I know it has already started blooming, but it’s not too late to get to the Hedge Bindweed – I think it can be pulled off the shrubs and ferns anytime throughout the summer and fall. I have been working on three patches the last half-dozen years and have been able to contain it, but not eradicate it.
This year, I only got to it a couple of weeks ago. I began early in the morning when the air was cool, waded in, and started pulling the bindweed off the other plants by the armful. When I could find the spot where individual vines emerged from the soil, I detached them close to ground level. But that’s about all I did except for disposal, which poses a small dilemma.
Where I have been working on bindweed, I don’t have access to yard-waste disposal bins. I hate to bag and trash it, so I compost it on site, in the middle of the patch, on a quickly constructed base. When I finish pulling the vines in the area, I take a few moments to tidy up the compost pile and stomp it down to compost it quicker.
Since it’s blooming, it will leave seeds in the compost, but I’m not trying to eradicate the Hedge Bindweed in these established patches. I’m only trying to contain it, and to this end I’ve been working on a weed break around each patch. Along the break line, I try to get out at least some of the weed’s rhizomes. In the middle of the patch, I think it’s impossible to get out enough of the roots/rhizomes to make a difference, so I leave them be. In the past I’ve tried to get them out, but I think all I succeeded in doing was greatly disturbing the soil.
Next winter I hope to plant a dozen Grand Fir in one of the patches. If I keep the Hedge Bindweed off of them, the trees can grow up and eventually deter the Hedge Bindweed with shade. That’s my long-term plan for now. I’m open to any suggestions on a better strategy.