How Can I Control Field Bindweed?

Do you want to try controlling field bindweed with cultural control methods?

Do you want to prevent a field bindweed infestation?

Do you want to control field bindweed with cultivation?

Do you want to control field bindweed using landscape fabrics?

Do you have a field bindweed infestation in ornamental areas?

Do you have a field bindweed infestation in orchard or vineyard areas?

Do you have a field bindweed infestation in non-crop areas?

Purchase and plant clean seed and ornamental stock, remove any seedlings before they become perennial plants, and prevent any plants from producing seed. If topsoil is introduced to a site, it should be free of roots, rhizomes, seeds, and other bindweed propagules. It is important to control new infestations when they are small because spot control is the least expensive and the most effective strategy.

Seedlings of field bindweed are easy to control with cultivation, but only for about 3 to 4 weeks after germination. After that, perennial buds are formed, and successful control is much more difficult. Cultivation or hoeing has been partially effective in reducing established stands of field bindweed. Cultivate about every 2 to 3 weeks and repeat whenever necessary. In conjunction with cultivation, withholding water to dry the site might help to reduce the perennial population in the summer season.

Landscape fabrics like polypropylene and polyester and other mulches like black plastic or cardboard have been effective for bindweed control if no light is allowed to reach the soil and the plant. The edges of the fabric must overlap so that the bindweed stems can’t grow between the sheets and into the light.

Experiments in some annual and perennial crops have demonstrated the effect of shade on bindweed growth. In these studies, alfalfa, cereal grains, sorghums, and corn partially reduced bindweed growth. Shade from shrubs and trees also should reduce growth, especially if there is another planting under the trees and the bindweed isn’t allowed to climb above the foliage of these plants.

In ornamental landscape settings, field bindweed grows between and up through the canopy of plants. For control, products containing trifluralin, oryzalin, or pendimethalin applied before emergence will reduce perennial shoots and control the germinating seedlings, but they won’t kill established bindweed plants. In open areas where there are no desirable plants, a 2 percent solution of glyphosate is effective when bindweed plants are actively growing with no moisture stress.

In orchards or vineyards where bindweed is growing beneath the branches or canes, glyphosate can be applied safely to the bindweed under the woody crop plants without injuring them, as long as tree suckers or low hanging branches aren’t sprayed. For best control, apply glyphosate to the bindweed in fall when the bindweed is actively growing; however, spring treatment has the additional benefit of reducing seed production, vigor, and spread of the plant.

In areas outside the landscape or orchard, cultivation and herbicide treatment can be used. If herbicides are to be used, treat the bindweed plants before they are drought-stressed. Use a translocated herbicide, like glyphosate, or a combination of glyphosate and dicamba, in areas where its use is allowed, when the plant is actively growing. Re-treatments will be necessary to control both established plants and seedlings.

In turfgrass areas field bindweed normally isn’t a problem because frequent mowing reduces its vigor, though once established it will persist. Mowing the turfgrass won’t get rid of established bindweed. Bindweed often will flower above the turf. For control, products containing 2,4-D and/or dicamba have been effective without injuring the grass turf. More than one application will have to be made during the summer growing season.