How to get rid of wild morning glories?

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We are trying to get rid of the wild morning glory vines in our pastures. Round-up kills the plant but not the root, and they keep spreading. We heard or read somewhere that the plants are poisonous to sheep and goats. Is this even true and if so, which part(s) of the plant? Any other ideas on how to get rid of it? Thanks!

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), June 05, 2001

Answers

My bet is that what you actually have is called bindweed. Looks just like morning glory. It probably is related.

Once you have it, it can be one of the most difficult weeds to control. It has a root system that can go 25 feet down. A large patch might actually be one plant. It spreads with underground rhizomes as well as seeds from the flowers.

Because it has such a large plant structure underground, it can survive all sorts of attacks. Further, if you remove all bindweed in one area, bindweed in another area might still have access to the sun to feed the same, huge plant.

Controlling it in a meadow is a little easier than in a garden. Tall, thick, healthy grass usually does a good job of out competing it.

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), June 06, 2001.


I know it's poisonous to sheep and cattle, but not instantly so. I have seen goats wipe it out, and continue living, and although I didn't see any results of veterinary inspections, they still seemed healthy. I've also seen determined humans control it by pulling it out, following it back to the roots as they went, uprooting it, and then repeatedly using Roundup on any regrowth. Goats are much easier, but you may have to let them clear everything - the area I saw was eaten bare.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), June 06, 2001.

Jean, a friend of mine had it in her garden. I helped her solarize it every spring for several seasons and eventually she got rid of it from the garden. She continued to pull it from around her yard and with a thick sod, she got it under control. It was work. I moved away after 4 years and don't know what happened then.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), June 06, 2001.

I had a request for some roots of the plants- Julie, will you please email me again? My computer crashed last week and I lost all my info in my files, including your address. Please let me hear from you!

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), June 20, 2001.

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