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Elizabeth Jones 18-03-2003 11:08 PM
getting rid of vines
 
I just cleared out a mountain of vines that were growing all
over the fence of my new house. I know that some of the
vines were grape vines, but others were a mystery vine. The
mystery vine had shiny oval leaves, if i recall correctly
they were lined up opposite each other on the branches, and
were bright green on the top/reddish underneath. And the
older parts of the vines were over 1 inch thick and seem
to have runners going underground. So anyway, I have all
the vines pulled off the fence, but I know that there are
still runners from the mystery vine and probably the grape
vine under the ground, and in the neighbor's yard (neighbor
is a renter who is not going to do anything about them).

What I'm wondering now is, what can I do to try to prevent
these vines from taking over again? I figured I would invest
in a lot of roundup, but that probably won't do much for
the runners. I could rototill, but I'm afraid that breaking
the runners up might make things worse. Does anyone have
any thoughts on good ways to kill off these vines and keep
them dead?

I'm in Kansas City, Zone 5/6.

Thanks!

--
Ebeth Jones
"Plant trees." -- J. Sterling Morton

MsStake 19-03-2003 04:32 AM
getting rid of vines
 
why on earth would you want to kill grape vines?
"Elizabeth Jones" wrote in message
...
I just cleared out a mountain of vines that were growing all
over the fence of my new house. I know that some of the
vines were grape vines, but others were a mystery vine. The
mystery vine had shiny oval leaves, if i recall correctly
they were lined up opposite each other on the branches, and
were bright green on the top/reddish underneath. And the
older parts of the vines were over 1 inch thick and seem
to have runners going underground. So anyway, I have all
the vines pulled off the fence, but I know that there are
still runners from the mystery vine and probably the grape
vine under the ground, and in the neighbor's yard (neighbor
is a renter who is not going to do anything about them).

What I'm wondering now is, what can I do to try to prevent
these vines from taking over again? I figured I would invest
in a lot of roundup, but that probably won't do much for
the runners. I could rototill, but I'm afraid that breaking
the runners up might make things worse. Does anyone have
any thoughts on good ways to kill off these vines and keep
them dead?

I'm in Kansas City, Zone 5/6.

Thanks!

--
Ebeth Jones
"Plant trees." -- J. Sterling Morton

simy1 19-03-2003 03:44 PM
getting rid of vines
 
(Elizabeth Jones) wrote in message ...
I just cleared out a mountain of vines that were growing all
over the fence of my new house. I know that some of the
vines were grape vines, but others were a mystery vine. The
mystery vine had shiny oval leaves, if i recall correctly
they were lined up opposite each other on the branches, and
were bright green on the top/reddish underneath. And the
older parts of the vines were over 1 inch thick and seem
to have runners going underground. So anyway, I have all
the vines pulled off the fence, but I know that there are
still runners from the mystery vine and probably the grape
vine under the ground, and in the neighbor's yard (neighbor
is a renter who is not going to do anything about them).

What I'm wondering now is, what can I do to try to prevent
these vines from taking over again? I figured I would invest
in a lot of roundup, but that probably won't do much for
the runners. I could rototill, but I'm afraid that breaking
the runners up might make things worse. Does anyone have
any thoughts on good ways to kill off these vines and keep
them dead?

I'm in Kansas City, Zone 5/6.

Thanks!

Here is some advice - I have de-vined about 200 yds of fences in my
property over time

1) get a machete ($12.75 at Territorial Seeds)
2) kill the vines individually by painting undiluted Roundup on their
leaves with a small paintbrush (the smallest Roundup bottle will last
you decades this way). A few drops are enough to kill a medium sized
vine. When dealing with poison ivy, I usually paint a single leaf.
3) some of the grape wines could actually be fruit-grade varieties. I
salvaged three of them (which had obviously large grapes) by pulling
them some 6 feet from the fence, then buried the main stem and
restarted the plant there. They now cover a small arbor. Most of the
vines, however, will probably be wild varieties.
4) vine seeds are brought from birds. Once the fence is clear, put
weed blocker under the fence, and cover with wood chips. That results
in less than one new seedling per year per yard. In fact, I noticed
that both grapes and honeysuckle vines, once cut to the ground, have
trouble pushing through weed blocker weighed down by the wood chips
(but a large vine, one inch or more in diameter, will typically make
it through). Some shoots got out on either side of the weed blocker
and were "roundup" as described at point 2. If you plant to grow
nothing along the fence, you would help yourself by using gravel
instead of chips. Then nothing will grow and you will have one less
difficult place to mow.
Ask your neighbor for permission to make a gravel strip under the
fence.

Since you have already cleared things, and if you don't want to
salvage grapevines, you should probably do 4) before the growing
season starts. Do 2) as shoots emerge. You should be vine-free by
midsummer.


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