Bindweed in my compost heap

Been in this garden 30+ years; it took me years to stop a 10 yards long stretch being wrecked with bindweed from next door under fence. Patiently picked out the tiniest pieces, even put in 18" board below ground, and have been free of it for a few years. Between this stretch and my garage is a small area where I have a large plasticky compost bin. This spring I've found that next door's bindweed has found it's way through here, and is happily growing through my compost, and has its usual appearance as it poke through the opening. The bin is now seated on soil rather than the original base of old holed plastic bags.

My question is simply this: the bin is full of good-looking compost, which I'd hate to lose, but the weed inside the bin is festooned with what I can only call "feathery bits". Tiny thin white threads which are far too delicate/fragile to pull out of the good compost. I don't remember this with the bindweed I used to pull out of my soil; that was the only saving grace - you just had to make sure to find each bit of underground "root", being a simple white root, bag it and bin it. I'm sure bindweed veterans will know the stuff I mean. It's simply not possible to separate out this stuff. I'd just like bindweed experts to tell me if I can use the compost still, or will this hardly visible thread force me to dump a year's compost?

Incidentally I can only think the reappearance of the weed has something to do with me having the fence replaced, and it's found a new area to dig under and through.

 

I go with these being fungal mycelia rather than related to the bindweed. The mycelia would be more like a cobweb in appearence and strand radius.
A photo would help.

 

Make a barrow sieve*/screen, for use as you transfer the compost. Strands of bindweed will generally not pass through a 12mm mesh, if in doubt screen it twice and pick out any fragments as you spread. The compost is best spread on top and not dug in (no- dig techniques win!)
*similar to this :
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285296744996?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=EAIaIQobChMIxM6rkOyc_wIVyOLtCh2qUwMZEAQYFCABEgLp9_D_BwE

 

Thanks for all replies. I'm a keen rather than knowledgeable gardener, but after so many years of anguish I'm pretty confident in identifying my bindweed. I've attached pictures. Unfortunately I cut most of the bindweed back yesterday so I could see how infested the bin is, and start emptying it. I now have a bagful of weed which doesn't photograph well. I have photographed the only two areas which have bindweed leaves untouched. The twining was well underway, but only wrapping it's way round metal stakes, not my nearby Philadephus or Sambucus.

The bin(s) over the years were on rough ground, then sat on a mix of paving and aerated polythene bags. A third snap shows where I've pulled back the bags to show the white weed coming from under the fence from next door. At this stage it's like all the weed I've seen in the past, white with no hairy strands. Over time the base has got a little uneven, and it seems the weed has found access from beneath, as the fifth photo shows. You can see a little of the strands I'm worried about here, but the fourth photo shows the strands I'm talking about in a bag of compost taken out yesterday. Of four bags this shows them best, and hopefully they'll just about be visible to you. I guess there must be something in the compost - the bottom layers have been developing for 2 years - to make the roots develop "hairs", but I just hoped someone would have come across this themselves. As you say shiney, maybe I'll just have to dump the bottom layers to be safe. It's a pity after last year when I found my usually crumbly lovely compost was soggy and unusable; probably there was too much in the way of kitchen waste - mainly fruit and vegetable skins. This time is looks much better.

If this helps anyone in being more definite about whether the strands could/would result in more bindweed that would be good; if not I'll just have to bin the bags I've taken and will take from the bottom. Then dig out the weed from under the fence, resite bins and start composting afresh.

In the week that I've lost all 12 of my box to caterpilars, just as they were getting closer to making a display, it's tough to take.

 

I'm wondering whether it would be an idea to spray the compost heap and bindweed with glyphosate, being a systemic killer. We are told that it neutralises after a few days so shouldn't harm any plants after that. To be certain perhaps it would be best to leave it a couple weeks before using it in the garden.

I'm open to opinions on this idea from fellow gardeners.

 

You definitely have my sympathies.
I am fighting against the bindweed for 3 years now. Although I have a feeling it is getting better (digging up everything anyway was a big help), there are quite I few footholds beneath some bushes where I can't reach them.

Only thing that helps is to dig up the roots wherever you find them. And then let them dry in the sun for a few weeks before disposal.