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market-farming - Re: Field bindweed

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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Field bindweed
  • Date: Thu, 8 Aug 2002 08:50:59 -0500


I think this is a good strategy and a great example of understanding both
the plant and the ecosystem it operates in, then taking advantage of it's
weaknesses, using intelligence and persistance to defeat it. I thought I'd
also throw in the technique of using a vinegar spray to burn down the plants
in key situations. This can be important to address the problem of an
existing weed seed load of Canada Thistle in the soil. While the vinegar
spray might be an endless battle against established plants, seedling
thistle should be very susceptible to a burn down approach like vinegar
spray. Even if it took 2-3 sprays to kill the seedlings, it's inexpensive
and simple.

Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center

>Best solution I can think of that might work on bindweed is an adaption of
>the bare fallow method used by Anne and Eric Nordell in north central PA.
We
>used this technique on a half acre infested, and I mean completely overrun,
>with Canadian thistle and had pretty good success. We cut the thistle back
by
>about 90 percent. The key is to sow a winter hardy cover crop in the fall
in
>the infested area or an early spring cover, we used oats and crimson
clover,
>to smother the heat loving weeds during the weakest part of their life
cycle.





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