Here's another when the sun is shining:

See all those nice green split-leaved seedlings, thousands of them, in my neighbor's field? That's bindweed.

He plows the field, about 2 acres, at least three times in the spring, continually chopping up the bindweed, and every little piece of it makes new little plantlets in addition to stimulating the extensive underground root system. Of course it grows in my raised beds, too. I pull it every day and mulch heavily later on, but mulching doesn't slow it down a bit, nor does it do a thing to the huge underground bindweed root system.

Apparently some farmers have had success using the bindwood gall mite.

Has anyone here tried it? And where can it be obtained? Apparently the State of Colorado gives it free of charge to state residents, but I don't see a source here in Georgia. I'm desperate. I'll try them if I can find them.

Can you help?

He doesn't plow it again after the third time but plants corn there, so the bindweed grows and grows and goes to seed in the fall. It wraps around his corn but not enough to smother it.

So yes, what's in his field is in my raised beds, and I pull literally hundreds of them a week. That's why I am wondering about where to get bindweed gall mites.

The Google.

Find your Ag Extension Service.

Ask if they have these available for the public.

Dan.

Thanks for the suggestion about the extension agent. I've emailed them, and they claim they answer emailed questions, so we'll see what they say.

Believe me, I've Googled bindweed, bindweed control, and bindweed gall mites until I'm sick of them! Several sites say that only four states, including Colorado but not Georgia, are the only ones that have set up mite reproduction programs. They take at least a year to multiply to reasonable numbers that can be shared with others, and from all I can tell, it can take a year or two to eradicate the majority of the bindweed from a treated area, primarily from injuring the plants so badly they can't set seeds.

That still leaves the huge underground root system, but I THINK it gradually dies out as the growing vines are made sterile. But maybe not. Gotta read more about them when there's time.

I just religiously pull out the seedlings. I sometimes let it go when it sprouts under my deck on stone as I actually like the looks of it there, but I yank it before it gets too large or flowers.

I would not wish to deal with an established plant though. It's a nightmare that has forced more than one organic grower to use the R word. (Round Up :)

I do admire the energy and enthusiasm you have for finding creative ways to deal with garden challenges.

Yes, it does look like morning glory. If only it were, it would be easy to eradicate! Sometimes farmers in this area call it that, but it's a wild cousin, so to speak.

It’s more persistent and annoying than a telemarketer, and it’s probably the plant that inspired the "Body Snatcher" movies. Calling it "Morning Glory" is the work of a truly evil person.

"I have dealt with field bindweed on a daily basis, and it is one of the most tenacious, vicious, aggressive and downright obnoxious weeds found in northern Utah." says Jerry Goodspeed, Utah State University Extension horticulturist.

Field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis L.) is technically a member of the morning glory family, he explains. However, some morning glory is grown as an attractive annual vine in our area. Field bindweed is not attractive.

Field bindweed is a strong-willed perennial, Goodspeed says. It grows from rhizomes, which are technically underground stems. This gives the plant the ability to move great distances under the ground without being detected. These rhizomes can produce a "new" plant at each node on the stem.

"In layman terms, this means the plant has the ability to send up 1,000 new plants right where you are trying to establish a flower bed or garden," he says. "As if this were not evil enough, this noxious weed also has the ability to produce thousands of seeds. To top it off, these seeds can lay dormant in the soil for up to 50 years before germinating."

As you can see, this guy from the University of Utah appreciates the plant in all its willful manifestations!

i understand the bindweed despair!

we are also struggling with bindweed at my daughter's school. it has taken up residence on a sloped area that was planted with low growing junipers 3-4 years ago, (not by us) and is a real nuisance! since i garden organically at home, i don't want to use chemicals to deal with this problem at school either. however, we are frustrated b/c it seems like it can't be beat.

i've been wondering, if we spray vinegar on all the weeds that are in between the junipers (they have not grown together yet) do we risk damaging the junipers? it is a sloped area, so i worry that when it rains the vinegar in the soil might drift downhill.

what do you think? we have been pulling and have tried smothering, and are still losing this battle.

thanks for any advice!

You'll likely damage foliage of non-target plants if you're not careful.

Dan

One plant that actually out-competes field bindweed is grass, he says. A healthy, vigorous lawn, properly maintained, will crowd out this pushy weed. If field bindweed is a problem in the lawn, proper turf care should eliminate it. Mow the lawn two and a half to three inches tall and fertilize regularly, but be careful not to over-water turf. This only encourages field bindweed and weakens the grass.

So maybe you should plant turf grass between the junipers and mow it high with a weed wacker if you can't handle a mower on the slope. Grass won't get rid of the root system, but it apparently prevents the vines from developing to any extent by being shaded.

I did see one technique using RoundUp without getting any on the soil, though like all techniques, it takes months to have any really noticeable effects.

The person gathered up the vines still growing in the soil, rolled them into a ball, and packed them into a container like a coffee can holding Roundup so the vines and leaves were submerged. Stabilized the can in the soil by partially burying it, covered the top as much as possible, and just left it there with the bindweed soaking up the Roundup. He said he did it all over the area where the bindweed was growing. He was aiming for that 30-foot deep root system. He claimed it was slowly working to eradicate the bindweed root system and definitely killed much of the surface growth.

I don't know if it worked, and maybe that post was on this forum a couple of years ago. But I do know that because bindweed's close to impossible to eradicate (farmlands actually lose their real estate value if the fields are infested with it), people have tried everything! And are still trying.

There is a bindweed thread on this page in case you haven't seen it.

These vines have small white and sometimes lavender-blue trumpets (not much color range), grow more prostrate than climbing -- though they will obligingly climb larger plants in their way. In that area I photographed, none of the bindweed plants or seedlings were allowed to grow last year much more than an inch or two, much less to grow long vines that reached the flower/seed stage -- I pulled them all for months, so the seedlings didn't come from seeds.

Regarding your seedling picture: there are several varieties of bindweed, often geographically concentrated, and this one is hedge bindweed, more common in the Southeast than field bindweed, though field bindweed has been mapped in this area as well. Field bindweed apparently doesn't grow in the extreme Southeast or on the border areas of the southern US. Even more confusing about bindweed identification is that the leaf-shapes are different if the first shoots arise from seeds than if they arise from the underground root system.

Not sure of the point here except to say that I really wish those thousands of seedlings were true morning glories. They would have been gone long ago. As it is, I once treated them unsuccessfully with RoundUp in desperation and then have pulled thousands of them over the years since then.

And there's one more kink. Bindweed and domestic morning glories can cross-breed to make hybrids! No reason field and hedge bindweed can't do the same thing. It is one determined plant!

Yeah, did you ever see so many different names for an awful weed!

I finally heard back from my extension office, and it wasn't terribly helpful!

Currently, there are not any eradication programs for field bindweed in Georgia. The biological control options that you mentioned (gall mites) are not commercially available and currently not being sold or released in Georgia.

I guess I'll have to keep pulling the dratted things this year and mulching heavily in my beds.

What happens when bindweed is left to grow wild? Anyone have pictures of bindweed that is several years old?

Kudzu has some other beneficial uses, too, including the animal fodder you mention. From Wikipedia:

Animal feed

Kudzu can be used by grazing animals as it is high in quality as a forage and greatly enjoyed by livestock. It can be enjoyed up until frost and even slightly after. Kudzu hay typically has a 15–18% crude protein content and over 60% total digestible nutrient value. The quality of it decreases, however, as vine content increases relative to the leaf content. Kudzu also has low forage yields despite its great deal of growth, yielding around two to four tons of dry matter per acre annually. It is also difficult to bale due to its vining growth and its slowness in shedding water. This makes it necessary to place kudzu hay under sheltered protection after being baled. Kudzu is readily consumed by all types of grazing animals, yet frequent grazing over 3 to 4 years can ruin stands. Thus kudzu only serves well as a grazing crop on a temporary basis.

Medicine

The Harvard Medical School is studying kudzu as a possible way to treat alcoholic cravings, by turning an extracted compound from the herb into a medical drug. The mechanism for this is not yet established, but it may have to do with both alcohol metabolism and the reward circuits in the brain.

Kudzu also contains a number of useful isoflavones, including daidzein (an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial agent), daidzin (a cancer preventive) and genistein (an antileukemic agent). Kudzu is a unique source of the isoflavone puerarin. Kudzu root compounds can affect neurotransmitters (including serotonin, GABA, and glutamate) and it has shown value in treating migraine and cluster headache. It is recommended for allergies and diarrhea.

Research in mice models suggests that Kudzu is beneficial for control of some post-menopausal symptoms such as hypertension and diabetes type II.

In traditional Chinese medicine, where it is known as gé gēn (Chinese: 葛根), kudzu is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs. It is used to treat tinnitus, vertigo, and Wei syndrome (superficial heat close to the surface).

Starch

The roots contain starch, which has traditionally been used as a food ingredient in East Asia.

Other uses

In the Southern United States, where the plant has been introduced with devastating environmental consequences,[9] kudzu is used to make soaps, lotions, jelly, and compost. It has even been suggested that kudzu may become a valuable asset for the production of cellulosic ethanol.

Control

For successful long-term control of kudzu, it is not necessary to destroy the entire root system, which can be quite large and deep. It is only necessary to use some method to kill or remove the kudzu root crown and all rooting runners. The root crown is a fibrous knob of tissue that sits on top of the root (rhizome). Crowns form from vine nodes that root to the ground, and range from pea-size to basketball-size. The older the crown, the deeper they tend to be found in the ground because they are covered by sediment and plant debris over time. Nodes and crowns are the source of all kudzu vines, and roots cannot produce vines. If any portion of a root crown remains after attempted removal, the kudzu plant grows back.
Small kudzu crown severed from root using flexible pruning saw.

Mechanical methods of control involve cutting off crowns from roots, usually just below ground level. This immediately kills the plant. Cutting off vines is not sufficient for an immediate kill. It is necessary to destroy all removed crown material: Buried crowns can regenerate into healthy kudzu. Transporting crowns in soil removed from a kudzu infestation is one common way that kudzu "miraculously" spreads and shows up in unexpected locations.

Close mowing every week, regular heavy grazing for many successive years, or repeated cultivation may be effective, as this serves to deplete root reserves.

A terribly invasive vine but not quite as difficult to get rid of as bindweed!

By the way, any seed in your soil is good for up to 50 years. That's why I am moving to raised beds over a very heavy duty weed block.

Also the Ag agents here recommend against round up. Contrary to its claims, it does not get all the roots for bindweed. And 3 weeks later it is back.

My biggest problem is that it got into my blackberries, and anything that kills it, kills them (except the mites, which I can't get)

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/Agriculture-Main/CDAG/11783058163 68?rendermode=preview

Their phone number is 866-324-2963

A bag of mites on infected bindweed (you put these next to your "healthy" bindweed plants) is $35. They deliver up through June, but from June - September you have to actually go to the insectary in Palisade, Colorado (by Grand Junction).