Last Updated on March 7, 2022 by Grow with Bovees
Morning glory plants— although pretty — are commonly considered a weed due to their aggressive growth habit.
Its beautiful flowers and lovely green foliage can look very pretty when they grow up along nearby structures, but, fail to control these invasive weeds, and this deceivingly beautiful plant will soon take over and destroy the rest of your gorgeous garden and garden plants, .
Thankfully, there are ways to control and kill morning glory.
In this article, we will take you through all you need to know about how to get rid of morning glory weeds and how to prevent them from taking over your yard and flower beds.
Killing Morning Glory in Small Targeted Areas
If there are certain smaller areas or patches in your garden that have been invaded by this invasive plant, using green gobbler — which is a broad-leaf weed killer — to get rid of them should be sufficient and the least labor-intensive.
Green Gobbler & Morning Glory Control
Green gobbler is an effective herbicide which is distilled from corn and used to eradicate broad-leaf weeds such as morning glory plants.
This weed killer has been approved by the Organic Materials Review Institute, making it appropriate for organic gardening.
This natural systemic herbicide does not contain chemical substances such as fluorine, chlorine, glyphosate compounds, ethoxylates, petroleum solvents, sulfates, phosphates and VOC’s.
Green gobbler is a long-lasting product and with a gallon of this weed killer, you can cover approximately 1000 sq ft of ground.
This product should always be used with care around desirable plants that you do not want to damage or kill.
Controlling Morning Glory With Green Gobbler
Use green gobbler on morning glory patches in your garden that are not close to any precious plants that you wish to survive.
Cut the vines down as close to the ground as you can in order for the product to reach as many of the morning glories as possible.
Cutting them first, also makes absorption of the product more effective.
Spray the herbicide treatment on the leaves, stems and shoots as they start popping up throughout the growing season, and you will reduce the infestation of morning glory vines significantly.
It will take a few weeks for the product to kill morning glory, so be patient.
The green gobbler solution can also be used on other broad-leaf weeds such as dandelion patches and also field bind weed.
Killing Larger Morning Glory Vine Infestations
If your entire yard or a larger landscape is infested with morning glory vines, them being intertwined with other varieties of plants or flowers that you want to survive, using green gobbler is not the right choice.
There are a few actions you can take in order to kill a morning glory weed infestation of this caliber. Here’s how, simply follow this three-step solution.
Take Note
You should never try to pull out morning glory from the roots.
This will only encourage it to spread more roots below the soil, by means of plant rhizomes underground producing several new little root tentacles.
Morning glory roots can reach up to 20 ft underground.
Step 1: Outdoor Plant Steaming
You may have heard about some burning methods such as flame torching weeds.
This method, however, is not very friendly towards the environment as it releases harmful fumes into the atmosphere, and it comes with a fire hazard.
Steaming is a more environmentally friendly method to use. You can use any type of household steamer, such as PurSteam, a fabric steamer or a garden steamer such as DynaSteam.
The aim of using a steamer on morning glory’s is to kill the visible weed above ground as well as the roots and rhizomes below ground using heat.
Before getting started, put on gloves that can protect your skin from the hot steam and closed shoes.
It is important that you get as close as you can to the weeds and do not forget to go for those hard to reach places as well.
Hold the steamer close to the leaves closest to the ground and release the steam until you see the morning glory wilting.
The next day, cut the weed as close as you can to the roots and discard the dead plant matter. Goats and deer eat dead morning glories, just FYI.
Step 2: Sowing New Plants
The next step after steaming the morning glory’s, is to plant new seeds of desirable plants in the once weed infested area.
There are different ways of doing this depending on whether it is done on a lawn or in a flower bed.
Morning Glory Weeds on Lawn
If you find that there are a few morning glories left on your lawn, start by tearing the heads off of the vine plants.
This is so that the broadleaf weeds are unable to absorb any sunlight energy that is needed for photosynthesis, leading to new growth.
Plant new grass seeds on the affected areas of your lawn followed by a layer of compost which is about 1/4 inch thick. Do this when the temperatures are not too warm.
Early fall, or early spring are good times to do this.
The reasoning behind going about this process during a colder climate is so that the grass seeds germinate, filling the lawn soil before the morning glory starts to take over again when temperatures get warmer.
Flower & Plant Beds
After eradicating morning glory infestations, flower beds may look empty and bleak. Liven them up again by planting fresh greenery.
The best thing would be to plant bushes or other types of plants that have already started maturing or established plants next to each other.
Mature plants already have developed root systems that run deep, which makes competing against unwanted plants — such as morning glory vines — easy in comparison to planting only seeds or smaller baby plants.
Step 3: Application of Mulch and Weed Barrier
After having killed the weed with steam and planting healthy and fresh new plants, lay down a breathable weed barrier around your plants in your flower bed.
Make sure this barrier is thick enough to block out any sunlight but breathable enough for water and air flow to come through.
One example of a permeable and thick weed barrier is ECOgardener fabric. It is a lightweight barrier which prevents the growth of invasive morning glories.
If you do not have gardeners fabric, newspaper or cardboard should work fine.
For a longer lasting barrier, add some sort of protection to it. Adding a layer of mulch to your weed barrier will do the trick.
Not only will it act as a layer of protection, but it will also aid in making your flower beds more appealing to look at.
Choose a mulch color which goes with the surrounding colors of your garden. We, however, advise using pure cedar mulch as this type of mulch is great when it comes to controlling pests and insects.
Any of the above steps can also be used individually, but you will see the best results when using them together.
What Not To Use To Kill Morning Glory
There are a few home remedies that you may have heard of when it comes to getting rid of wild morning glory vines.
Always make sure if this information checks out, as you may be doing more harm to your garden than good, or you may just be wasting your time and resources.
Below are some examples of what not to use when wanting to kill morning glory weeds.
Salt
Even though the application of salt to morning glories may damage these invasive shrubs, it is not advised you use it.
The reason being, it will be disruptive to the soil, making it hard for other plants to survive and thrive in your garden.
Boiling Water
Pouring boiling water over this invasive weed has not been shown to be a very effective method to use.
It may look like a good method as boiling water will most probably cause some damage to the stem and leaves of this weed.
It will, however, not harm the root system of the morning glory, and so it will just continue to spread.
Vinegar
Similar to using boiling water, vinegar may also cause some damage to the weeds foliage and stems. It will, however, not reach the plant roots of the morning glory.
So, if you want to kill the morning glory vine, vinegar is not the answer.
This brings us to the end of this article on how to get rid of morning glory infestations.
Always remember to never try and remove this weed from its roots as this will only cause more vigorous spreading.
If you are struggling with a severe infestation of this invasive vine, follow the three step-guide above, and you will have a weed free garden in no time with all your other plants blooming splendidly.
One more tip: always make sure that you get rid of morning glory seedlings as well. They are able to spread vigorously.
Good luck and happy weeding!
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