If you've ever seen your plants leafed out, search for
Virginia Creeper
at http://images.google.com & see if it looks familiar. [red leaves in
fall-- some black berries late summer.]

The bittersweet has bright orange berries in the fall -- often seen in
fall bouquets in this part of the world. [northeast US]

I've never paid too much attention to the leaves but, I'll check once
they start to grow back this season.

I certainly don't remember seeing any sorts of berries.

What options do I have if they are the above?


Same thing as for the bittersweet vine, though with an uncooperative
neighbor, you're in for a life-long fight.

The property that the vines are coming from has just been sold, although
we don't know if it's still being kept as a rental property, or, if the
new owners are moving in to live there. With the latter situation, it
would be much more likely we could get them to help clear out the vines.

I had it on 2 wooded sides of my 1 acre property. I used roundup
where it was mixed with poison ivy & have used a 6 foot mowed buffer &
frequent attacks at runners to keep it at bay on the rest of my
property line. In 16 years I have been able to keep it within
reason, but if I ignore it for 3-4 years my property would be solid
'creeper'.

Just about the only _good_ thing about living on a property that's
60'x100' is that there's not much to maintaining it . If I had an acre
to try to recover, I think I'd let the vines have it!

So, I can spray it with Roundup? I bought a big container of that to
kill the weeds growing in between the concrete sections of my driveway.
Will that kill my lawn (I think the label said it would kill grass) too?
I mean, if I spray it on the vines? I won't necessarily "mind" if it
will kill patches of grass, I just want to be prepared.

And, "how" do I use it? Obviously, I spray it on the vines, but, can I
still continue to pull them out? Someone else in the group said not to
pull them, but, if I don't, then, I can't rake or mow (they catch both
the rake tines and the mower blades). Should I maybe pull what I can and
then spray Roundup on any bits that get left behind (to kill broken
roots that might make new plants)? I know I can spray the vines that are
wrapped around things (trees and fencing and stuff), but, I don't see
how I can spray the vines that are just under the surface of the ground
WITHOUT pulling them up.

Also, while I'm thinking of it, what if I bought _alot_ of Roundup and
put it in a big power sprayer and (with the permission of the neighbors)
went next door and sprayed the zones that the vines are coming from?
Would that completely kill them in those areas, or, just the ones
exposed on the surface? If I did that a few times during the season
would it be likely to actually 'kill' them completely?

The areas the vines are coming from are quite literally "just" vines and
sapling/small trees, with maybe some scraggy underbrush plants. If I
could effectively kill them in the 'nest' it might make recovering my
property bordes that much easier.

Gwen