Buckwheat / Polygonum, good luck getting rid of it!

Thanks for the ID. I've never even heard of wild buckwheat. Thankfully it's never come up anywhere except the pot it came up in again this year or maybe I'd pulled any seedlings that had sprouted elsewhere. I'm definitely going to pull this one before it gets a chance to drop seeds.

Yes, unquestionably I agree with the ID.

Here are some older but still valid links where I addressed this genus previously.

The leaves can look like Morning Glories but a very close inspection of the petiole and main stem junction will reveal differences even prior to flowering.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/vines/msg090823129230.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Fallopia convolvulus leaves can mimic Morning Glory

Sorry for the terse reply, was running out of time yesterday by the time I got down to weed forum.

Wish GW existed at the time my Mom & I thought she had a "volunteer MG" sprout at her house. I got out the big ladder and put nails all up the wall to which I attached fishing line for the vine to grow on. And grow it did, to the top of the fishing line - about 15 feet in the air... but we never saw any flowers.

The next year, there were "MG" sprouts everywhere. Kabillions of them! And shoots coming up all over the area where the vine was the previous year, and beyond, even found a shoot that had found its' way into the basement. Well, we said, hope the "MG" flowers this year although we need to pull some of these sprouts. After paying closer attention, we "found" the flowers and realized it was NOT a MG and why there were so many seedlings all over. It had flowered the previous year alright! Then we noticed, finally, this vine was everywhere in people's yards, going up trees, covering shrubs, taking over flower beds, completely covering fences.

I tried to help her battle this thing for the whole time she lived there, about 10 more years, but I was working 60-70 hours per week. And even tho she's not averse to spraying stuff (as I am,) we never got control over it, let alone get rid of it.

Since then, my motto has always been, if I didn't put MG seeds in a pot, sprout them, and plant them in a specific place, pull anything that sprouts that looks like that.

In this thread, kay describes a method of vine killing that involves poison but not the spraying of it. If you are unable to dig this out, that might be something to consider.

Oops, I meant "vines" forum, not "weeds." Freudian slip?

Thankfully this had originally sprouted in a container and it appears that any dropped seeds sprouted in that same container. They are now bagged in the garbage. I didn't want to risk tossing them in the compost pile. I didn't inspect it super closely but it really does look like a MG vine, at least the foliage does.

I know, sad, that's how it settles in & fools people. Everyone has fantasies of beautiful flowers just showing up in their yard. Sometimes it happens! Sorry it wasn't today. Excellent to know it was in a pot, very smart. Keep your eyes open for sprouts, just in case. Birds can take seeds anywhere...