How to get rid of bindweed
Here’s how to get rid of bindweed: starve its deep roots. Cut, hoe or pull every shoot every two to three weeks, never let it flower, and treat established plants with a systemic herbicide when they bloom or in fall before frost. Never till it, and plan on several seasons: bindweed roots go many feet down and its seeds survive in soil for decades.
Contents
Is it bindweed, hedge bindweed or morning glory?
Several twining vines with trumpet-shaped flowers get called bindweed. Telling them apart matters, because the annual ones are easy to control and the perennial ones are not. If none of these match, start from our weed identification guide.
| Field bindweed | Hedge bindweed | Annual morning glory | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Life cycle | Perennial, deep roots | Perennial, creeping roots | Annual, from seed |
| Leaves | Arrowhead-shaped, ½ to 2 inches long | Larger (up to about 6 inches), heart or arrow shape with squarish lobes | Heart-shaped or three-lobed, often 2 inches or more |
| Flowers | White to pink, about 1 inch wide, one to several per leaf joint | White or pinkish, larger (up to about 3 inches), usually one per leaf joint | About 2 inches or more, white, blue, purple or pink |
| Clue | Tiny bracts on the flower stalk, a short distance below the flower | Two large, leafy bracts that hide the base of the flower | Dies with the first frost |
| Habit | Sprawls on the ground or climbs anything nearby | Climbs high on fences, hedges and shrubs | Climbs; often planted on purpose |
Japanese bindweed is another escaped ornamental: an Asian Calystegia whose weedy form has double pink flowers that look like small roses. It spreads by roots like the others and is handled the same way. It has nothing to do with Japanese knotweed, a tall cane-forming plant that is not a vine.
Why is bindweed so hard to kill?
- Deep roots: field bindweed roots can reach 20 feet or more, although most of the root mass is in the top 2 feet. Whatever you pull, more is left below.
- Fragments regrow: pieces of root as short as 2 inches can form new plants, which is why tilling and careless digging spread it.
- Long-lived seed: seeds can stay alive in the soil for decades; seed 60 years old has been found to germinate. A patch that flowers for one summer keeps sending up seedlings for years.
- Seedlings turn perennial fast: about three to four weeks after sprouting, seedlings form buds on their roots and become much harder to kill.
How do you get rid of bindweed without chemicals?
Non-chemical control works, especially in vegetable gardens and around plants you can’t spray. It relies on one principle: the roots live on food made by the leaves. Take the leaves away often enough, long enough, and the roots run out.
- Catch seedlings earlyHoe or pull bindweed seedlings in their first three to four weeks, while they are still easy to kill.
- Cut or hoe every two to three weeksThrough the whole growing season, sever every shoot at or just below the soil line. Mark it on your calendar; skipping a month lets the plant rebuild its reserves.
- Never let it flowerEach plant produces hundreds of seeds. Removing vines before they bloom stops new seed going into the soil.
- Untangle, don’t ripUnwind vines from your plants by hand instead of tearing, which damages the plants you want to keep and leaves the bindweed’s base intact.
- Smother bare areasCover cleared ground with landscape fabric topped with bark mulch, overlapping the seams and sealing the edges. Bindweed can survive under cover for more than three years, so check the edges and any holes for shoots.
- Keep going for yearsExpect to repeat this for several seasons. Each year the shoots come back thinner and later.
Loose mulch alone rarely stops established bindweed, but it does block many seedlings and makes shoots easier to pull; our mulch for weeds guide compares the options. In food gardens, the hand methods above are the safest first choice, and our page on weeds in the vegetable garden covers the rest.
Never till bindweed: a tiller chops the roots into hundreds of pieces and spreads them through the bed, and each piece can become a new plant. Rototilling an infested bed usually makes the problem worse.
What kills bindweed?
A systemic herbicide, one that moves from the leaves down into the roots, is the only kind that does lasting damage. Contact sprays, vinegar and boiling water burn the vines on top and leave the roots untouched.
| Where it grows | Active ingredient | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Beds, fence lines, bare ground | Glyphosate | Kills any plant it touches. Apply to bindweed that is actively growing and not drought-stressed. Results show in two to three weeks; retreat regrowth. |
| Lawns | 2,4-D and/or dicamba | Selective broadleaf weed killers that spare lawn grasses. More than one application during the season is usually needed. |
| Beds, to stop seedlings | Pre-emergents such as trifluralin, oryzalin, pendimethalin | Reduce new seedlings and some shoots; they do not kill established roots. See pre-emergent timing. |
When to spray bindweed
Timing makes a big difference. Systemic herbicides work best on vigorous bindweed from the bud stage through full bloom, and again in fall before the first killing frost, when the plant is moving food down into its roots, especially after good rain. Spraying is wasted on plants that have gone semi-dormant from drought or frost. If you have been cutting, let the vines grow back a good amount of leaf before you spray: the herbicide can only enter through the leaves.
How to spray without killing your plants
- Unwind the vines from shrubs or perennials and lay them on the ground or on a sheet of plastic, then spray only the bindweed.
- For a few vines, wear a chemical-resistant glove and wipe the solution onto the leaves instead of spraying.
- Shield nearby plants with cardboard and spray on a calm day, so nothing drifts.
Read and follow the label for where the product can be used, mixing rate and re-entry time for pets and children. In the US, the label is the law.
How to get rid of bindweed in your lawn
Bindweed is rarely a big problem in turf that is mowed often, because frequent mowing weakens it. Once established, though, it persists. Mow at the right height for your grass, feed and water so the lawn stays thick, and spot-treat with a 2,4-D and/or dicamba lawn product at flowering or in early fall, repeating as the label allows. Our lawn weeds guide covers the fundamentals of a weed-resistant lawn.
Common bindweed mistakes
- Tilling the bed to “clear” it.
- Pulling once in spring, then letting the vines flower in August.
- Spraying during a drought or after frost, when the plant does not take up the product.
- Putting roots and seed-bearing vines in the compost.
- Bringing in topsoil or manure without checking where it came from: bindweed root pieces and seed travel in soil.
- Giving up after one season. Progress is real but slow; it is measured in years.
FAQ
How do I permanently get rid of bindweed?
Combine three things for several seasons: remove every shoot every two to three weeks so the roots never rebuild their reserves, never let a plant flower and drop seed, and treat established plants with a systemic herbicide while they bloom or in fall before frost. Once the roots are exhausted, a thick mulch or a dense lawn keeps seedlings from taking over again.
What is the best weed killer for bindweed?
It depends on where it grows. In beds and bare areas, glyphosate applied to actively growing bindweed reaches the roots, but it kills any plant it touches. In lawns, products containing 2,4-D and/or dicamba control bindweed without killing the grass, usually after more than one application. Read and follow the label for your site.
How do you get rid of bindweed in grass?
Mow regularly, which weakens bindweed, and keep the lawn thick with proper feeding and watering. Spot-treat with a broadleaf lawn product containing 2,4-D and/or dicamba when the bindweed is actively growing, ideally at flowering or in early fall, and repeat as the label allows.
Is bindweed the same as morning glory?
They are related and have similar trumpet flowers, but garden morning glories are usually annuals that come back only from seed, with larger heart-shaped leaves and bigger blue, purple or white flowers. Field bindweed is a perennial with small arrowhead-shaped leaves and white to pink flowers about an inch wide, and it comes back from deep roots.
Should I pull bindweed?
Yes, but pulling once is not enough. The stems snap off and the deep roots resprout. Pulling or cutting works when you repeat it every two to three weeks through the growing season, for several years, so the roots slowly run out of stored food.
Can I compost bindweed?
Not the roots or any vines with flowers or seed pods. Root pieces can grow into new plants and the seeds can survive for decades. Bag them for the trash. Young leafy vines without roots or flowers are lower risk, but most gardeners keep bindweed out of the compost entirely.
Related
- Weed identificationWeed identification made simple: grass, broadleaf or sedge, leaf shape, flowers and growth habit. Use the free weed identifier, then get the fix for each weed.
- Mulch for weedsMulch for weeds works when it is 2 to 3 inches deep over weeded soil and kept off stems. Compare mulch types, sheet mulching and when to top it up.
- Broadleaf weed killerBroadleaf weed killer explained: how 2,4-D, MCPP, dicamba and triclopyr kill weeds but not grass, the best fall timing, and how to avoid drift and tree damage.
- Vegetable gardenControl weeds in a vegetable garden without risky sprays: shallow hoeing, mulch, the stale seedbed trick, solarization, cover crops and tight spacing.
- Japanese knotweedJapanese knotweed ID (hollow, bamboo-like stems, heart-shaped leaves), why the rhizomes make it so hard to kill, and a multi-year plan that works.
Updated October 3, 2026