🌿 Weed
ANX-WEED-0000256
Field Bindweed
Convolvulus arvensis
Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), a perennial vine weed of the Convolvulaceae family.
- Family
- Convolvulaceae
- Growth habit
- Vine
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Invasive status
- Noxious/regulated weed in many regions
- Native region
- Europe/Asia, now naturalized in temperate regions worldwide.
- Reproduction
- Seed (viable in soil for decades) and an extensive, deep root system that regrows from fragments.
Environment
Habitat & Growing Conditions
- Habitat
- Cultivated fields, orchards, vineyards, roadsides, waste ground.
- Climate requirements
- Temperate; tolerant of both hot summers and cold winters.
- Soil types
- Wide soil tolerance; roots can penetrate several metres deep.
Impact
Crops Affected & Economic Impact
- Affected crops
- Cereals, row crops, orchards, vineyards
- Competition impact
- Twines around and can lodge cereal crops, competes intensely for water via its deep root system, and is very difficult to eradicate.
- Economic impact
- One of the most persistent perennial weeds of temperate agriculture, ranked among the world's worst weeds by the FAO.
Management
Control Methods
- Control methods
- Persistent cultivation over multiple seasons, competitive smother crops, and preventing seed set.
- Organic control
- Repeated cutting/tillage to exhaust root reserves over 2-3 seasons; deep mulching to block regrowth.
- Chemical control
- Systemic herbicides (e.g. glyphosate, 2,4-D) applied to actively growing foliage, often needing repeat applications to reach the deep root system.