[Sadhbh]

Hi everyone, I have just joined! have just moved into a house with a good bit of space around it and have been working hard for the last few months to get some sort of shape on it, to say it was (and still is) weed heaven would be an understatement.
I read lots of advice here and tried to follow it on pulling out weeds at the roots etc and am making some progress... HOWEVER, my scaffolding and soil arrives tomorrow for my raised beds and the area where I am planning them has suddenly become COVERED in one particular weed seedling, it has also infested my small weed bed, am terrified it might be bind weed but am praying I am wrong......... I attach some pictures of what i think are it's various stages of growth and would be so grateful if you could help me identify it and advise me on what to do ahead of my raised bed building tomorrow!
Many thanks!
PS I hope I have done the photo thing right as I am new to all this.

[Greengage]

to me it looks like it verydifficult to eradicate. Best thing to do is grass area and forget about planting crops for a year or two. thats organic way otherwise go for our friend Roundup.

[Sadhbh]

thanks for the reply greengage, do you mean you think it is IS bindweed? oh no, this is awful news I am a novice gardener and have been so excited about getting all my lovely seedlings which I have grown and am growing in my greenhouse down, my soil and scaffolding is arriving tomorrow and I have put so much effort in at this stage I would be devastated to stop in my tracks now.
I dont want to use roundup as am trying to have an organic garden, are there ANY other options for me do you think? could i put plastic at the bottom of my raised beds? thanks again for your advice!

[Geranimojess]

You could try using a Membrane...the Earth you use to fill the Bed ought' to suffice for your planting...if you use plastic your going to have to perforate it to allow excess water seep out thus defeating the very purpose.

I covered a 1/4 acre in Membrane as part of a stone Garden and if one Weed a Week surfaces thats about my workload in that area...

PS...It has all the appearance of Bind Weed....sorry.

[Sadhbh]

Hi there,
Thanks for the replyAnd the advice, sounds like you had a great result! i have spend the day picking as many off as I can. I will get a membrane as you advise but if you had any particular types to reccomend or where I might get it I'd be very grateful, I will of course do a google search, but nothing beats experience from another gardener, thanks again, S

[Geranimojess]

Any good Hardwear Store...or B&Q will have what your looking for they are usually all good brands...if your building more than one Bed get all the Membrane at once...the longer the roll the cheaper it is.

Remember that the Roots can be anything up to 18-24 inches long on those pests and you have to remove all of it.

Good Luck....and remember if you can walk up the Stairs to Bed at Night after a Days Gardening.........you've done nothing.....

[Sadhbh]

thanks for that! will get on it tomorrow. I have never encountered anything like this weed before, am beginning to fear I am doing more harm than good by trying to get it all out, it seems like an unending task and I am worried I will spread it by cutting roots which I accidentally leave behind........ thanks again for your help

[Greengage]

Mypex is usually cheaper to buy in Patio centre or builders hardware as you can buy it off the roll up to 3 metres wide and as long as you want then you can cut it to size,

[Good guy]

Personally, with a pest like bindweed to cope with, I'd go the roundup route until it is eliminated, using membrane under the beds. I'd let the bindweed grow for a week or two, so as to increase the surface area of leaf available to absorb the weed killer and then let the blighters have it, with both barrels, so to speak.
Good luck!

[Sadhbh]

Thanks greengage and good guy, think i am going to use the membrane and keep the seedlings down by hand, the thing is I have done an extensive search and can find NO adult bindweed around our property, we live in the countryside and there are no other gardens for maybe 300 meters on any side and I've checked the nearby fields and nothing....no bind weed....I suspect what may have happened and I'd be interested in what you guys think, is that I stupidly rotovated and I think I stirred up some dormant seeds? as this is the area around which they are coming up...what is weird though is digging down there are some serious root systems, so where is the bindweed above ground apart from the seedlings? does it only start growing in May? so confused....

[Margo]

If it is bindweed and you've done a lot of clearing it will come up from nowhere. Also as you say if you rotavated you only want the smallest pice of root and it will take over. I would also use roundup to eliminate it then you can go organic.

[tippben]

I'd also use glyphosate. If you really don't want to, you could use a flame gun/weed wand, which will work in time, but all that propane isn't particularly green either!

[medieval knievel]

would solarising the soil be worth trying?
that obviously depends on how sunny it is in the next while...

[Sadhbh]

heard about the flame alright tippben, and may end up giving it a go , think I am going to try and fight it by hand first then reconsider next year based on how I'm doing....I'm probably foolish and will be engulfed by the stuff by then I dont think I could solarise the soil apparently the roots can go down 30 foot! I dont know if that's true or not but nothing would surprise me with this evil thing...

[Geranimojess]

I stand to be corrected but the Flame Gun only burns the visible part of the Weed above the ground...your still left with the Root which is the whole problem...

Me think'et its back to the Drawing Board;