08/04/2025
Several of you have asked about how to effectively kill morning glory or field bind w**d. This is how you can achieve a 90% kill rate in the first year. The lawn is a different story. At this point in the season, I would not pull any of it out, but let it grow out. The roots to this plant can grow to 20 ft deep and have been known to remain alive under concrete for 40 years. Quite often, if you pull it out, it just grows back stronger. Sometimes, it will kill it. If you want to pursue an organic approach, it is a free country, and you are free to do so. But for this purpose, we will be using glysophate. you can apply glysophate or 2,4D during the season, and sometimes it will kill it. I would typically redirect the morning glory until it is the correct time to spray it.
During the season, the force of the plant and roots are going upward. Usually, if you apply an herbicide at that time, it does not make it all the way down the roots, and it will just grow back. So the key here is timing. About October 1, the cool nights and the warm days trigger that winter is coming, and the force of the growth reverses itself to the roots to store up energy for the following year. This is the time to apply, and you get a highly effective kill rate. Apply it when the air is calm. This takes about 2-3 weeks to kill the plant. Glysophate is systemic, which means it goes throughout the plant and roots to kill it. 2,4D causes the plant cells to grow until they explode, while other herbicides are contact sprays, but Glysophate is the one to use. Where morning glory is intermingled with a plant, wear gloves and lift it out from the desired foliage and dabble it on the foliage with a foam paint brush. Now, times have changed, so when you are buying the product, look down on the bottom left side of the label of the ingredients and make sure it says glysophate. It can be found under several brands. There is no patent on it anymore. FYI, glysophate has never been proven to cause cancer. Law firms sued Monsanto that they did not put on a warning label that it may cause cancer. The parent company Bayer settled the 2 lawsuits because it had depressed its stock price for a prolonged period. 30 USDA and FDA studies over 40 years have shown it to be safe.