Dear Neil: I have snailseed vines in several of my beds. I have tried pulling them out, spraying them with a weedkiller, and tying them off with a plastic bag to deprive them of air. Nothing has killed them. The bags seemed to do the best job, but they have kept coming back. Do you have a better idea?

Yes, and a couple of suggestions. Snailseed vines have strong rhizomatous root systems that form dense mats beneath the ground. You can’t pull them up – they’re too strong. And you won’t be able to get enough herbicide taken into the plant to kill all the roots unless you spray several times. Isolating the top growth won’t help. The roots will just send up new shoots to replace the dying tops.

What has always worked for me is to use a sharpshooter spade at a low angle to dig in beneath the

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