A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems weed advice needed

I've got wild morning glory that is driving me crazy. It's a very small vine, but it covers everything and chokes it out. There is no way to pull it up--it just breaks off at the top of the ground, and comes back stronger. We've put Round-up on it--the leaves die, and the vine comes back. I can keep doing that in open areas, like the alley, but it's in my ornamentals too. WHAT CAN I DO TO KILL THIS STUFF!! If I every get sick, it will take over my flower beds.

Thanks for your answer. A freebie for you--to kill stubborn damdelions--cut off the top that flowers even if the plant is dying, and drip 2 or 3 drops of gasoline on the base. This will kill it DEAD to the tip of the root, and not bother surrounding plants. We had some damdelions that were 3 years old--nice strong plants, that we had pulled up after deep soaking. They still came back. But not after the gasoline! A local farmer told me about it. But he had no answer for the morning glory!

Thanks, Penny. I'll try that.

Ordinary vinegar and water may work as suggested by Penny; I use it for driveway weeds but have not tried it on morning glory.

Also, try to deprive morning glory of:

a. sun/light...you can use heavy tarp to cover the area where they are growing. In the absence of sun/light, there's no photosynthesis, therefore no food will be produced for the plant.

b.water or moisture...avoid watering.

Try cutting the vine to the ground and when it comes back up about an inch or so high paint the new plant with full strength round up and a paint brush this way you only get it on the specific plant. I worked through a MG infestation several years ago but I was fortunate in that it was in an area I could just spray it and not worry about drift.

Is it morning glory or bindweed? Bindwed is near impossible to kill. (sorry) Definitely burn what you pull up. Even a small piece of bindweed can come back strong. I'd try 100% vinegar if the roundup didnt work. Or a harsher product like ortho brush be gone. I hate the chemical stuff, but the brush be gone even got rid of poision ivy and wild grapes for me.

round-up stays around in trace amount in the earth for years....use something natural! to kill something like that I'd chop it off at the ground and put some wet/heavy newspaper over the spot where it wants to come up...

If its bindweed it will outlast the newspaper tho. It can be buried under your driveway and when the pavement finally cracks here comes the bind weed. Thats where mine thrived.