In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

On 29/05/2012 09:48, weh100 wrote:
Hi, I have just purchased a house which has been uninhabited for many
years hence the garden is a mess. the biggest issue seems to be the
bindweed which is nearly everywhere and the soil is pretty much made up
of the roots of this. I have read plenty of threads on how to take out
bindweed but much of this is related to protecting nearby plants an
issue I do not have yet. is there a cluster bomb approach to taking out
this weed? is there any other advice on what I should do to get the soil
in a better state ready for planting prob early next year? or any other
hints and tips when you have a completely bank canvas?

I understand some q's are a bit open ended but any help appreciated.


You could nuke everything by spraying glyphosate (Roundup, Tumbleweed)
over it all, but that would kill anything under the bindweed which you
can't see, and might want.

And, in any case, spraying with a total weedkiller may not solve your
bindweed problem if it is spreading from the neighbouring properties.
If you can wait, it might help to let the bindweed die down so you can
see what's underneath. But if you are certain there is nothing of
interest then by all means hit it with glyphosate. But don't be
surprised if it does reappear next year. In that case, spray again.

I have not tried, but have read, of a bindweed-specific approach to
using GP (which may not prove effective in the "usual manner" per some
reports) that should leave other vegetation alone. Basically taking a
bottle of "more dilute than normal application strength" GP and placing
as much vine and leaves as possible in it, with the very tip of the vine
cut off (or possibly digging down to a rhizhome, cutting it and placing
both ends in bottles of GP) Take precautions so that pets/wildlife can't
drink it, and it can't tip over and spill on other plants. Claims of
wiping out whole areas of bindweed (ie, the stuff coming from the
neighbors) via the interconnected rhizome system have been made. I
repeat, I have not tried this. Would love to hear from someone who has,
though I generally avoid GP and just rip stuff out repeatedly - but
there are times I consider it - though more for creeping buttercup than
for bindweed, at present.

As usual, the web has many variants posted as "the one" - my best guess
reading them over is about 1/3 more water than normal for mixing
concentrate, gathering as much foliage as possible, cutting the tip off
to help with uptake, cramming as much foliage/stem into the bottle as
possible for maximum leaf contact with the herbicide, and leaving for
months, doing as many as you can make time for, especially since they
may not all be one plant. The point of "dilute" rather than "strong"
solution is to get the poison as far into the root system as possible,
rather than just killing off the tips. As the vines in the bottles die,
switch the bottles to any new vines.

Something (not bindweed related) from the web I have tried and found
lacking would be "dilute ammonia spray as slug killer" - while slugs and
snails dunked into a ~1% ammonia solution (water/household ammonia 5/1)
die, those sprayed with it seem to be moderately inconvenienced at best
- while somewhere I read about it claimed that even 10-1 dilution (0.5%)
of household (5%) ammonia would kill as a spray...

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