In Home Gardens

General Treatment Info

Bindweed can be treated in a vegetable garden only with Roundup herbicide. Using 2,4-D Amine in a garden crop area will kill or severely damage your broadleaf vegetable crop.

Bindweed that is well-established is very hard to kill. It will take a few years of effort to rid your garden of bindweed. Remember that you are battling a very deep root system and that if you let the bindweed keep building root reserves you will never get rid of it; you must be persistent. Persistence over the course of many years is the only thing that can kill an established bindweed plant. Remember to read all labels for precautions and uses.

Spring Treatment

If you are growing mostly summer vegetables you can treat the bindweed in the spring before tilling your garden:

  • Spray the bindweed when it has runners at least 10 inches long.
  • Spray with a 5% solution of Roundup Super Concentrate (3/4 cup of Roundup per one gallon water) or other 41% Glyphosate product, through a pump-up type hand sprayer
  • Clean the sprayer well before using if you have used the sprayer with other herbicides such as 2,4-D Amine or injury to the garden may result
  • After spraying the bindweed, wait at least one week before tilling and preparing to plant

Bindweeds with well-established root systems may reappear before the end of the garden growing season but will give you less trouble in the garden.

Treating Bindweed That is Already Growing

To treat bindweed in the garden that is already growing you can also use Roundup by applying it directly to the bindweed with a paintbrush, using a 3:1 mix of water (distilled water works best) and Roundup. Mix one cup of Roundup with three cups of water in a clean container and paint directly onto the bindweed leaves being careful not to allow any of the solution to come into contact with your garden crops. Try to keep the solution free of dirt as dirt will inactivate the Roundup.

Fall Treatment

Fall treatment of bindweed in your garden is perhaps the best of all treatments. Bindweed will not freeze off as soon as your garden crops in the fall and you can treat the bindweed after the other plants are dead or dormant:

  • Apply a 5% solution of Roundup (or 41% glyphosate product) and water (as per directions above) to the bindweed after the garden crops are freeze killed
  • Do not spray your permanent crops such as asparagus
  • Best results will be obtained if the bindweed has a lot of leaf growth; The bigger and healthier the bindweed plants when treated, the more roots you will kill when you spray