I've never heard of any solution besides pulling the stuff out. Wonder how well the Bindweed Gall Mite works???

Copperlilac
Zone 5 but I'm beginning to wonder about it too ;)

Hi milwdave. I know I'm a little late to your inquiry, but I'm here to say that I've survived a terrible bout of bindweed. I'm sure it came along with some perennials I purchased from Bluestone, because the summer we planted those perennials the bindweed suddenly emerged all over the place. My solution was to pull, pull, pull out the vines whenever I was in the garden and then, during its growing periods (spring & summer) I painted on a broadleaf weed killer once a week for about 3 weeks straight. I'd call myself a 98% organic gardener, but this bindweed invasion was so intense and so overwhelming that I had to bring the big chemical guns out.

The bindweed didn't go away immediately, but I have to say that I really weakened it over time. By the second year, I was able to manage it by pulling the vines out once a week. The year after that, there were hardly any established vines to be found. I'll bet that will be the case again this year.

Another thing: Don't let any flowers form, because then it will self-sow all over the garden. Good luck & godspeed!

I am a peacemaker between gardeners and bindweed. These plants are not all that bad as you think they are. I hope scientific research can be done to prove that these "weeds" are actually beneficial.
Here's my theory: The roots go down very deep--I heard up to 17ft.; maybe that's an extreme estimate. However, they do go down deep 'cause I never seen the end of any of them! That means they are bring up all the nutrients that are washed by rain and watering. Another thing about the roots is that perhaps they are loosening the soil so that the garden plants grow their roots more deeply. Did you ever notice the spiral effect when pulling up bindweed?

My garden does very well where these weeds are present and not so good where they are not present or are scarce. Yes I have to fight them all the time along with other weeds so it is not so big of a deal. Then when the garden plants mature bindweed weaken and sometimes are working for me. For instance, they hold up the bean plants by wrapping themselves around them at the base. They shade the tomatoes when they are ripening.
I've got so familiar with this weed that now he is my garden friend. Bindweed comes and we chat and then I turn him away. He comes back and visits again and I turn him away again. Finally, I let him stay and we have a wonderful garden with him. Next spring I think he'll be much more lush than before. But I don't mind 'cause it's all the more fertilizer for the garden. I will miss you Bindweed if you never came back to see me again!!

Wow bindweed is evil. I read if your garden has bindweed the best thing you can do is MOVE!

Bindweed has a strong, aggressive root system. While that makes it a bear to deal with using conventional methods, its strength becomes its weakness against herbicides.

Carefully isolating strong roots and applying undiluted triclopyr using the cut-stump method will destroy a Bindweed infestation. To protect neighboring plants, double-bag (I use sandwich bags) the applications and zip tie.

Grapevine, Trumpet Creeper, Virginia Creeper, and Bindweed are infestations I can attest, through personal experience, this method absolutely destroys. The zip tie protection works perfectly too - it's not the herbicide itself that leeches through the roots but the mutating effects of the chemical, and those are specific to the plant on which it is applied. (I soaked three large Trumpet Creeper stumps less than two feet away from a precious Rambler of mine - Sprouts 10' away from the stumps were dying and the Rose was unaffected.)

I personally use Southern Crossbow, a plastic cup, and a small Jen foam brush (box store brushes can't handle much without the glue failing, but a small Jen brush should be 40 cents or so at a paint store.) Because invasive vine root systems are expansive, apply to both sides of the cut, secure the baggies, look for another strong root, and repeat. If your brush gets saturated, just press out the excess on the inside of the cup - you don't want rogue drops of triclopyr flying about willy-nilly.