In message , Magwitch
writes
We are trying to patch a 5 metre section of hedge destroyed during
re-building our house 2 years ago. The hedge we've planted is a mixture of
hawthorn, maple, beech and hornbeam against a field.

I'd have been inclined to hit the planting zone regularly with diluted
glyphosate for most of the previous season against bindweed. Funnily
enough bindweed has recently (last 3 years) appeared as a pest in local
gardens. Mostly we have ground elder on the field boundaries.

The worst weeds being
goose-grass and bindweed. The whole bank is infested with it and it smothers
the hedglings. I've read that it's better to kill it later in the year
(around flowering time) rather than earlier on. Is this true? It's a devil
to unravel without breaking off hedge shoots.

You could try providing some canes for the bindweed to grow up. I favour
a combination of continuous chemical attack with dilute glyphosate and
physical removal of any shoots I see ASAP.

Whenever the stuff has its leaves in sunlight it is making more of that
horrid white root that snaps whenever you dig it out. A fork and a bulb
planting trowel are useful accessories for weeding it out.

Established hedges can cope with bindweed - but small saplings might
disappear under it.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown