Drat. Crystal a no-show

Well, I thought that my second Crystal rhizome has sprouted, but it turns out that the dreaded bindweed has made it into my hop beds. Hopefully, when I poison them, it doesn't affect the hops.

I was going to replant the rhizome. If I cut off the squishy parts, do I need to let it heal before planting? Do I need to keep a nodule in order to get shoots?

I'm now contemplating digging up the Saaz that hasn't sprouted. Interesting that my one Saaz is doing the best out of all the hops I've planted.

Why are you going to poison? Can't you just hand pull the invaders?

Bindweed is pretty much impossible to kill without poison. My understanding is the root structure of one plant can stretch an entire block. Pulling up sprouts just grows new ones, though I'll probably stick to pulling within the hop beds. I'll be using Roundup elsewhere to try to take out the main plant(s). My concern is the roots of the plant within the hop bed. I've read that it shouldn't be a problem, unless the roots have grafted together.

It depends on if it has established itself or not. If it's still small, you can hand pull it. You have to follow the root pieces, otherwise they'll propagate more plants when it breaks. I have this problem with Quack Grass and Goldenrod. You just have to be persistent in the hop beds (which is what I was getting at, just pull in your beds).

If your Rhizome is squishy, cut back as far back as you can. You would need a bud at least. I am not sure if you'd need to let it heal. It sounds like they are rotting, so I'd imagine you want to get them going asap.

If you keep pulling the bindweed up, you will get it eventually. Just wiggle it as you pull it out to get as much of the root out as you can. It can take a while to get rid of it though. Been there.

thanks guys.
Yeah, the bindweed is very established. Going to be a real task to get rid of it.

ChrisS68 said:

thanks guys.
Yeah, the bindweed is very established. Going to be a real task to get rid of it.

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I feel your pain. Just keep at it! And do not let any of them go to seed if you can. You have to watch them like a hawk. Just after they flower, go to town.

Hi Chris, I see that you are actually on the same Hops group that I am, I just wanted to re-post a snippet of information here

> If you're very careful, you might be able to cut the bindweed just
> above the ground and apply Tordon. It's a systemic tree killer that
> works by just applying it to a cut tree stump. It's not labeled for
> casual garden use so do be careful, wear gloves, etc.

as this might help someone else with the issue. Are you planning on going this route or going to try digging/pulling/rounduping it to death?

Hey conpewter,
I remember the discussion on Tordon. The thing is that it's not necessarily easily obtained, and I do have some concern that it might be overkill and about any resulting collateral damage. Also, as strong as it is, I wonder if it might kill the vine before the poison did an adequate job on the roots. Roundup is also a systemic poison, but is a little more user/environment friendly. Roundup also has a stronger poision for woody plants, from poison ivy to tree stumps, but again, overkill/collateral damage as it's not recommended for use in gardens or in close proximity to desireable plants.

I've actually read of people having good results using Roundup on bindweed. Sure, you could spray individual vines, but that seems to have pretty limited success, and takes a while to do the job. I've also read of people cutting the individual shoots and applying the poison with a q-tip, but with the way this stuff has spread I'd have to take the next few months off of work to do that. The most effective application seems to be to strategically select vines of the plant, ball them up and put them in some sort of containter with a slightly dilute solution of Roundup. Obviously you want to set up the container so it can't inadvertently spill or what have you. The reasoning behind using a dilute mix is to make sure the plant gets a good drink of the stuff so it gets well into the roots before the vines die. The fellow who came up with this particular method (others have suggested putting the vines in a plastic bag and spraying them down) said that, before long, even vines across the street started dying. He let it go for a number of days until the vine was black and most certainly dead. Then he'd move to another spot and repeat the process. Beyond that, individual sprouts can be pulled or sprayed as they come up.

I'm planning on going at it this weekend, after I get my trellis up of course.