While I love looking at mg's, they have overtaken part of my veggie garden and are very much a problem. Any tips on removing them?!

What kind are they? If they're the annual variety, usually they're pretty easy to just yank out.

Mel, you may have an ugly relative of the beloved MG "Bindweed" It is truly trouble. The roots are said to be feet down. Anyway, I pray for you. Arum

Sounds like it might very well be, Arum. Melissa, do you have a photo of the plant and it's blooms? If it is bindweed, it is very difficult to get rid of. And if you try to rototill the area, you just make more. And in a veggie garden, you probably don't want to use RoundUp. Eeek. Hope it's just some overly friendly I. purpureas! They do try to take over my garden, but are easily yanked.

Well Woofie, I'm not an expert on Bindweed, but if you see light pink to white small blooms, very thin binding vines, it's probably the said booger. Oh my.

Yup, that's what they look like. Flowers are just shy of an inch across, as I remember. We had to fight them when we lived in Oregon; tried to take over everywhere! Thank goodness we don't have them here!

Arum

Marilyn, thank you! Glad to be here!!!

If you don't want to spray an herbicide in the garden and the vine is well established, you can stuff a bunch of it into a plastic bag - while still attached to the roots - and pour some RoundUp or similar product into the bag, close it tightly and wait for it to make its way through the whole plant.

Good luck getting rid of the plant that gives morning glories the bad reputation. Try painting Roundup on the plant leaves and vines near where the crown is in the soil and cut the rest of the vine off. I would think the Roundup would travel down the plant killing it as it goes. I suppose whatever survives will return but you will have weakened it with this action. Just be careful not go get any of the Roundup on your skin. Isn't Roundup marketed in a spray bottle? If so you can use a coarse stream and hose the morning glory as I described. Let us know what results you get, ok?

I have wondered if you could put RoundUp in a syringe and inject it into the plant. I have hollyhocks growing in and around desirable plants and it's very difficult to get them out.

Woofie, please try it and let us know!

I intend to. Just haven't gotten around to it yet. And I'm wondering if I should use it at normal strength or stronger. Think I'll try it at normal strength first and see what happens. Heh, I have LOTS of hollyhocks to experiment with.

Hmmmm....maybe I have a poser giving MGs a bad rap! I'll photograph when it pops up again and share with you guys. I hand dug out everything and there isn't anything at the moment....maybe it has just been reseeding itself...

Bindweed is the bane of my existence. I thought I had escaped it's evil grip when I moved from Utah to Idaho. As soon as we arrived here last Tuesday, it was too dark to see anything, but I saw none of those little white or pink blooms in the dark, so I was happy. Ya, I know, they don't bloom in the dark! Early next morning, I walked out to the lawn, and it was EVERYWHERE. I almost cried!

After unloading the moving truck, my husband decided that the 3 acres of lawn needed to be mowed so that we could find the dogs. They aren't small dogs. The lawn was just REALLY tall since it hadn't been mowed yet this year, and it had been raining for weeks. Once he got a small second mowed (that is all he has mowed. Three acres is too much!), I realized that the bindweed wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was. I was so relieved! I talked to the neighbor down the road, and she said she just sprays her whole lawn with Weed be Gone every year, and it stays out of the lawn until the following year. So, I headed into town, and bought a bottle of it that you attach to the hose. The wind has been blowing way to hard to spray yet, but I'm ready if it ever stops blowing!

The good news is that I have been weeding the large veggie garden the last two days, and was surprised to find only one little bindweed in there. I figured that if it was in the lawn, the entire garden must be full of it, but it wasn't! I know that the previous owners of this place would rototill the garden every year (they sold veggies at the farmer's market), and figured that those roots would have been chopped into a million pieces, creating a million new plants, but I lucked out! I brought my rototiller, and figured that I wouldn't be able to use it, but now I know that I can!

I've always used roundup on that terrible weed, and it has never done a bit of good. I'll try the weed be gone instead, and see if that works.

Relax Natalie, you're not gonna get rid of that...
Why not build up a trellis or something for it, so at least you could enjoy the blooms?


I have no idea how to get rid of it. I only use a small knife-like tool to dig a bit around the plant and then pull at it... but more and more come back

Seems to me that I've heard that it's more effective to use Roundup on bindweed in the fall, rather than the spring.

Calin, I'd love to relax about it, but can't. That stuff stresses me out to no end! I also have over 12 acres, and I don't want it to spread any further than it is. I know I can't get rid of it, but if I can keep it from taking over, I'll be a little happier about it. The neighbor who said she has it and uses weed be gone in the spring said that weed be gone has worked really well for her. I saw none at all in her yard. It always comes back in the Spring, but she said it has never spread, and she doesn't see it the rest of the year as long as she sprays it.

How would I put trellis up on 12 acres? That gave me the giggles! Thanks!

You could train a platoon of goats to eat the dress bindweed, instructing them to take no prisoners.

Um, on second thought that's probably a B-A-A-A-A-D idea.

I've tried to talk my Dad into bringing his goats and horse over, but he refused! He's 8 hours away, so I guess it's a valid reason, but I'm still working on him. He said I'd flatten the tires on the horse and goats, along with the trailer, so that he couldn't get them back home. I told him the goat tires were safe. I just needed to borrow them. The rest would have to stay though.

Now if that brush hog we ordered would arrive, we can get the rest of the lawn mowed!

The wind finally stopped blowing earlier, but I was in the veggie garden, pulling the rest of the weeds so that I can get my daylilies planted in there. Just when I thought I would take a break and spray the lawn with the weed be gone, the wind started up again. I knew it wouldn't last, but 5 minutes? Seriously? I got 5 minutes of no wind? Oh well, I did enjoy it!