GB 150 Field Bindweed. Generator Safety TRANSCRIPT
26:34
SPEAKERS
Debbie Flower, Kris Kiser, Farmer Fred
Farmer Fred 00:00
Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. it's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred. Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.
Farmer Fred 00:32
Gardeners everywhere have a certain weed that drives them up the wall. Today, we talk about one that can literally climb a wall: field bindweed. From the morning glory family, don’t be fooled by its pretty white flowers. Field bindweed needs to be controlled as soon as you see it. We have tips for tackling field bindweed. Power outages hit both the west and east coasts recently, due to storms. Many of you may have invested in your first generator to help keep your harvested frozen food properly cold. Or to plug in your electric chainsaw to clean up a downed tree in your yard. We talk with a generator expert, he has advice for keeping that generator running when you need it. Podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory, it’s episode 150 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots. And we will do it all in under 30 minutes. Let’s go!
Farmer Fred 01:31
A few weeks ago when we were talking about nutgrass myself along with our favorite retired college horticultural Professor Debbie flower nutgrass. Neither of us like it. It's a bad weed.
Debbie Flower 01:45
It is.
Farmer Fred 01:45
I did post that though, on the Get Growing with Farmer Fred Facebook page; and, I asked the general question, What is your least favorite weed? A lot of people answered. A lot of people chimed in with a lot of interesting ideas. And I will agree with all of you. Yes, I could see where that weed could be your biggest enemy. One of the biggest vote getters was field bindweed. And field bindweed is sort of the thug of the Morning Glory family. Right? It's ugly. It's a blooms in the morning.
Debbie Flower 02:18
Yes, yes. Along with the morning glorys and it has a flower that looks a lot like a morning glory only it's white. So it's trumpet shaped. And it opens to a circle. And it's white.
Farmer Fred 02:28
Yeah. And it's an interesting weed in that it can spread by seed. It can spread by stolons. It can spread by rhizomes. And the seeds last a long time.
Debbie Flower 02:40
Yes, yes. So stolons are surface stems that travel along the surface and root as they go. And stolons steal space, and rhizomes are stems that travel underground, horizontally, they can grow a stem from one direction and a root from the other. And so they become if you cut them into pieces, they can become a plant of their own.
Farmer Fred 03:01
According to the University of California bindweed has been found growing on upright plants such as shrubs or grape vines with its stems and leaves and twine throughout the plant and the flower is exposed to the light. Yeah, but it's usually we see it as sort of a crawler along the ground. If there isn't something for it to grow up on.
Debbie Flower 03:19
Right it can be. It can make a mat on the ground with the flowers right there. If it's in the sun, that's the one thing it definitely needs sun, but I also have it in parts of my yard, where it is growing up the plant that it is next to and then blooming above ground.
Farmer Fred 03:35
Here's some interesting factoids about field bind weed. Roots are capable of budding, and can be found to depths of 14 feet. Fragments of vertical roots and rhizomes as short as two inches can form new plants. Lateral roots often turned downward becoming a secondary vertical root and sends out both roots and shoots from the turning point. This means that a field bind weed plant can spread radially more than 10 feet in a growing section. And this extensive underground network allows for overwintering without foliage, it can persist for many years in the soil. The average plant produces about 550 seeds and seed can last 60 years.
Debbie Flower 04:16
This is a plant that wants to survive.
Farmer Fred 04:19
Yeah, this isn't something that you just hack off on the top and walk away.
Debbie Flower 04:24
Well, that's what I've been doing.
Farmer Fred 04:25
Yeah. How's that working out for you?
Debbie Flower 04:28
It keeps coming back. But what's happening is the desirable plants are filling in more and more and creating more and more shade. So I have not seen the field bindweed. That doesn't mean it's gone. It just means it's gone dormant. And it's not going to appear until I or unless I remove those plants and get some more sun and then it will appear.
Farmer Fred 04:49
It's a native of Europe and Asia. So it means it's widespread. It has been found worldwide. Yeah, yeah. And control, as the University of California points out, control isn't easy.
Debbie Flower 05:02
No, no, it's not. Yes.
Farmer Fred 05:04
Oh, and whatever you do, don't try to till it out.
Debbie Flower 05:08
Oh, that's the worst. Yeah. Because there's all those root pieces and stem pieces that are spreading. Yes. Can separate into two inch pieces, and they will all grow on their own.
Farmer Fred 05:16
Yeah. All right. So you kind of hinted at one possible control method. I won't say eradication method, but control method and that's shade.
Debbie Flower 05:26
Shade. Yes, yes.
Farmer Fred 05:28
So, I guess if you did remove just the tops, if you added, like six inches of straw or some other mulch on top, that might work?
Debbie Flower 05:37
It would depend on the age of the plant, right? A young plant, if it's just germinated from seed, you can remove this, the top of the plant, by hand and get rid of it, or you can shade it very heavily and get rid of it. A mature plant, however, is going to have a lot of stored food underground in those rhizomes, stems, and roots. And it's going to be able to push up through even a thick layer of mulch.
Farmer Fred 06:00
The best time if you're just going to be cutting off the tops is during its first three to four weeks after it has germinate. Because after that the buds have formed.
Debbie Flower 06:10
Buds on those roots that are going to develop more of a plant. Yeah. And it's a case for being very observant in the garden, because when it grows up something else, it's green, and the other thing it's growing is typically green. So you have to notice the difference in the shape of the leaves and the slight difference in the greens. So it's it's one of those things when you're walking your yard daily, or several times a week that you look for.
Farmer Fred 06:39
And as I mentioned, the easiest way to find it is take a walk in the morning and you'll see the white flowers in bloom.
Debbie Flower 06:45
Right? That's, that's the calling card, shall we say?
Farmer Fred 06:48
Yeah, but the seedling does look much different. And we'll have pictures posted of this, probably in the Garden Basics newsletter, where you can see the pictures of the bind weed along with this interesting graphic of a root system of field bind weed that can reach depths of up to 20 feet. Unbelievable. Yes. Oh man. Oh, man. So cultural control is shade. We talked about seedlings controlled with cultivation, if it's growing in the shade of a plant, and it's not climbing up the plant that can help control it spread. Landscape fabrics. Now they talk about using landscape fabrics. I have a love-hate relationship with those.
Debbie Flower 07:29
I have a hate-hate relationship.
Farmer Fred 07:30
I don't blame you. But those polypropylene fabrics which and by the way, if you do use those, make sure that you have applied it in the correct direction that allows air and water to flow through it.
Debbie Flower 07:42
It has an up and it has a down.
Farmer Fred 07:44
But the fact of the matter is, if a seed can last 60 years, then even if you thought that after three years, I can remove that weed cloth now. Good luck with that. It'll be back.
Debbie Flower 07:54
Yeah. So one technique is to use herbicide. Now, I have to say in the IPM which is integrated pest management scheme of controlling the pest, there are several steps. And I remember them by remembering... Have you ever been to Hawaii, Fred?
Farmer Fred 08:11
Yes.
Debbie Flower 08:12
And have you ever been to a luau?
Farmer Fred 08:14
No, I guess going to a buffet is not a luau.
Debbie Flower 08:18
No, no. Nope. Luaus cost money though. So you got to go to the ATM to get some money. Go to the ATM. And there's a special food they serve at luau, right?
Farmer Fred 08:28
Poi?
Debbie Flower 08:29
So my mnemonic or memory device for the steps in integrated pest management is POI-ATM. Right? You got to go to the ATM to get the money to go to the luau to get the Poi? Okay. The P stands for Prevent. So prevent getting the weed. Make sure that anything you bring into your yard, whether it's mulch, soil, or another plant does not have seed it can sometimes be in seed. Make sure it does not have seed of this weed, field bindweed. The "O" is for Observe. As we were talking about before, walk around the garden on a regular basis and observe closely to see if you've got it so that you know whether you have to get rid of it. When you see it, and the seedling is the best thing to find in terms of getting rid of it. But you have to know what it looks like. You have to Identify that seedling. So, "I". Prevent, Observe Identify. Then we skip to the ATM. "AT" is action threshold. At what point do you want to take action with this weed.
Farmer Fred 09:30
The sooner the better.
Debbie Flower 09:31
As soon as you see it. And then your "M": management methods. You want to start with cultural and mechanical. So cultural is changing the environment. In this case, that would be adding the shade. Mechanical would be using tools to dig it up.
Farmer Fred 09:46
I like using a hoe on things. It takes out a lot of aggression.
Debbie Flower 09:50
There you go. Yeah, so breaking it off at the surface, even though that's not going to get rid of it. It's going to help prevent it from spreading, especially if you do it on a regular basis, and You do it when the plant is young. Yes, that's especially important. So I'm not aware of any biological controls for this plant. Biological would be a fungus, bacteria, insect, something that would take the weed down for us. And then you get to, eventually you get to chemicals. And there are chemicals that you can use. The old favorite glyphosate, which, please, if you use it, use it correctly, wear gloves, eye protection, long sleeve shirt, long pants, socks, shoes, don't get it on your skin, but you can paint it onto the leaves of the bindweed, it will take time to act, it takes some time to absorb be absorbed into the plant and then get down into the root system. And because there's so much food storage for this plant underground, the plant will not be killed by it. It will reappear, it may be distorted when it reappears because that's one of the effects of the glyphosate, which is a systemic herbicide, meaning it is absorbed into the system of the plant you painted on, and be very careful not to get any of it on your desirable plants.
Farmer Fred 11:06
It is non selective.
Debbie Flower 11:07
Right. It will hurt them too.
Farmer Fred 11:09
By the way, glyphosate. One of the common brands of glyphosate is Roundup. But if you are shopping for glyphosate, check the house brands, it can be a lot cheaper.
Debbie Flower 11:19
right, there are other brands and Roundup has become confusing, because there's so many different types of Roundup.
Farmer Fred 11:25
Yeah, just make sure that glyphosate is the main ingredient. Yes, that you're looking for here. University of California says a 2% solution of glyphosate to paint the leaves of bindweed in shrub areas. And one way to reduce the chance of glyphosate contacting desirable plants is to place the bindweed vines on newspaper before painting the leaves. Once the glyphosate solution has dried on the bind weed leaves, the newspaper can be removed. But then again, you got the regrowth that's going to come from the bindweed. Yes.
Debbie Flower 11:59
And it's difficult if you're treating something that has wound around your desirable plant, it's difficult to get it onto newspaper. So it's a tricky business.
Farmer Fred 12:10
Yeah. And that's the problem with using non-selective herbicides, right. And the good news is that bindweed isn't that common in turf areas just because of the competition and the shade created by turf, right. But there are a lot of chemicals available for control, including Dicamba, 2-4,D and glyphosate, but read and follow all label directions. And like you said, don't let it hit any desirable plants, right. That's why I like a hoe.
Debbie Flower 12:38
Yes, I do have a couple of places where I have field bindweed in my yard. I have not used herbicide. I just go there regularly because I know it's potentially growing there and break it off. I have not tried this but digging it out might be especially helpful when if it's established but it's still fairly young. digging it out might help. We've had it's relative, the regular morning glory, grow up onto the roof of a house was a huge plant was a one story garage that it grew up on to the peak of a roof is 15 feet tall.
Farmer Fred 13:11
15 feet tall.
Debbie Flower 13:12
So it grew up the side of the fence and then it continued up another plant nearby and then it landed on the house. And so we cut it down and it regrew, and so we started digging it out and we found a huge storage organ underground and dug that out. Turkey size.
Farmer Fred 13:30
Wow.
Debbie Flower 13:31
Didn't get rid of it completely. Because you leave some of those roots that it can grow from. but if you can get some of that storage organ out of the ground that can be helpful. So it's a difficult one to get rid of.
Farmer Fred 13:44
Field bindweed. It just takes getting out there a lot, looking for it.
Debbie Flower 13:48
Right totally. That's the route I would take. Go out regularly. See it. Pull it, keep that up. Keep that up. Keep that up. I don't mean like monthly. I mean like daily, weekly.
Farmer Fred 14:00
It's your new hobby. Alright, field bindweed. a very popular weed among you. Thank you for submitting that one. Debbie Flower, thanks for your help.
Debbie Flower 14:08
You're welcome.
Farmer Fred 14:13
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Farmer Fred 15:17
you may have a new experience on your hands running a generator during these power turnoffs where when it gets windy, the power company is saying, "Let's shut off the power for a while." And a lot of people, as a result, have bought a generator. But there is some advice you should have that may not be in the literature in that generator that you should know about. We're talking with Kris Kiser, he's the president and CEO of the OPEI, that's the outdoor power equipment Institute. And Kris, let's talk about generators. And let's talk about something that you're very familiar with, when it comes to small equipment like this: is use the right fuel.
Kris Kiser 15:56
Absolutely key to any engine device. And in particular, small engine equipment is the fuel. And so if you have the right fuel, and you make sure you've got your filters are clean and your oil is clean, the engine is, a nearly indestructible small engine. So that's key, if you have fuel, the engine is going to run properly. And nowadays, fuel will go stale. The government got involved, and now makes us put ethanol, it's an alcohol, into fuel. Fuel, it'll destabilize, it will no longer stay fresh, you hear a lot about stale fuel, the key is to stabilize it, or use it frequently don't let it sit longer than 30 days. And in particular, if you're in a hot, humid environment, ethanol and alcohol is hygroscopic, it'll absorb water. Absorbs enough water, it will phase separate, which means it frankly won't fire in the machine. So it's critically important to have fresh fuel in the generator. It's advanced planning, make sure you'll give the engine a trial run, make sure you're going to run it before you need it, make sure you have adequate fuel, fresh fuel, and you can stabilize your fuel. So if you go into a dealer or a big box store, you'll see fuel stabilizer, and it's right there on the can to deal with the ethanol issue, which will help keep that fuel fresh.
Farmer Fred 17:06
Yeah, one thing we didn't touch on the fact that generators are four stroke engines, the fuel and the oil are added separately, just like your car. But that oil in a new generator needs to get changed something like every 50 or 60 hours. Otherwise, you're risking damaging that generator. So have some spare oil on hand.
Kris Kiser 17:27
It's not an expensive investment. But it's a time investment that you simply have to watch and be familiar with the absolute need and maintenance for the unit, the unit will last for a good long time if you treat it well. And so what you've just described, make sure you watch your oil. And again, your manufacturer, These units are different. They're small ones, they get to be very large ones. It will speak to how often and what kind of oil to use. But you brought up a critical point, oil is key. oil is the lubricant of the machine.
Farmer Fred 17:56
And I would think, too, that when you're done running the generator, if you can run it until it's out of fuel after turning off the electrical load in the house and, and or barring that, at least turn off the fuel between the tank and the lines.
Kris Kiser 18:12
That certainly helps. And certainly if you're going to put it up for a season, that's the one thing about a portable generator or seasonal equipment emergency equipment, rarely used stuff is you don't want that fuel to sit. "Buy it and burn it" is sort of the the new words of the day. But what you've just described is what you need to do this thing that machine is going to sit for a while, run the fuel out or drain it.
Farmer Fred 18:34
And you mentioned ethanol. Let's talk a little bit about that since people are going to be seeing more and more of it in the future and ethanol and small engines aren't really a very good combination, are they?
Kris Kiser 18:44
That's true. And by law, I mean small engines are regulated by EPA and the California Air Resources Board. Like other engine products designed for a certification fuel, which has a set amount of ethanol. But what you can find today are fuels in the marketplace for which outdoor power equipment in particular nonroad stuff, so snowmobiles, boats, generators, lawnmowers, chainsaws, all of that nonroad stuff is typically not designed or built or warranted to run on anything containing more than 10% ethanol, but the government is allowing sales of e-15. and higher fuel blends for a subset of the auto fleet, the flex fuel engine, but not for power equipment, it is specifically forbidden and because it can damage or destroy it. And so we don't want you to lose an engine or have it damaged so be sure to look for the ethanol content on a fuel pump. We're so used to looking for octane, right? A manufacturer prescribed octane. but nowadays, you've got to also look at the ethanol content. Or you can buy now, it's oftentimes a little more expensive, but you can buy the canned fuel at a point of sale dealer or big box and it'll be ethanol free. So you can buy it in all different size cans but oftentimes a dealer or a retailer will sell what they call a boutique or distributor fuel, which is ethanol free and so you don't have those issues, they don't have those issues. I certainly use it for all of my handheld stuff. Now, if you've got a portable generator, you may be burning a lot more fuel, if you're going to use a canned, 5-10 gallons, which you described is key, stabilize that and then you have much less worry. Remember, this is an engine, you wouldn't run your car in your living room or your garage or your breezeway, you don't want to run this engine indoors or near an open window door either. they produce carbon monoxide. So it's critically important if you're going to run this product. Oftentimes folks don't have long enough extension cords, they'll buy the unit, they're prepared. And they may have some extension cords, but they may not be weather related, rated for the outdoors, they may not be long enough, what happens is that machine may get too close to an open window or door. So safety is paramount. It means you have to read your owner's manual, you have the right view, you have to have the right cords to stay far enough away from the house. One of the my family's down in hurricane land, down in Florida. And one of the things we've learned is that once people are out of power, this is critically important. If you've got a medical situation and you're trying to preserve your food, your refrigerator and freezer, these things are very, very popular and sought after. And oftentimes in certain periods, they'll run out of inventory. And so people steal them. And so what happens is you may want to envision a scenario by which you know, there could be theft involved. And so think about a way to secure your unit away from the house. And that's the problem. people bring them indoors or on the breezeway or into the garage, try to secure them. Don't do that figure out a different way. The last idea, we've also had people that they'll have the unit in a place they can only get to with power and electric door, electric garage door, be sure that if the power fails, you can get to the unit.
Farmer Fred 21:51
Well, you brought up a lot of great advice right there. Let's wrap up a little bit on fuel, though. And one thing I learned while reading about generator care, it's always a good idea to not let the generator run out of gas while you are running it for electricity, that what you should do is turn off the electrical load, then shut down the generator before it runs out of fuel, because of something called an economy voltage regulator, which will keep putting out power as the generator runs out of gas. But as the generator comes to a stop, the electrical load in your house can drain the residual magnetic field from the generator coils, the machine will start but it won't generate power, which means you have to take it to a repair shop. There's something I never knew before.
Kris Kiser 22:36
Well, it's critically important again, you know your machine, right, you're reading your owner's manual, obviously it pays to keep track of the fuel that you're burning and the fuel that's left in the machine.
Farmer Fred 22:46
You mentioned that you don't want to be caught short with too short of an extension cord. What is the ideal extension cord? I would imagine something that's outdoor rated and perhaps 12 gauge?
Kris Kiser 22:58
Yes, heavy duty outdoor, you know, 15-20 feet, something that'll let you get it away from the house. Because oftentimes, you know, these are used in inclement weather. I think this weather rated and heavy duty in it depends on the load. It depends on what you're going to hook to it. portable generators come in all different sizes. So part of it is you need to know what you intend to run on the machine. What's its capability, and what's the load you'll generate from the house.
Farmer Fred 23:23
Yeah, I think most generator instructions say don't run anything longer than 100 feet of 12 gauge cord from the generator to the appliance. Because the voltage drop on longer runs could cause the appliance motor or compressor to burn out. And probably another good tip would be to get a big plastic bag and put the original instructions in that bag and attach it to the generator. Now one thing that people may try to do and it's a really bad idea is to back-feed power into your house with a dual male-ended extension cord, thinking you can run your whole house with that generator. But then all of a sudden, you're feeding electricity back up the line and that can cause a lot of problems.
Kris Kiser 24:06
Again, I'm not an electrician but I've certainly been informed by them this is something you don't want to do. you do not want to plug that generator plug into a house plug. It is ill advised and you could damage or destroy components, electrical opponents in the house, things that use power in the house, as well as damage the generator. Don't do it.
Farmer Fred 24:23
We've been talking with Kris Kiser of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, with some good tips on maintaining and keeping that generator that you just purchased running safely. Kris, thanks for a few minutes of your time.
Kris Kiser 24:35
My pleasure. Stay safe out there
Farmer Fred 24:46
Because there are so many demands on your time these days, I like to keep the Garden Basics podcast to under 30 minutes. Still, there is a lot more to tackle on all the garden subjects we bring up on the podcast. So, for that, and a lot more, we’re starting up The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter, on Substack. As the newsletter grows, so will the subject matter. So, yes, it will be a good supplement for the Garden Basics podcast, but there will be a lot more garden related material and probably pictures of my dogs and cats, as well. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred Newsletter on Substack. And best of all, it’s free! There’s a link in today’s show notes. Or, just go to substack.com, and do a search for Garden Basics with Farmer Fred. That’s substack.com. The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred newsletter. Did I tell you it’s free? It’s free.
Farmer Fred 26:02
The Garden Basics podcast will be on its winter schedule from November through January. That means there will only be one episode per week during this three month period. It'll come out on Fridays, but because there's so much to talk about, there's a good chance those weekly episodes are gonna be longer than 30 minutes. Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots and it's available for free, wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening, subscribing, and leaving comments. We appreciate it.
