Often referred to as wild morning glory, bindweed has pretty flowers, but if allowed to bloom it will go to seed and take over, with its vines often smothering other plants. (Extension of Iowa State University)
There is only one weed in my garden that if I see it, I will immediately drop everything and pull it out: bindweed. It doesn’t matter if I’m late for a date, or if I have my best clothes, I’ll wade through my flower bed and remove the offending plant. It is so harmful.
Like so many of the worst weeds, bindweed is allowed to gain a foothold in yards because it can be so pretty. A cousin of the morning glory, the bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) is often referred to as the wild morning glory. Her vine looks great, and if you allow her to bloom – please don’t, as this allows her to produce seeds – she has pretty morning glory shaped flowers in white or creamy pink. People let it bloom, charmed by the innocent beauty of this demonic vine. But let it bloom and it can take over an entire section of your garden.
The leaves are about 2 inches long and look a bit like the heart-shaped morning glory leaves, except they are more elongated, so they are closer to an arrowhead shape. The vine can easily grow 10 feet.
Classified as a noxious weed in Iowa and other states, bindweed left unchecked can form tangled mats, run along the ground, or twist and wrap around other plants, suffocating them. I recently had to save a plantation of several lilacs from our family farm which had been abandoned, the bindweed had masked them and suffocated them. Each bindweed plant can produce up to 500 seeds that remain viable for 50 years.
It is a native of Europe and Asia that was first documented in 1884 in San Diego, California. In 50 years, it has been proclaimed the worst weed in California, along with many other western states.
The plants are perennial and begin to become visible around the beginning of summer and continue until frost. They start out as thin, wiry vines that curl and curl through shrubs, other perennials, fences, and just about anything that can provide support.
Even though I continually pull my bindweed, I still have some in my garden every year. It has a large and very sturdy root system, so you can pull a plant out a few times before it’s really killed. I had a place near a corner of my house where only one bindweed grew year after year. I removed it a few times a year, and it took another three or four years before it was completely eradicated.
You can control bindweed by pulling it whenever you see it. You will have to make several attempts on a plant to eventually kill it. Some gardeners swear to pour boiling water over the roots after pulling up the plant, but it seems to have limited effectiveness and looks like a problem.
I try to use as few chemicals as possible in my garden, but one option is to spray a herbicide like RoundUp on the plant when it is no more than a foot tall. But since RoundUp kills any plants it touches, it’s not practical for bindweed that infests a flower bed or climbs a shrub.
The bindweed leaves are entwined around a rose bush. (The Gazette)
Do not hoe the bindweed. This simply chops it up and allows the pieces to germinate in the soil, spreading it out.
If you have bindweed in your lawn, it says a lot about your lawn. This is usually not a problem when the grass is healthy and crowds out weeds. But if you have bare spots, bindweed can take advantage of the open ground. The best way to control bindweed in this case is to keep the lawn well mowed, watered well, and fertilize regularly to encourage thick grass that crowds out weeds. If you apply a broadleaf herbicide to your lawn, it will help control field bindweed. In the fall, reseed the bare areas and keep them well watered for at least two weeks until new grass becomes established.
Veronica Lorson Fowler is the co-editor of The Iowa Gardener website at theiowagardener.com.