what is the vine , that grows in your yard , that looks like morning glory,, and how do you get rid of it

Question

we have strawberrys, a rock garden plus  in our yard,, there is a vine that looks like morning glory, that climbs

up everything in its path,, is there a way of getting rid of it with out killing the plants it climbs,,

Answer 1

It is a noxious weed here in UT  & is called Binder Weed.  The bad news is that it is very hard to get rid of the vines. You need to be cutting them back & let the vine die. It will get brittle & you will be able to get it off of the host.  It is good to cut it off at the surface, but that isn't going to kill it. The root system can be up to 10 feet deep & the seeds can be active up to 50 years. When I bought our house, the first spring I was greeted with what looked like a morning glory carpet.  Asked a neighbor who is an ag graduate from U. State U.  He said it was very hard to get rid of them, but perseverance would pay off. In the spring, I sprayed with a broadleaf weed killer that didn't hurt the grass. Then during the summer I kept the plants trimmed close to the ground while letting my grass grow about an inch longer than normal. The extra grass shielded the sun from the binder weed. It still grew, but not as very fast. Then, when fall came, I sprayed it again. That is the time when the roots are trying to store all of the energy they can for the long winter months.

It took maybe 3-4 years to get it down to where I rarely see any except on the steep hillside on one side of the property. Sometimes a new one will show up in a flower bed & can usually dig it out.  There is no real short cut to getting rid of this pesky weed.