Convolvulus growing from seed. How to grow a garden bindweed from seeds

The gentle charm of the bright inflorescences of the tricolor bindweed captivates every grower at first sight and makes you want to plant it in your flower garden. Growing bindweed tricolor from seeds is a simple task, every flower lover can do it.

Bindweed tricolor - a perennial plant of the bindweed family with a creeping stem up to 3 m long, in our climatic conditions grown as an annual. The closest relative of the tricolor bindweed is field bindweed, a weed known to all summer residents. The plant is frost-resistant, rarely affected by pests and diseases. It blooms from June to late autumn, flowers bloom only in sunny weather, so you can tell from them whether it will rain. After flowering, a box with two large seeds is formed, which can be easily collected for sowing for the next season.

Reproduction and planting

Usually bindweed tricolor is propagated by seeds, although reproduction is possible by dividing the rhizome or cuttings. Growing from seeds is possible immediately in open ground or seedlings.

Growing from seed:

• IN open ground seeds are sown in late April - early May. They are placed in shallow grooves, which are covered with a film, pre-planting is well watered. The film is removed when the threat of night frost has passed. So that the plants do not interfere with each other, you need to thin out the seedlings and leave a distance of 25-30 cm between plants. Remote plants can be planted on other beds.

Advice! Bindweed seeds are large, so it is better to plant them one at a time away from each other. Seeds are pre-soaked for 1-2 days.

• Seeds are sown for seedlings in March. A mixture of their humus, peat and sand is poured into containers, disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or a fungicide. Seeds are sown away from each other or in individual containers so that the stems of grown plants do not intertwine. Containers are placed in a warm, well-lit place, watered infrequently, preventing the soil from drying out. In May, seedlings can be planted in open ground.

Reproduction by cuttings

Tricolor bindweed can be propagated by cuttings all summer. For rooting, the cuttings are placed in a container with water or planted in a loose substrate. When the roots appear, the cuttings are planted on permanent place.

Landing Care

Bindweed care is simple, and doing a few simple recommendations care will allow you to admire bright inflorescences all summer.

• For successful vegetation, bindweed needs loose soil with neutral acidity or slightly acidic.
• Place the plant in a well-lit place, although it easily tolerates partial shade.
• Planting should be watered as the soil dries out. Too abundant watering is not recommended, because. green mass will increase, and there will be few flowers.
• It is better to feed bindweed organic fertilizers. Before planting, soil or rotted compost, when buds begin to form, they make wood ash. During flowering, you can add to the water for irrigation. complex fertilizers but not more than once a month.
• It is important to regularly loosen the soil and weed the weeds in the beds with bindweed. You can simply mulch the soil under plantings, the mulch will help retain moisture in the soil and prevent the growth of weeds.
• Fading inflorescences should preferably be removed, this will stimulate abundant flowering.
• Plants planted in pots and containers need good drainage and additional feeding.

Disease prevention

Bindweed is rarely affected by diseases, so compliance correct technique its cultivation will avoid diseases and prevent the appearance of pests on it. Most often, bindweed can be threatened powdery mildew and spider mites.

• Powdery mildew.

With an excess of moisture, the plant can be affected by powdery mildew. Powdery mildew is fungal disease, which spreads very quickly and can in a short time destroy large area landings. It appears as a white coating on the leaves, similar to flour. If you do not start fighting it in time, it infects new plants, plaque appears not only on the leaves, but also on the stems and flowers. The plant dries, turns yellow and quickly dies.

This white coating is actually a mycelium, in places where it appears on the leaves, ulcers form. Fungi pull their plants nutrients. Cool damp weather provokes the appearance of powdery mildew. Also, the cause of its appearance may be improper watering, when the plantings are watered without waiting until the earth dries out. It can occur with too dense plantings.

When a disease appears on plants, it is necessary to remove the infected leaves, flowers or whole plants. If the flowers are planted in pots or containers, you need to replace upper layer soil, because it can contain a fungus. It is also necessary to treat the plants with a fungicide solution, and it is very plentiful so that it gets on the underside of the leaves and flower stems. The walls of pots, containers and pallets must be treated with the same solution.

To prevent powdery mildew, plantings are thinned, old leaves that are close to the ground are removed, and the flower garden is watered only after the soil under the flowers has dried.

• Spider mite.

This is a pest that appears on plants in dry and hot weather. Tick ​​larvae and adults feed on cell sap plants by sucking it out of the leaves. Many dots appear on the leaves, over time the leaves turn yellow and fly around. If you do not fight the tick, the plant may die. Females lay several hundred eggs in the ground in just 1-2 months of their lives, and they can be in the ground for quite a while. long time until the weather is favorable for them.

Despite the fact that the mite is called a spider mite, the presence of a web on an affected plant is completely optional, so it is not easy to detect it. If the plantings began to turn yellow, dry and fall off the leaves, it is necessary to examine the underside of the leaves, the presence of small black dots on it means that the plant is affected spider mite.

To combat the pest, first of all, dried and yellowed leaves are removed, which are better not to be thrown away, but to be burned. The flower garden must be treated with an acaricidal preparation, and the treatment is carried out 3-4 times with an interval of 5-6 days, because. the death of adults does not yet mean victory over the tick. Its eggs can remain in the ground, and after a week young mites reappear on the plants.

Prevention of damage to plantings by this pest consists in regular spraying of flowers in dry and hot weather.

Medicinal properties

How medicinal plant bindweed has been known since the time of Avicenna. healing properties possess wild varieties of bindweed, and specifically bindweed field. It contains a large number of biologically active substances, vitamins, flavonoids, ascorbic acid.

Infusion of herbs is used as an anti-inflammatory and diuretic in diseases Bladder. A decoction of bindweed has a positive effect on gastrointestinal tract, used as a choleretic and laxative. The decoction also reduces arterial pressure, has a calming effect on nervous disorders. For the treatment of asthma, an infusion of fresh bindweed grass is used. divorced alcohol tincture bindweed treat long non-healing wounds with the help of compresses and lotions.

Advice! It is necessary to strictly observe the dosage indicated in the recipe, because. the plant contains toxic alkaloids.

You can prepare medicinal raw materials yourself. The whole plant is harvested during flowering, the roots are harvested in spring or autumn when digging the site. The stems are sorted out, dried leaves are removed, the roots must be washed well. Dry raw materials under a canopy on a clean bedding or on paper. Store finished raw materials for no more than a year.

Bindweed tricolor in the design of the site and the house

Due to its unpretentiousness and ease of care, bindweed tricolor is widely used in the design of balconies, terraces, flower beds. You can use it as an ampelous plant by planting it in boxes and pots. With it, it is good to decorate a fence or outbuildings, decorate the entrance to the house in the form of an arch. bindweed planted around summer veranda or gazebos, not only decorate it with their elegant bells, but create coolness on hot days. They also use it when decorating balconies and loggias, you just need to install a support or tie up shoots.

As a ground cover plant, bindweed tricolor is used for decoration alpine slides, creating borders. In addition, it is often used to decorate curly frames, grown on supports, using it to create green partitions and walls to hide nooks and yards of the site and garden.

Growing a tricolor pack will bring pleasure to both experienced and novice flower growers with its simplicity and wonderful result in the form of cheerful bells decorating their garden plot.

Of all garden vines, bindweed is considered the fastest growing. It grows well on both horizontal and vertical surfaces. Bright greenery and surprisingly flexible shoots allow you to create unique compositions in home gardens. In nature, both annual and perennial plants are found, and the most common species is field bindweed, which affects agricultural crops and vegetable gardens.

Bindweed is a herbaceous plant and belongs to the bindweed family.

• Has a branched root system, which is capable of deepening up to 2 meters.
• The stem is thin, creeping, can twist around various obstacles, as it reaches a length of up to 3 meters.
• The leaves are solitary, formed on long cuttings and have an elongated ovoid shape. As a rule, their length is 3 times greater than their width.
• The flowers are quite large and bell-shaped.

related species this plant the field birch is considered, the flowers of which are slightly smaller. Bindweed blooms from July to September, each flower opens for only a few hours. Approximately this happens from 7 am to 2 pm.

It grows everywhere, it can be found in all CIS countries. Prefers loamy and sandy soils. You can often hear that the plant is called a weed, as it can spread through garbage places, abandoned gardens, and forest glades.

Due to the long roots, bindweed is difficult to destroy, not even all chemicals able to deal with it. After weeding, it grows again, as it can develop from even the smallest remnant of the root system.

Species, varieties and names of plants

To date, several varieties of field bindweed are known.

Popular among gardeners are:

1. Bindweed Moorish. A great option for vertical space design. In most cases, it is grown in containers and pots. Its shoots are covered with pale green leaves, the length of which reaches up to 50 centimeters. During flowering, it pleases with flowers of a light lilac hue.
2. Bindweed two-peaked. The countries of Asia, Siberia and the Caucasus are considered its homeland. Due to its characteristics, it spreads on arid mountain slopes, in mountain steppes and along sandy shores. Its slightly curly stems reach a length of 30 - 40 centimeters. The leaves of the plant are arrow-shaped, up to 7 cm, single flowers Pink colour. This species belongs to the "wild" and is used by gardeners relatively recently.
3. Bindweed tricolor is one of the brightest representatives, which is famous for its densely branched structure. Annual plant, reaches a height of about 50 centimeters. The plant consists of thin and flexible shoots, on which oval-shaped leaves are densely located. The flowers are funnel-shaped with a diameter of about 4 cm. But due to the bright and variegated color, they can seem much larger. The plant got its name due to the three shades on the inflorescences. blue tint along the edges it smoothly turns into white, and then harmoniously merges with the lemon core. Bindweed blooms from early June to early autumn. It can spread by self-seeding and still has a good yield. This species is represented by several varieties: Crimson Monarch, Blue Flash, Royal Ensign.

Please note that the star bindweed, which is also called the "Spanish Flag" or "Ipomoea Mina Lobata", is a liana, but has nothing to do with the bindweed genus.

Features of growing bindweed

According to its requirements for growing bindweed, it is similar to others. garden vines. This non-capricious plant is able to be content with little, and thanks to its abundant flowering it surprises even experienced gardeners. A sunny location or diffused lighting with non-acidic soil guarantees success in growing any kind of bindweed.

The maximum effect in flowering is manifested in sunny areas with high-quality loams. But on the other hand, the plant is not demanding on special conditions and is able to take root in almost any kind of garden soil.

Landing in open ground

As practice shows, bindweed can grow in any soil.

But if there is a desire to get a long and abundant flowering, then the following rules should be considered:

• best of all, the plant takes root on non-acidic soils;
• before planting, the earth must be loosened, and also connected with peat and sand;
• additionally, mineral or organic fertilizers can be applied.

Growing bindweed in open ground consists of several stages:

1. Seeds intended for planting are pre-soaked in water.
2. Before planting, it is recommended to add decomposed peat to the soil, it will accompany the rapid germination of seeds.
3. Grooves are made in loose soil at a distance of 25 - 50 centimeters from each other.
4. After planting in the ground, the seeds need abundant watering.
5. If there is a possibility of frost, then the beds with seeds need to be covered, the film is removed immediately after stable warm weather is established.
6. When sprouts appear, you need to carry out moderate watering.
7. As it grows, do not forget to thin out the plant so that it pleases with its strength and abundant flowering.

Seeds should be sown in mid-April - early May. For earlier flowering, you can grow bindweed seedlings.

How to care for bindweed

Plant care is minimal, as it can cope with even the most extreme conditions in hot summer months. Despite the fact that watering is not the main condition for care, the timely application of water will allow you to achieve abundant lush flowering.

Weeding is done only after planting. Delete withered flowers and you do not need to feed the plant. When growing on supports, you need to guide the weaving stems, which will allow you to form a beautiful composition.

Feeding is advised only for those plants that are grown in containers.

Protection against diseases and pests

The bindweed flower is one of the most resistant to diseases and pests.

• In rare cases, it can be affected by powdery mildew, which manifests itself in the form white plaque on the different parts plants. This fungal disease occurs as a result of heavy watering, poor thinning, shading. To get rid of the disease, you need to eliminate the affected parts of the plant. In addition, bindweed, as well as the ground under it, is sprayed with a fungicide.
• yellowing leaves with black dots inside talk about the defeat of the spider mite. Affected parts of the plant must be removed and burned. The rest is treated with a special preparation.

Exotic liana in landscape design

Today, bindweeds are actively used in the design of landscape design. It allows you to effectively hide empty spaces and crevices, decorate slopes, and also arrange areas unsuitable for other plants. Bindweeds can be used to create unique screens or temporary veils.

Due to the fact that the bindweed is one of the fastest growing exotic vines, it is used to decorate colorful weaving carpets, planted on microboards and in discounts.

The plant looks great in large flower beds, in flower beds, with its help decorate the residual narrow strips of soil.

Recently, more and more often they began to create borders from bindweeds. The plant can be grown on various sponges and frames. Behind a short time can be used to hide corners personal plot or divide the garden into separate zones.

except open soil, bindweed is grown in pots, due to which it is used to decorate potted gardens, terraces or balconies.

The plant bindweed star-shaped exotic liana also has many other names - the Spanish flag, lobed mine, lobata mine, lobed quamoclite, etc. The origin of the liana is tropical, in its homeland it is a perennial, but in our climate its cultivation is possible only from seeds and as an annual plant.

Description of exotic creeper

The stem of the plant is strong, twisting, reddish in color. Grows up to three meters in length. The leaves are three-lobed, heart-shaped, near each leaf there are also three thin stipules.

Liana flowers are drop-shaped up to 2 cm long, collected in spike-shaped unilateral inflorescences 15-25 cm long. The peculiarity of the inflorescences is that at first glance they are closed all the time. The flowers are initially red, which then changes to orange, and by the end of flowering the flower becomes a hue from lemon yellow to creamy white. The flowering of the plant lasts from the end of July until the beginning of frost, that is, more than two months.

Plant appearance

Star bindweed is interesting in that on the same plant there are flowers with different shade petals. Separately, this is not so attractive, but when they are together, a truly rare pattern is created in the flower bed. Nothing like it and changing every day.

Many gardeners appreciate it for the fact that during flowering, bindweed creates a whole carpet of leaves and flowers, the density of this living cover is such that under it it is impossible to even see the trellises or the walls of the gazebo. At the same time, the plant does not really need a garter. Unless at the beginning, and then the flexibility of the shoots allows the bindweed to climb any support.

There are few varieties of bindweed, more precisely, only one. Therefore, if you hear that there is such and such a variety of star-shaped exotic creeper for sale, then keep in mind that you are simply being deceived. Also, as the name of the variety, sellers, unknowingly or deliberately deceiving buyers, may use other names of the plant that were named above.

Soil preparation and seed planting

There are two ways to plant seeds: directly in open ground or planting to obtain seedlings. In the first case, the flowering of the plant begins traditionally for our latitudes - from the end of July. In the second, the beginning of flowering comes much earlier, and you can admire this process much longer, because it will also end with the arrival of frost.

Landing in open ground

Preparation of seeds for planting in the first case is that they are soaked in a warm howl for a day. Seeds that float to the surface of the water during this procedure are unsuitable for planting, so they can be safely thrown away. After soaking, the seeds can be planted in the ground, this is usually done at the end of April. After the earth warms up well. It is advisable to cover the plantings with a covering material in order to avoid frost damage, the latter is recommended to be removed as soon as this threat ceases to be relevant. Usually, the first shoots appear a week after planting. As the seedlings grow, they must be thinned out, leaving a distance of about 20-25 cm between them, this is enough for further normal growth.

Growing through seedlings

The second way is growing through seedlings. The method in our latitudes, due to climatic conditions, is considered more preferable than the first one. The beginning of seed preparation is similar to the first - we soak them in warm water for a day, we also remove the emerging ones, the rest must be planted in separate pots. We put 1-2 seeds in each container. We put the pots in a room where it is necessary to maintain an average temperature of 20 degrees and after 10-14 days you can observe the first shoots. We plant in open ground in May, the plant must be removed from the pot without damaging the earthen ball on the roots, and in this form we place it in the planting hole. We leave a distance of 50-60 cm between the pits.

seedling material

Many gardeners disinfect and disinfect seeds before planting, for this they are placed either in a weak solution of potassium permanganate or in a fungicide solution. It is enough to support the seeds in such a solution for a couple of hours before planting in the ground and the plant's immunity to various pests and diseases will be higher.

The soil can be used ordinary, dug out of your garden. But a purchased specialized one is best, or cook it yourself. To do this, mix in equal proportions humus, peat and sand.

Feeding and care

Caring for the plant is very simple, it is not particularly demanding on it, so even a novice gardener can easily grow it. But still, we’ll tell you what a plant may need during growth and flowering.

• firstly, the tropical origin provides that the star bindweed adores the sun. Therefore, we plant it only in the sun, no shade. The soil needs to be neutral - loam, sandy loamy soil is perfect for these purposes. The plant does not care about the summer heat, direct sunlight does not have any negative impact for his growth. But still, regular watering is indispensable here, in this case the flowering will be more magnificent. But you should know that with excessively abundant watering, an increase in deciduous mass will occur, but flowering will, alas, be weak. Or it won't exist at all;
• secondly, better fertilizers of organic origin should be used as top dressing, bindweed somehow “negatively” relates to mineral top dressing. And from organic it is best to use rotted compost, peat and wood ash. Ash is best applied at the beginning of the formation of flower buds - they will be more lush and plentiful;

organic fertilizer

• and thirdly, it is necessary to constantly loosen the soil after each watering or past rain. Do not forget to constantly remove weeds, but if you are reluctant to bother with weeding, then you can mulch the earth. This step will solve several problems at once: cope with weeds, keep moisture in the soil.

The care task is made much easier by the fact that in the case of star bindweed, dried inflorescences from the plant do not need to be removed.

Bindweed needs to be indicated in the direction in which his creepers should crawl. Otherwise, instead of an even flower carpet, you can get a chaotic heap with a bias in one direction. In addition, excessive density begins to interfere with neighboring plants, so you still have to take care of pruning the bindweed.

Insecticide

The plant shows striking resistance to various diseases and pests. For example, he can get sick only if there is a plant affected by the disease in the neighborhood. The treatment is simple - removal of the affected parts of the plant and treatment with insecticidal preparations. Also, the plant can be treated with them as a prophylactic.

Star bindweed after flowering

In the region of the Urals, Siberia and other areas with a cold climate, star bindweed is grown as an annual plant. Therefore, after flowering, withered leaves and inflorescences are recommended to be removed. If the flowering period has not yet been exhausted, and the weather is warm, then this will prolong the flowering of the plant. After the first severe frost, the vine is recommended to be removed completely.

It makes no sense to dig up rhizomes, as well as to cover, the plant cannot withstand cold winters. Self-sowing also breeds poorly. In this case, it is recommended to collect the seeds, and on next year plant seedlings. Given that hybrid varieties star loach does not exist, it is perfectly propagated by seeds, without compromising the quality of seedlings and subsequent plantings.

You can collect seeds in August-September, by which time they have time to ripen. More early fees will not provide good seed germination. Also, the seed material should be dried in the sun, stored in paper envelopes in a dry place. IN southern regions the plant winters well and reproduces well by self-sowing.

If the crops begin to thin out, then seeds can be harvested in the fall, and in early spring just sow them on the existing bed.

How to breed a plant

This is not difficult, because the roots of the plant simply freeze in winter frosts and in the spring they can be easily removed after digging the earth. Self-seeding may be difficult, with the further development of an ornamental plant into a weed. But if autumn is time to collect seed pods, then this can be avoided.

The name "bindweed" is usually associated with climbing plants, and more often with field bindweed - a weed that almost everyone had to fight on their site. Oddly enough, there are non-curly garden molds of this plant, very similar to the well-known climbing morning glory in the culture.

Rod Bindweed(Convolvulus) has more than 250 species of both climbing and non-climbing annuals and perennials. All of them are united common feature- the presence of funnel-shaped flowers, acquiring from various kinds and varieties of lilac, blue, blue, crimson, pink or white shades. They bloom early in the morning for only one day, but this does not affect the decorativeness of plants - the abundant flowering of successive flowers continues all summer.

In culture, two garden forms of bindweed are grown: tricolor bindweed, or small bindweed (Convolvulus tricolor) and Mauritanian bindweed (Convolvulus mauritanicus). These annual plants bindweed families are actually non-curly, densely flowering shrubs 20 - 45 cm high. They are most often planted to decorate balconies in planters or hanging baskets, although they can also be used as ground cover plants in mixborders, discounts, on rocky hills. Flexible shoots of Mauritanian bindweed, covered with delicate lilac flowers, form lush cascades when grown in containers and blend perfectly with others. ampelous plants. Large (up to 5 cm) flowers of the tricolor bindweed can serve as an excellent background for other decorative ones, not so plentiful. flowering plants. IN flower shops mixtures of seeds of several varieties of tricolor bindweed are usually sold, which should also be taken into account when planting it: a bright carpet of raspberry, blue and pink flowers with a golden center can be an excellent center of composition.

Bindweed garden perennial

For planting bindweed on the site, you should choose brightly lit places with any permeable garden soil. In partial shade, the plant will also be able to grow, but it will bloom more abundantly in the sun. Bindweed seeds can be sown in April - May immediately in open ground or in March for growing seedlings. Before planting, for better germination, they are soaked in water for a day.

Peat (2 - 3 kg / sq.m) is introduced into well-loosened soil in the garden plot in April - May, shallow grooves are made and watered. Seeds are not sown very densely in the grooves, sprinkled with loose earth on top and lightly tamped. The bed is covered with a covering material and it is watered from a watering can 2 times a week. At favorable conditions shoots appear within a week. When the danger of return frosts has passed, the shelter is removed and seedlings are thinned out (large ones are transplanted), leaving a distance of 20–25 cm between plants. Later, weeds are destroyed in the garden, watering is carried out as
soil drying out. It should be noted that with an excess of moisture, the tricolor bindweed grows well, but it will bloom weakly, and the fall of the buds and leaves of the Mauritanian bindweed may indicate insufficient watering. Before flowering, during the budding period, wood ash can be scattered between the bushes, and then once a month, complex mineral fertilizer (15 g per bucket of water) is added to the water for irrigation. It is not recommended to fertilize the bindweed excessively: the plant branches well from this, but may not bloom at all. Flowering begins in June and continues until mid-September. In place of faded inflorescences, fruit-boxes with seeds are formed, which should be collected for further reproduction, although bindweed can give excellent self-seeding.

Bindweed garden perennial fast growing

To get an early flowering bindweed on the balcony or garden plot, seeds are sown in pots in March. Prepare the soil by mixing 1/3 peat, 2/3 fertile soil and a small amount of sand. Among the seeds soaked for a day, hatched ones are selected and sown in shallow containers at a distance of at least 10 cm from one another, or in different pots so that the growing bindweeds do not get tangled with each other. At a temperature of 18 - 20 ° C and regular watering, shoots will appear in 2 weeks. They are not watered too abundantly, adding mineral fertilizer to the water every 15 days. In May, bindweed seedlings are determined on a plot for a permanent place, leaving a distance of 20 - 25 cm between planted plants.

During the cultivation of bindweed, you need to make sure that the shoots and sheet plates not covered rusty spots. When they appear, treatment with fungicidal preparations should be carried out.

garden bindweed known as unpretentious plant and at good care and planting in lightly fertilized soil, it can suddenly grow to unusual sizes, turning into a flowering mound for the whole summer. Decorate your balcony, stairs or path to the garden with these plants, and you will never get bored with such a neighborhood.

garden bindweed belongs to the genus Bindweed (lat. Convolvulus) of the Bindweed family. There are more than 250 species of plants in this genus, the main unifying feature of which is the shape of the flowers. Representatives of the genus grow in areas with a temperate and subtropical climate. scientific name The genus comes from the Latin verb meaning "to curl up" and explains the need of many species to wrap their stems around other plants, using them as a support. The most common among bindweeds is field bindweed - the same bindweed weed that affects crops and private gardens.

Planting and caring for bindweed (in brief)

• Bloom: from early June to autumn.
• Landing: sowing seeds for seedlings - in March, planting seedlings in the garden - in mid-May.
• Lighting: bright sunlight or penumbra.
• The soil: permeable, preferably loamy.
• Watering: moderate, but regular, especially in drought. The most moisture-loving species is the Mauritanian bindweed.
• Top dressing: if necessary, wood ash is poured under the bush or a solution of a tablespoon of Nitrophoska and a tablespoon of Agricola for flowering plants is added to 10 liters of water at a consumption of 3 liters of fertilizer per 1 m² of land.
• Garter: it is advisable to install supports for the plant immediately when planting seedlings: the sooner you guide the plant along the support, the easier it will be for you to take care of it.
• Pruning: at any time if necessary.
• Reproduction: The plant reproduces well by self-sowing. To prevent the bindweed from clogging the entire garden, remove its flowers immediately after withering so that the ripened seeds do not fall to the ground.
• Pests: aphid.
• Diseases: powdery mildew.

Read more about growing bindweed below.

Bindweed flower - description

The life forms of bindweed are numerous. In nature, annual bindweeds and perennial bindweeds are found. They may be herbaceous plants or semi-shrubs with erect or creeping stems up to 4 m long. Bindweeds have creeping rhizomes with filiform roots. The leaves of plants of this genus are usually simple, entire, alternate, petiolate, lobed or serrated, arrow-shaped or heart-shaped. The flowers that open early in the morning are arranged in axils one or three, or collected in inflorescences. The corolla of the flowers is bell-shaped or funnel-shaped with barely pronounced lobes. The fruit is a box with seeds that remain viable for 2-3 years.

Bindweed in the garden is the nightmare of any gardener, but ornamental plant bindweed is a fast-growing vine that landscape designers are willing to use. Its bright green, flexible shoots and delicate flowers able to drape any vertical surface. The bindweed flower only breeds seed way. To achieve maximum masking of the object with bindweed in a short time, it is advisable to use seedling method plant reproduction.

Bindweed seeds are sown for seedlings in March, having previously kept them in water for a day. They are laid out in separate cups with drainage holes for the outflow of excess water, filled with moist compost soil or soil mixture, consisting of one part of peat and two parts of fertile soil. Sprinkle the seeds on top with loose soil and lightly press it with your hands. Do not sow bindweed in a common box, because it does not tolerate a pick. Contain crops at a temperature of 18-20 ºC, watering regularly, and after two weeks, shoots can be expected.

Bindweed seedlings need to moisten the soil as it dries and fertilize with a solution mineral fertilizer at a low concentration every two weeks.

Planting bindweed in the garden

When to plant bindweed

As soon as warm weather sets in and the threat of return frosts has passed, bindweed seedlings are planted in the ground after preliminary hardening. Usually the necessary conditions occur in mid-May, although there are years when bindweed seedlings are planted in the first decade of June.

Choose a well-lit place for the plant: under the bright sun, the bindweed liana will bloom for a long time and profusely. The plant needs soil that is permeable, preferably loamy, although in general bindweed is not picky about the composition of the soil.

How to plant bindweed

The site for bindweed must be prepared in advance: dig up, introducing 2-3 kg of peat for each m² of area, and level it. Before planting, the seedlings are watered abundantly so that they can be easily removed from the cups. Seedlings are planted by transshipment of seedlings into holes located at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other. After planting and embedding, the seedlings are watered again.

bindweed care

Growing bindweed in the garden

One of the important points in the care of bindweed is its watering, which should be regular and sufficient. Moisture deficiency can lead to dropping of buds, however, excessive moisture will also not benefit the plant. In a normal summer with normal rainfall, you don’t have to worry about the condition of the bindweed, but if it’s hot, don’t forget to water it, especially if you grow an ampelous Moorish species.

The rest of the care for bindweed is simple: weeding the plant will be required only after planting, and as soon as the bindweed gets stronger, it is no longer afraid of any weeds. Growing bindweed may require the establishment of supports, and the sooner you do this, the better. Guide the bindweed shoots along the supports in a timely manner, and if the plant has spread too much, you can partially trim it without any harm to the bindweed. There is no need to remove wilted flowers or apply top dressing, but if it seems to you that the bindweed is not growing fast enough or blooming poorly, feed it with a solution of 1 tablespoon of Agricola for flowering plants and 1 tablespoon of Nitrophoska in 10 liters of water at the rate of 2.5- 3 liters per 1 m² of planting. You can also sprinkle wood ash under the bush.

Pests and diseases of bindweed

Bindweed is very rarely sick, pests do not bother him either. Powdery mildew can sometimes appear on it, for which the plant is treated with a Bordeaux mixture or other fungicide. It damages the bindweed aphid, which acaricides will help you get rid of - Aktellik, Antitlin or Aktara.

Bindweed after flowering

Bindweed is grown in annual culture, but if you want to save it, dig it up, transplant the plant into a pot, and let it winter in a bright frost-free room. In the spring it can be planted again in the garden. But since bindweed reproduces well by self-sowing, you will most likely see fresh seedlings of the plant in the spring in the place where it grew last year.

How to get rid of bindweed

When looking at a well-groomed garden bindweed I just can’t believe that his field relative can give gardeners a lot of trouble. But this perennial has amazing vitality and endurance. He is able to strangle any plant in his tenacious embrace, and if you find a modest bush of field bindweed in your garden or vegetable garden, start fighting it immediately. Try to pull all its roots out of the ground with a rake. If you failed to do this, and the weed began to take over the garden, you will have to resort to herbicides - Tornado, Roundup or Lintur preparations. Start by applying "point strikes" and repeat the treatment several times.

With the total occupation of the site with field bindweed in early spring, while you have not planted anything yet, dig up the soil, select all segments of the roots with a rake, and then cover the area with dark material that does not transmit light - roofing material or black film: without access to oxygen and light, with strong heating, bindweed unlikely to survive. But just in case, do not plant anything in this area this year except white mustard, which will not give the weed a single chance to survive. You can also sow fescue or bluegrass.

If the bindweed appeared in an already sown garden, you will have to weed daily, and the roots and stems of the bindweed with seeds must be burned. Herbicides are best used topically or after harvest. In autumn, the soil is dug deep, the bindweed roots are removed and burned. Resist the temptation to compost them because they might re-sprout.

Types and varieties of bindweed

There are not so many garden types of bindweed. We present you the most popular of them.

Mauritanian bindweed (Convolvulus sabatius = Convolvulus Mauritanicus)

- an excellent plant for hanging baskets and containers, whose shoots, covered with delicate gray-green leaves, reach a length of 50 cm. The flowers of this species are most often a light lilac hue.

Bindweed (Convolvulus bicuspidatus = Convolvulus fischerianus)

originally from Asia, Siberia and the Caucasus, where it grows on the dry slopes of the mountains, along the sandy banks of the rivers and in the mountain steppes. It has recumbent, ascending, slightly curly stems 30-40 cm long, glabrous or pubescent, arrow-shaped leaves on petioles 3 to 7 cm long and solitary pink flowers on long peduncles.