Pete Hwan

Ooohhh... Bindweed mites!!!

Is there such a thing? Anyone know where to get some in the Portland, OR area? Where's your insectary?

I need to get me some when the weather warms up and the bindweed goes nuts. I can already see the bindweed start to break hibernation and bud it.

Here's a promising article on bindweed mites: http://www.colostate.edu/Dept/CoopExt/Adams/weed/bindweed_mite.html

Bindweed!

Thanks, Michael. Really appreciate the admonition. Looks like we're going to have to work really hard at this one. Hoping then that a combination on hand pulling out the root sections and siccing the chicken tractor on the unworked bindweed will make a dent.

This isn't the answer I wanted to hear. Not because I don't believe you, but because we have so much that hand pulling it seems like a insurmountable task. (I've been working hard at had pulling it from select areas already.)

Thanks again, Michael.

Fantastic write up! Makes me inspired to want to hit up the local coffee shops for their spent grounds.

Any ideas for keeping the coffee grounds from "crusting over" (and becoming essentially waterproof) when you apply it as a weed suppressing mulch?

Hi Thekla,
The shortcut to boosting fungal content in your soil quickly is to have your local tree trimmer drop off a few loads of arborist wood chips for you to spread over your yard.


Some people refer to this as "Back to Eden" gardening, and I have covered most of my extended garden and orchard with 12" of arborists wood chips. After a season or so, you can upturn the chips to see the white mycelium threads running through the decomposing wood chips, and of course I get all kinds of wild mushrooms (the fruiting bodies) popping up all over the place.

Google "Back to Eden" to watch the free documentary online. You can also see this link for a horticultural professor's view on heavy arborist wood chip mulch: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=1msCVY2mG5TdoASkoIL4Bg&url=http://puyallup.wsu.edu/~linda%2520chalker-scott/horticultural%2520myths_files/Myths/magazine%2520pdfs/Woodchips.pdf&ved=0CBwQFjAA&usg=AFQjCNE-WaIGLQgTJZbEJJnmfhWPbZD3-g&sig2=WugsoBQcemL-BL-ODkP18A

There's also a whole Facebook group on Back to Eden wood chip gardening.

Hope this helps!

Laughter. Well, I think I'm going to give it my best shot to keep the bindweed under control via chicken tractor this summer and see how that does. Since I'm not going to realistically pull it all out, I'd like to give the Dr. Elaine Ingham soil building thing a try, without letting the bindweed go hog wild and become so entrenched I can never get rid of it. Hoping that as my other plants get established, they'll be able to outcompete the bindweed.

I know there must be bits of bindweed all over my lawn, but that's not an issue because the grass keeps it under control. It's my garden/orchard areas where there are big swaths of nothing but wood chip mulch where the bindweed goes crazy. This is resonating with the "nature abhors a vacuum" concept and would be consistent with the idea of using bindweed as a pioneer plant.


Thanks, everybody for your replies. Hoping I won't be regretting this approach, as it seems like several of you have had bad experiences with it.

If you have further insights, I'd love to hear it.

Eivind-- where did you see that?

Marion, can you explain more regarding:

"With patience and regular persistance, bindweed is relatively easy to get rid of, as it doesn't spread sideways like the cooch grass or ground elder."

Tell me more about the not spreading sideways part. I'm trying to discern the critical insight here. From what I can tell, our bindweed spreads quite aggressively via underground roots.

Thanks.

My chickens seem to help control the bindweed as well. They don't eliminate the bindweed altogether, but seem effective at reducing its vigor.

We have a 50x50 foot deep mulched chicken run with fruit trees. Right outside the chicken run (our garden area, also deep mulched), the bindweed is deep green and scary aggressive. Inside the chicken run, the bindweed almost seems anemic. Doesn't seem like something at all to fear. There's a clear delineation of this effect right up to the fence line.

I'm not sure why this is. I don't get the sense that the chickens eat the bindweed. We don't see them nibbling at it. I was wondering if it has to do with the chicken manure. If so, that seems pretty mild, as we only have 4 chickens roaming 2500 sq feet, and the effect of their manure is buffered by 12 inches of wood chip deep mulch.

We also have 7 ducks, so later in the summer once the garden gets established, I want to see if I can introduce the ducks to manage the bindweed on the other side of the fence.

If we're able to use poultry to manage our bindweed at "anemic, non-aggressive levels," that would be quite a win.

Thanks, Stephanie. I have something like a quarter acre of bindweed. That's some serious work to deal with by hand! I'd also seem some interesting discussions about planting pumpkins to outcompete it. Alleopathic properties of the roots.

But with all that root mass underground... Paul says running as far as 30 ft down, shouldn't this be the perfect "low growing, high root mass perennial cover crop" as described by Dr Elaine Ingham? "Putting organic material under the ground where you want it?". Or is it too much of a noxious weed to think about that way?

After all, Permaculture folks are embracing their inner dandelion, right?

Thanks!