Field Bindweed

Convolvulus arvensis L.¹

 

Family - Convolvulaceae

Other Common Names: Bindweed, European bindweed, lesser bindweed, corn bind, possession bind, bear bind, cornbine, barbine, European glorybind, field morningglory, orchard morningglory, wild morningglory, small-flowered morningglory, creeping jenny, green vine, devil’s guts, corn lily, laplove, hedge bells¹

 

History

Field Bindweed is native to Eurasia and was introduced to North America around 1739 in the state of Virginia. It spread westward rapidly with the building of railroads. By 1900, all western states were infested.² By 1955 it was present in every Idaho county, occupying 140,000 acres of cropland.³

 

Noxious Weed Status for Surrounding States:

Idaho - Yes    Washington - Yes     Oregon - Yes     Nevada - No    Utah - Yes    Wyoming - Yes     Montana - Yes

 

Identification

Field bindweed is a perennial, viny, weak-stemmed herb. The root system and rhizomes are extensive, whitish and fleshy. The leaves are alternate, simple, and triangular shaped with deep basal lobes. The leaves vary greatly in size and shape due to environmental factors.² 

When growing alone the plant lies flat on the ground but when upright plants are growing with it, it climbs up on these plants. It normally grows in a circular patch but cultivation may destroy this pattern. The flowers are funnel shaped and are borne at the junction of the leaf and the stem.  They vary in color from pink to white and are about 1 inch in diameter. Blooming starts about 4 weeks after emergence and continues until the plant is killed by frost.³

Look Alikes -Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium) is native to NE United States, but can be found out West. Field Bindweed is widely considered more pervasive than it but Hedge Bindweed can be more competitive in humid conditions. To tell the two apart: Hedge Bindweed has larger flowers and leaves, and the leaves are mostly hairless, while Field Bindweed leaves are smaller and covered in tiny hairs. These plants act very similarly and both plants respond to similar management techniques.⁴

 

Further Physical Description

Flower - These are white or pink and are petunia shaped. Flowers are grouped one to five to a leaf axil (junction of leaf to stem) and measure 0.5–1 inch across. Leafy bracts at the base of the flower are less than 0.1 inch long.¹

Leaf - Leaves are alternate, 1.5–2.5 inches long, spade or arrow shaped, and borne on a long stalk. Lobes are triangular, with rounded ends.¹

Stem - Stems may be hairy or hairless and smooth.¹

Fruit/Seed - Field bindweed have round or egg-shaped capsules with two chambers, each containing one to two seeds. Seeds are gray-brown to black, with two flat sides and one rounded side. Capsules are 0.31 inch in diameter. Seeds are 0.12–0.16 inch long and coarsely bumpy.¹

They have hard seed coats that prevent absorption of water. Consequently, only 5–25% of freshly collected field bindweed seeds will germinate. Overwintering in soil tends to soften the spot where the seed attached to the parent plant and increases the germination ability of hard seeds by 30%. Damage to the seed coat (scarification) leads to 100% germination. Scarified seeds of field bindweed germinate over a wide range of temperatures, from 41–104°F, but percentage germination and speed of germination are greatest at a day/night temperature of 95/68°F. The seeds do not require light for germination. Scarified seeds all germinate within about one month. Unscarified seeds germinate best at a day/night temperature of 77/59°F.¹

Roots - The seedling develops a taproot from which thickened, permanent lateral roots arise. After growing laterally for 15–30 inches, these bend downward to form secondary taproots. At the bend, a vertical rhizome develops that grows to the soil surface to become a new shoot, and one or more new lateral roots continue the outward spread of the plant. Occasionally, rhizomes and subsequent shoots also develop from buds on the horizontal thickened roots.¹

Vertical roots can extend down 20 to 30 feet but 70% of the total root mass occupies the top two feet of soil.⁴ In undisturbed conditions, most of the thickened horizontal roots are in the top 6 inches of soil. Feeder roots form on both horizontal roots and taproots.¹

In a deep silt loam soil in Kansas, a field bindweed plant spread laterally over 10 feet from the point of germination in seven months and had roots penetrating to nearly 4 feet. By the end of a third growing season, the plant had spread outward more than 16 feet and had roots penetrating as much as 23 feet.¹

Dispersal and Propogation - The seeds pass through the digestive tract of livestock and are dispersed when the animals are moved or when manure is spread. The seeds are more resistant to elevated temperatures during composting than are other weed species and can potentially persist in commercial compost. The seeds commonly contaminate seed grain and beans. We have twice found abundant bindweed seeds in rye sold for cover crop seed.¹

Seeds also disperse in surface irrigation water. Migrating birds may disperse field bindweed long distances. Tillage and cultivating machinery spread roots and rhizomes within fields. Crops that are vegetatively propagated (e.g., asparagus crowns or mint roots) can be a source of field bindweed rhizomes.¹

As for propagating from bits of roots, there was a single 2-inch piece of field bindweed root planted in Saskatchewan which produced 25 shoots over the following four months and spread as far as 9.4 feet from the parent plant within 15 months.¹

 

Dealing with Bindweed

Prevention

Purchase clean seed, plant starts, mulch, and soil amendments. Be careful not to move soil or mulch that is contaminated by seeds or root/stem segments to unaffected areas. Prioritize preventing seed from setting, and disturbing young plants before large root systems can form (three to four weeks after germination).⁴

 

Susceptibility

Drought - Field bindweed can survive long periods of drought due to its deep root system.¹

Frost - The aboveground shoot dies back from frost, but the roots withstand temperatures as low as 21°F.¹

Shade - The bindweeds are moderately sensitive to shade. Reducing light by 55% reduced root growth by 35% and shoot growth 60%. In 80% shade, field bindweed shoot dry weight was reduced by 25–30% but stem length about doubled. Under heavy shade (95%), leaf weight decreased 39% but leaf area increased 36%, allowing the plant to continue to grow. Bindweed can overcome moderate shade by climbing on crop plants. With dense shade from a competitive crop, however, field bindweed cannot climb. With 98% shade cast, all shoots of field bindweed can be killed.¹

Timing - Bindweed spends all summer photosynthesizing and storing up reserves of energy in its roots, the greatest accumulation of which occurs in August or September. Bindweed uses the reserves in the roots to survive the winter and grow new shoots in the spring, so is weak early in the growing season.² Root reserves reach a minimum when the shoot is about 12–28 inches long and has four to six fully expanded leaves. Plants are most susceptible to destruction of the shoots at this growth stage.¹

 

Mechanical

Hand Removal - For small scale growers, hand weeding can be effective over time. A thick layer of mulch or compost makes it easier to pull up roots and stems with a hand tool. Removing new above ground growth with a hand tool every week throughout the growing season for two and a half years has been shown to be effective. Focus on bindweed flower removal to keep seed pressure down.⁴ Be careful in how you dispose of plants that have roots and seeds: roots have a chance to regrow and the seeds can germinate after a long time.

Tilling - We should start off by saying: after any cultivating and tilling, make sure to clean roots and stems from equipment before moving out of each bindweed patch to ensure you don’t spread the bindweed around your land.⁵

Full eradication by tillage alone usually requires continuous fallow for two to four full growing seasons, with consistent shallow tillage.¹ Tilling is recommended every 12-14 days until bindweed no longer appears. It is optimal for tillage operations to be performed in dry soil, when no rain is predicted, since low moisture content in the soil will increase the probability of root fragment desiccation (drying).⁵

Usually, such extreme measures are not economically feasible or environmentally desirable. Shorter fallow periods, however, can be worked into the crop rotation either before late planted crops or after early harvested crops. These will not eliminate bindweed but can greatly reduce its density and competitiveness.¹

After a harvest it is recommended to plow 6” deep. Once the bindweed re-emerges (usually about 12-15 days), till the area with an implement such as a rod weeder or a sharp duck foot style field cultivator that cuts off all of the plants. Repeat this sweep every two weeks until the bindweed shoots are exhausted or there is a frost. Cultivate in a shallow manner - only as deep as necessary to completely cut off all of the shoots, usually 2” to 4”.5

Begin inter-row cultivation of row crops as soon as possible, since tine weeders and rotary hoes are ineffective against young bindweed shoots. A tine weeder can be used, however, to comb larger bindweed shoots out of row crops, but at the cost of some damage to the crop and considerable labor cleaning the weeder. Continue inter-row cultivation as long as you can get through the crop. Use low-pitch half sweeps or vegetable knives set shallowly to cut off bindweed close to the row without damaging crop roots. If bindweed stems are longer than about 8 inches, avoid using rotary tillers, spyders or rolling cultivators, as the vines will spool up on the implement and you will spend more time cleaning the equipment than actually cultivating. Avoid spreading bindweed by scraping off tillage and cultivation implements after working in infested areas.¹

Flaming - Flame weeding can be an effective form of removal of top growth. Similar to tilling, burning must be repeated prior to, or soon after, each cycle of emergence (every two to three weeks), particularly effective in the heat of summer. Seeds, however, will not be affected by such short bursts of heat.⁴

 

Cultural

Cover Crops - The use of plants that grow quickly and shade out field bindweed can be effective, and are particularly useful where they germinate earlier in the spring and grow rapidly.⁴ Use a vigorous fall planted cover crop to compete with bindweed in the spring. Summer planted cover crops also can be effective, but choose species that develop a dense leaf canopy and plant them at high density.¹

In one study, forage soybeans planted July 1 in Minnesota killed every shoot of field bindweed, whereas less-shade-producing covers did not. Sudangrass and German millet were also relatively effective.¹

For vegetable farmers that are not land limited, a sequence of cover crops such as overwintered rye, oats plus peas, then buckwheat or sorghum-sudangrass, and finally overwintered rye plus hairy vetch, with disking before planting each cover crop, will suppress bindweed and prepare the field for a good vegetable crop.¹

Interseeding clover into corn at last cultivation did not control bindweed, but it reduced the height of climbing stems by half and the length of creeping stems by 72%.¹

Grain Growing - Winter grains and early planted spring grains suffer less from bindweed competition than do summer crops because their primary period of water use occurs before bindweed is well established. If a fallow period prior to planting suppresses the bindweed in the fall, winter grains will cast enough shade in the spring to effectively suppress field bindweed.¹

Perennial Grasses - Many perennial grasses begin growing much earlier in the season than field bindweed does, and can take advantage of limited soil moisture early in the season and establish a canopy that competes with field bindweed for light. Use healthy, long-term stands of sod-forming grasses or dense plantings of bunch grasses and legumes as smother crops. If using perennial grasses to compete, avoid early and mid-spring grazing or graze all plants in a short-duration high-intensity system to enhance the competition from desirable grasses.⁵

Grazing - Grazing by sheep, cattle and chickens will suppress aboveground growth and thereby help deplete storage reserves in the roots. Pigs will grub out roots and rhizomes from the plow layer.¹

Mulch - Organic mulch is completely useless on its own: we have observed bindweed shoots emerging through an 18-inch thick pile of bark mulch that was waiting to be spread! Synthetic mulch can suppress field bindweed, but the vines can follow light to the planting holes. This puts the vines in an optimal position for twining up the crop plants and makes hand pulling difficult.¹

 

Biological

Bindweed gall mite (Aceria malherbae) has been established as a potential biocontrol agent and is now widespread in western states.¹

Argus Tortoise beetle (Chelymorpha cassidea Fabr) - Native to North America, both larvae and adults can defoliate field bindweed completely without damaging the associated grain crops.¹

Leaf Beetle (Galeruca rufa Germar) – Chrysomelid native to southern Europe that severely defoliates field bindweed – is also a potential biocontrol agent.²

Field Bindweed Moth (Tyta luctuosa), a noctuid moth whose caterpillars defoliate field bindweed, has been successfully established in several regions of the United States.¹

Many other insects have been collected from field bindweed in North America, but most are general phytophages (eat all kinds of plants) and not specific (only eat field bindweed).²

The fungi Phomopsis convolvulus and Stagonospora convolvuli strain LA39 are also identified to stress the field bindweed. Widespread adoption is limited.⁴

 

Sources:

1. Mohler, Charles L. et al. “Bindweeds”, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education  Outreach, 2021 https://www.sare.org/publications/manage-weeds-on-your-farm/bindweeds/ Accessed June 2026

2. ​​”Written Findings Of The Washington State Noxiuos Weed Control Board”, Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board, 2011
   https://www.nwcb.wa.gov/images/weeds/Convolvulus_arvensis.pdf Accessed June 2026

3. Higgins, Robert E. and Seely, Clarence I. "Field bindweed: Identification and Control", Agricultural Experiment & UI Extension Publications, April 1961, University of Idaho Library Digital Collections, https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/uiext/items/uiext18804.html Accessed June 2026

4. Stucker-Gassi, Christina et al. “Managing Common Bindweeds”, Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides, December 2020 https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ncap/pages/44/attachments/original/1612200274/Managing_Common_Bindweeds.pdf?1612200274 Accessed June 2026

5. “Weed Management for Bindweed”, Organic Farming Research Foundation, 9 August 2022, https://ofrf.org/news/weed-management-for-bindweed/ Accessed June 2026