Getting rid of bindweed in flower beds

I'm looking for a way of applying Roundup to Bindweed in flower beds - i.e. amongst plants.

I have tried the Gel. It worked out very expensive and the results were so-so (only did a single application).

I have considered a "cone shaped hood" on the sprayer nozzle, but my experience of using, for example, a sheet from a cardboard box to hold as a shield is that it gets soaked with Roundup and then becomes a liability! I expect that herbicide spray would attach to the nozzle's cone-shield and then at some point drip off it. Mrs K suggested inverting the Cone after each application, when moving to the next, to prevent drips.

Growing it up a stick to them dunk it in a jam-jar is not an option. I have large flower beds, and plenty of bindweed :( and I want to start attacking it whilst it is small to weaken it, hopefully fatally.

I am wondering if my best approach is a small container of herbicide and a paint brush. Another possibility is to wear a rubber glove, and a cotton glove over that, and then use that as the "brush" and stroke the plants. Not tired either technique, so no idea if one is better / quicker than the other. Right now they are only "buttons" of emerging leaves.

For me something on the end of the spray nozzle that protected adjacent plants would be best (quickest to apply) but I'm sceptical that I won't get runoff.

(Some collateral damage to plants is acceptable; we killed Ground Elder at a previous property by taking a collateral-damage approach, but Ground Elder has much bigger target leaves, and sprouts earlier in the season, so is a much easier "kill" IMO)

 

clueless1 wrote quite a long post on getting rid of bindweed ... here you go: http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/bindweed.43683/ (scroll down a little - post #12)

I'm sure there is something in his advice which may be of help to you, Kristen

 

Thanks. I remember that thread now Putting pop bottles over the weed is similar to my plan of a cone shaped shield on the spray nozzle, except that C1 leaves the bottles in place for a day or so which would let any residue dry. That's a great idea, except for the fact that we have billions (well, not quite!) of bindweed plants coming up, and only a modest number of pop bottles. Having said that, I suppose the pop bottles are only needed when the weed is right next to a precious plant.

 

For the particularly pesky wild garlic in my garden (the Roundup slides off the leaves) I use a sponge which I dip into a bowl/jug of weedkiller. I add a bit of vegetable oil to help it stick to the leaves.

 

A half inch paint brush dipped in DERV is pretty effective. Just paint the leaves of each growing tip - this is also a way of controlling equisetum at this time of the year.

 

I'm afraid phase one of my first bindweed war was to rescue (and quarantine) my few favourite plants, and then the rest were lost as a collateral damage in the initial bombardment. The cut up pop bottles were used after the initial heavy assault, so there were far fewer bindweed shoots to attack than would have been the case on phase one.

 

I would say yes Kristen.
We've used this method at work, where we had bindweed in amongst ground cover plants and alpines.
Make up a mix of Roundup and water at about 2:1 ratio and use a small, fine paintbrush.
You won't eradicate all the bindweed at the first attempt, but if you persist, it is very effective over a period of time.

 

Would it not be easier to cover the surrounding plants in plastic sheets or similar and then spray the bindweed. Once it's dried on the weed you can remove the sheeting.

In the past if a weed has been tall enough I've bundled as much top growth into a bin liner as possible then sprayed into the bag and tied it up until it dies, it works fairly quickly too.