Bindweed belongs to the family Convolvulus. The people also called him "birch". And scientists call it Convolvulus, which is translated from Latin as “coagulate”. This is due to the fact that many varieties need support, and they wrap around neighboring plants. The flower lives in subtropical and temperate climatic zones.
Description and features of bindweed
This is a perennial or annual herb or shrub. It reaches a height of 4 m, has creeping or erect stems, a creeping root system with filamentous roots.
Whole, regular leaves are located on the petioles. They are arrow-shaped or heart-shaped, with teeth or divided into blades.
Flowers are located singly or in inflorescences in the sinuses of greenery. Their shape is funnel-shaped or bell-shaped, with lobes being weakly expressed. It opens the petals in the early morning, only in clear weather.
After flowering, fruit formation begins. These are boxes containing seeds. They retain germination for 2-3 years after harvest.
Types and varieties of bindweed
The genus includes 75 varieties, belonging to another 836 has not yet been precisely established. In Russia, only some species are common.
Field
Perennial or annual, reaching a length of 1-1.5 m. The flowers are small, grow along the entire smooth or hairy stem. They come in a variety of colors: mostly snow-white or pinkish, less often blue, blue or violet. Flowering period: from the second decade of spring to frost. Reproduction occurs by seeds or root offspring.
Usually field bindweed (ordinary) is destroyed in vegetable gardens and summer cottages, because it grows very quickly and entangles other cultures, taking life force from them. However, there is also a benefit from it, which not everyone knows about. Plants planted in the neighborhood are less likely to be affected by mold or fungus. You can also get good mulch from field bindweed.
The plant also has healing properties. It perfectly helps with pathologies of the kidneys and liver, treats diseases of the respiratory tract, and cleanses the circulatory system.
Garden
A distinctive feature is the variety of contrasting and bright colors. A flowering carpet can decorate an unsightly slope on a site, an empty space or an alley. Also, garden bindweed is used to design borders, create partitions. They can separate one part of the plot from the other, shade the rest of the culture. Popular varieties:
| Title | Description | Flowers |
| Mauritanian | Up to 0.5 m. Usually grown in containers or hanging pots. Foliage of a grayish-malachite color. | Light lilac. |
| Duplex | Up to 0.4 m. In the wild, can be found on mountain slopes, sandy shores of water bodies, in the steppes. The stems are creeping or slightly rising. Arrow-shaped plates, naked or pubescent. | Single, pudding. |
Tricolor
Exotic decorative liana up to 0.5 m in length. The foliage is gray-emerald, densely planted throughout the stem. Large flowers with wavy edges in a circle reach 5 cm.
The most beautiful varieties:
- Blue and Rainbow Flash with whitish-ultramarine flowers, lemon core;
- Royal Ensign with velvet purple petals with a black tint;
- Crimson Monarch with bright raspberry buds.
Tricolor bindweed is a stunted plant with a large number of side shoots that give the bush a sphere shape. This variety looks spectacular in containers on terraces, loggias, window sills, balconies.
Growing bindweed from seeds
The flower is propagated only by seeds. They can be sown immediately in an open area or planted on seedlings. Pre-growing from seeds indoors is preferable, so the bush will grow faster and bloom more abundantly.
Sowing seedlings in March:
- Leave the seeds in water for a day.
- Place in separate containers with soil mixture for flowering plants. It is undesirable to land in general containers, as the bindweed does not tolerate the transplant.
- Deepen the seed and sprinkle it with a thin layer of earth.
- Pots to keep at + 18 ... + 20 ° C.
- To make mineral fertilizers. Water regularly, preventing the soil from drying out.
- The first shoots will sprout after a couple of weeks.
Planting a bindweed in the garden
Before planting, seedlings must be hardened. To do this, she is taken out daily, starting from 10 minutes, gradually increasing the time of "walks". Thanks to this, the bindweed will have stronger immunity, it will be able to withstand various diseases.
Landing time
Landing is carried out after snow melts, when the risk of frost return disappears. This usually happens in mid-May to the first half of June.
Landing technology
It is necessary to choose a sunny place. Only in this case will it bloom magnificently and for a long time. The flower is unpretentious to the soil mixture, but grows better on a permeable, loamy substrate. Landing is as follows:
- Dig a site with peat (2-3 kg per 1 sq. M).
- Level the ground.
- Move the plants to the wells located at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other, by transshipment method. Before transplanting, water the seedlings (it will be easier to pull the bushes out of the pots).
- Moisturize liberally.
Bindweed Care
Planting and further care of the plant are simple. It is enough to fulfill some requirements:
| Criterion | Recommendations |
| Watering | Regular and plentiful. With a lack of moisture, the flower will drop its petals. When moistening, make sure that there is no stagnation of the liquid. Because of this, a fungal infection may begin to develop. |
| Top dressing | With slow growth, add wood ash or fertilizers for flowering plants. For example, Nitrophosco, Agricola. |
| Weeding | In the first 2-3 weeks after planting. When the bushes grow stronger, they will be able to suppress weeds. |
| Formation | It is necessary to create a support so that the bindweed can braid it with active growth:
When the flower grows in the wrong direction, prune it. |
After flowering
In Russia, they are grown as an annual plant. Therefore, in mid-autumn it must be dug up with a rhizome, dig a plot. Since the flower has the ability to self-seeding, new specimens will begin to form in the same place next season.
Diseases and pests
Bindweed is a strong plant that rarely infects diseases and insects. Sometimes, in the absence of proper care, a flower becomes infected with powdery mildew. You can identify it by the following signs:
- White powdery spots with fungal spores. After a while, they begin to secrete liquid droplets resembling dew.
- Early fall of the petals.
- Folding and wilting foliage.
- Stop in development.
The disease most often occurs with errors in care:
- high humidity;
- damage to aphids;
- excess nitrogen in the soil;
- excessive planting density.
Spores of the fungus can also get into the water when watering or from other plants in the wind, through humans, or non-disinfected tools.
With a severe defeat, the flower dies, in the initial stages of the disease it can still be saved:
- Remove affected areas.
- Spray with soda ash (2-3 g per 1 liter of water) or soap-and-copper solution (25 g of green soap and 2.5 g of copper sulfate in 1 liter of liquid).
- Treat the bush itself, containers, soil with Vitaros, Fundazol, Topaz, Hom or other fungicides.
Occasionally, on a bindweed aphid begins to live. The pest can be recognized by the following criteria:
- wilting of young leaves and buds;
- dark dots (punctures from proboscis);
- syrupy liquid on the aerial part;
- the appearance of ants near the plant (they are attracted by sticky mucus).
You can destroy an insect in the following ways:
- wipe the aerial part with a cloth moistened with soapy water;
- purchase in the store for gardeners the larvae of red ants or ladybugs (these are natural enemies of the pest);
- use purchased drugs: Commander, Bankol, Vertimek and others.
Mr. Summer resident informs: how to get rid of field bindweed
Wild bindweed can be a problem for the garden. Encircling other plants, he chokes them, does not allow normal growth.
A fast-growing weed needs to be destroyed while it is still young. It must be completely torn out without leaving roots in the ground. Of these, new shoots can begin to form. Carefully collect all parts of the plant so that the seeds do not crumble and burn. If this does not help, then it is advisable to use poisonous drugs: Linder and the rest.
In order to avoid further unwanted growth of bindweed, in the springtime, dig up the whole earth, destroying the remains of the roots. After that, cover the area with material that does not transmit light and air. Under such conditions, the remaining parts of the plant will die. Siderates also help against unwanted weed growth. For example, white mustard.
