Tis the season! Bindweed everywhere...
I agree with Paul's thought in the podcast, though either my kids arent as naughty as the ones he associates with, or they arent as good of listeners. Tough choice. I do find that persistantly pulling the bindweed does weaken it and ultimately, it does not regenerate again (for a few minutes/days/weeks/years).
Lately I have been getting pretty zen about it, trying to really understand what this plant is all about. My sense is that it regulates air in the soil. Too much air (like from double digging in clay), or too little air (compacted soil), and bindweed comes to the 'rescue'. Thick
mulch on the surface, too much air, bindweed inflitrates thick. When I get the soil structure perfect, so that the air spaces are ideal, bindweed goes away. Earthworms are the army that can repel bindweed.
As for animals, pigs
root it up, but like a rototiller, they leave little bits, and these bits regrow with a vengence. End result, pigs hurt the bindweed, but it bounces back just fine in time. I have found than any soil disturbance is bad soil disturbance when it comes to bindweed, pigs (unfortunately) included. For my
dairy cows, they like no plant more than bindweed. Seriously. They would rip it out hoof over fist all day long, ignoring lush red clover and orchard grass to eat bindweed. They graze it so agressively that they rip it out by its
roots. Too bad cows arent too passable in the vegetable
garden. Poultry of all stripes are worthless. No impact whatsoever.
So what have I found to work best? The seedlings are easy, and can be cultivated shallowly like any annual weed. But once you have established rhizomes, let bindweed fight bindweed. What I mean is, once it is there, let it grow a bit. Let the big bindweeds get bigger and stronger, outcompeting the smaller bindweed plants. Then come along and pull it. I find that the larger the bindweed plant, the easier it pulls. Like it has done its work, and allows itself to be removed. I see bindweed as a major tool of the great Gaia, working for health and fertility in the soil. If I fight and fight, it resists and resists. Bindweed wont quit until its
job is finished, IME. But if I can get big plants, like one per square foot, then they are much easier to deal with. Not that one pulling is going to eradicate it, but like Paul says, successive weedings weaken it, and it will relent. The worse case scenario is a million little bindweeds growing from rhizomes. That's a mess.
Sorry to wax so philosophic, but bindweed is on my mind. What are you all finding to keep bindweed at bay? I am not into sheet mulches, plastic mulches, etc- sorry. I have pretty much eliminated it as a pest in my
greenhouse. It is still there, but very managable. The 1/2
acre garden, well, let's just say its still got a place at the table. Working at it, working with it. Gaining.