What do I do about invading bindweed?

ButterCheese

Hi all,

I rent out my house.  My tenants have complained that next door (actually over the back fence) has got bindweed growing in through the fence and it's strangling their plants.  The offending neighbour's garden is a complete mess, completely overgrown, I think the neighbour is physically and mentally incapable of maintaining the property from what I can see (i.e. garden is full of weeds, broken decking, old sofas etc).

My tenant doesn't want to spray what's coming through the fence as it might get on his plants and kill them.

What can I do?  Firstly I have suggested pulling it all through and chucking it back over, just trying to keep on top of it.  I also suggested he go and talk to the neighbour and ask if he can pull up or spray all of the weeds that are coming through.

What else should I do as a landlord, or what further advice should I give the tenant?

anselld

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/solve-problems/field-bindweed/

Keep_pedalling

Better to compost it or put it in the green bin rather than chucking it over the fence.

Martico

Keep_pedalling said:

Better to compost it or put it in the green bin rather than chucking it over the fence.

Don't compost bindweed, it can grow from small root parts - bin it

HillStreetBlues

In the past for areas that I didn't want to spray I used a paintbrush to cover the leaves with Glyphosate.

Sapindus

You can also get weedwiping gloves that allow you to just apply weedkiller to the leaves of the plant you want to kill.  If you get a systemic herbicide it will be drawn down into the plant and kill it.

A chemical-free alternative would be to maintain a mown grass barrier in between the bindweed infested area and the cherished plants.

fatbelly

I dealt with a bindweed problem using a touchweeder. Took a few seasons but it never came back.

However, we can't buy touchweeder any more and you can't get to where the problem is.

Dealing with leaves as they come through the fence seems the only option. Maybe use roundup gel

Had a thought. Can you sink a barrier into the earth?  It would need to go reasonably deep, maybe 12-18 inches, but bindweed isn't deeply rooted  so that should stop the roots coming through.

ButterCheese

My tenant isn't prepared to use any weedkiller. So he's decided to just keep pulling it through and checking it back over. Of course I wouldn't advise that if it's not actually coming from that neighbor, but it is. It's been an overgrown state for years. But they can't be bothered. My last fence was overcome with ivy from their garden which pulled the fence down. So I've put a new one up. My tenant is happy so that's fine

Hoenir

ButterCheese said:

My tenant isn't prepared to use any weedkiller. So he's decided to just keep pulling it through and checking it back over. 

Then the problem will simply get progressively worse. Bindweed spreads underground. Can pop up anywhere. 

strawb_shortcake

We used to have this problem, it only really stopped when our neighbours actually decided to do something with their garden, and dug down into the boundary and sunk gravel boards.

Snapping them as I understand it will just cause another run of bindweed. 

Someone did suggest planting potatoes or strawberries as their runs could become more dominant than the bindweed, I wad never convinced 

Grumpy_chap

The only solution I found is Roundup Gel patiently applied to each leaf of the bindweed.  Wear gloves.  The gel eventually seeps down and kills the roots.  It takes several applications.