Larry...
Thank you. I am very much the novice gardener. I only know how to grow roses and weeds. Everything else that I inherited when I bought this house has had to muddle through as I learned to identify the plants and how to care for them.
I used the method described above first to kill the rootstock used for budded roses, Dr. Huey. The rose, Dr. H, has been the preferred rootstock in the US since the 1930s for the very good reason that it is a rose that really knows how to grow roots ! Generally, if a root of Dr. H. is broken, it immediately sends up a new plant and you never really get rid of it. I truly dislike using chemicals, but once in a while they do have their place.
When I successfully killed off Dr. H., I tried the same method on poison oak. I had to tweak the procedure to wipe the PO stump with alcohol first because PO emits a sap as soon as it is cut.
When I found bindweed in one of the street beds ... I garden on four levels .... the only thing I could think of was to use the same procedure. I didn't know the anatomy of the plant. That's why I say I was lucky to control it. Your article gave me a better understanding of this thug, so I think I'll probably be far more consistent in monitoring it in that one bed. Thank you so much for sharing what you have learned.
Smiles,
Lyn
