attempted to try and dig out all the roots by hand.

[zazen999]

Mulch any ground you aren't using with card; in fact mulch it ALL with card and plant through. Dig it up as you find it....and burn it.

It does go eventually, if you keep at it.

And the 5% that you can't get rid of; learn to live with it.

I find growing in beds with dedicated paths helps as you just have to dig that bed area and you know exactly where it shouldn't be.

[Nicos]

and what about the dads can i use the same approach on him :O)

Nah...harrybrew69 could make use of him!!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ertiliser.html

[smallfrog]

and what about the dads can i use the same approach on him :O)

Will bin it along with the dock as i pull it up. I like weeding at the mo find it relaxing.