I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I don't think digging down 6 inches will kill it all. And if your neighbor has it, too, I'm afraid you're going to get it back, even if you manage to eradicate it completely.

Bindweed is the most persistent weed I've ever come across. I'm sometimes tempted to reclassify it as a beneficial flower, since I could then encourage it.

Tia, there has been a conversation about bindweed for over 6 years on RMG. Read the link below thoroughly - there are some great ideas, half-baked ideas, poignant comments, and good humor.

My fight with bindweed goes like this,

I spray Roundup (equivalent) on it when it shows up in the flower garden. It is hard to kill so I expect to come back and spray again in a couple of weeks. If it's in close to a precious dahlia or something, I will even use a paint brush to cover the plant. I never try to pull it unless it is a 1st year seedling - that foliage is useful for absorbing the herbicide.

In the vegetable garden, it is a different ongoing battle. In my oldest beds & paths, it's gone. Elsewhere, it is suppressed to the point of sneaky reconnaissance or that innocent-looking seedling that shows up regularly. Some new places, all I'm doing is beating it down so it doesn't cause problems for the vegetables.

I once dug out 2 completely bindweed & quackgrass filled beds along my alley. Actually, it was once an alley but had been closed for decades. The ground behind my garage and over the back fence probably hadn't even been visited by some of the previous residents of the home.

I went through every shovelful of soil to a depth of 12 inches and eliminated the quackgrass but the bindweed came back. I think it is tragically easy to miss the deep brown-rooted bindweed.

One thing, if you use herbicides to keep the weeds from encroaching from the neighbor's property, the perennial plants like bindweed can be stopped. Seeds will still come across the border but seedlings are easily pulled.

Soldier on.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: RMG bindweed conversation

The roots to the bindweed go down forever--you will NEVER dig it out. A THICK layer of mulch ( to prevent germination of the seeds) and Roundup again and again and again. If you hit it every week or two for a summer you can get rid of it.

I hit mine with Weed-B-Gon yesterday, and by the end of the day it was wilting pretty well. I didn't happen to have any Roundup handy at the time.

My sister-in-law said to use a mixture of Roundup, Weed-B-Gone, and sticker-spreader solution and paint it on. I don't have the patience to paint it. Where it's too close to other plants for the herbicide, I just rip it out repeatedly, figuring that depriving the roots of photosynthesis has to eventually work. I've often thought of bindweed like one of those old monster movies where people shoot the monster with lasers and missiles and it just feeds on the energy and gets stronger and stronger! But I have found that it does get weaker over time with consistent pulling.

I've got what I call my bindweed rules.

Rule 1. Never, ever let bindweed go to seed. This means being pretty thorough in looking over your land. Mostly this can be done on a leisurely basis with a cup of your favorite drink in hand.

Rule 2. If you see a plant either pull it spray it or kick it off its roots with your foot. I don't care if you're dressed in your tux on your way to your daughter's wedding, pull it out now. Every second that photosynthesis takes place only increases its strength.

Rule 3. Mulch early and mulch often. This keeps blown in seeds from germinating and lets you pull up those that grab hold before their roots reach the center of the earth where every bindweed sufferer knows they go.

I didn't know what bindweed looked like so I looked it up & it's that cute little "morning glory" flower.
I took a walk around our property that's 2+ acres & that cute little flower is everywhere. We moved in last Sep. & were planning on leaving most of it natural except for the perimeter of the house, but the neighbors nearby recommend mowing quarterly.

Re: "Cute little morning glory flower."

Oh, yes and then there's that darling little tumor and that quaint avian flu virus and happy little earthquake. My father always called bindweed "devil's gut." I'd rather use that name because that's what it is!

Canyon Home, funny-

So, the bindweed does not seem to be around the close perimeter of our house where there are intentional (& ugly) plantings. If I don't start getting rid of the "cute little morning glory flower" throughout our property it will eventually take over?

This house has been on this land since 1972 and I can't imagine the previous owners doing maintenance like that. They weren't much into gardening because everything is out of control overgrown (& again ugly). They did mow the entire two+ acres bi-monthly I believe. Would that get rid of it? The bindweed seems to be growing only out among the wild grasses.

Thanks!

If you really keep after bindweed, you can more or less keep it under control. But once it's there, I don't think you'll ever eliminate it. I may be wrong, but I think the cockroaches are counting on bindweed to sustain them if there's ever an all-out nuclear war that obliterates all other life on the planet.

The feds are trying to control the invasion of field bindweed. http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/forb/conarv/all.html

At the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge on the Rio Grande mowing early in the growing season was one of the efforts to control bindweed. Unfortunately, "field bindweed mass (g/m2) appeared unaffected by mowing."

Bindweed exhibits some limits in low-rainfall areas without irrigation. At Thousand Springs Preserve in Idaho, agricultural ground was restored to a natural area. Some success was achieved "using a combination of tilling and planting competitive plants. . . generally does poorly if not irrigated." That may be good news for Amorgana in your xeriscaping and Charlene in your "leaving most of it natural" landscaping.

I guess I've noticed those limits here but it is not all that uncommon to find this invasive weed out in dry, dry areas. It must appreciate moisture, however, because when the rivers drop during the Summer, it densely covers the rocks.

They point out that it can be killed by black plastic but, essentially, the feds recommend herbicides.

Steve

To the original inquiry: now that you see what you are up against, the best thing to do is rip out the yard like you said, but also spend the whole rest of the summer spraying with Roundup or an equivalent. Most people agree that this herbicide is less harmful than the broad-leaf only ones like Weed-B-Gone, because it breaks down quickly in the soil. (Roundup/Monsanto haters and enviro-extremists, please start your own forum discussion thread offering your suggestions on 'natural' eradication of bindweed.)

Don't try to begin establishing your xeriscape until this winter at the soonest. When you do put it in, plan for spraying alongside your neighbor's lot, because like the others said, it will continue to creep in from there. So put in gravel along there, or woody plants that don't have leaves down at the bottom, so you can spray the bindweed. And the drier you can keep it along there, the better.