We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik

In article . com,
wrote:

We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik

One step at a time. Cut them at the base.
--
Billy
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

On Jul 23, 10:48 pm, wrote:
We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik

Well , you don't say where you are but I will remind you that some
vines are poison ivy so be sure you know what you are looking at
before you dive in. Most vines (bittersweet,poison ivy,english ivy)
can be tamed by working with a partner one severs the vine as close to
the ground as possible and the other applies brush killer to the stump
straight from the can or bottle with a brush. (Brush B Gone). After
the foliage dies you can unthred them easier. Try to disturb the soil
near the stream as little as possible lest you cause silting and bank
erosion.
This is really a job to take a little at a time with hand tools,
loppers, pruners, bill hook etc and do a small section at a time well.
A buffer strip (undisturbed) of a good 10 feet from stream bank in is
a good way to help maintain the streams health. Until you can identify
the underbrush please don't try to just cut it all down as you have
plants that are adapted to their surroundings and you could carefully
select the better ones.

Grab a lawn chair and just sit and observe what wildlife comes and
goes and then consider what they need for food and shelter.

Thanks for the responses! I appreciate the help.

I live in the northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia, and I certainly
have quite some poison ivy. I was planning on doing most of the
cleanup starting in October, when a lot of the plants start going into
hibernation mode. Should be a lot easier to clean up without having to
worry about trampling underfoot.

My wife, in particular, loves all the butterflies that come around the
area, so I don't want to remove the foliage that attracts wildlife.
However, it would be nice to be able to walk around back there and
have something nice to look at from our deck, instead of a really
thick unruly underbrush.

Don't forget there are many canopies to the woods. Try to keep them alive.
Nurse logs and tree trunks from fallen trees can help the health of your
area. Informaion on wood here
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT20...tml/index.html

http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT20...tml/index.html

http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/SOUND/


See manageing trees for wildlife.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT20...182/index.html

If you lived in my area I would give a free consultation on the property.

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

wrote in message
ups.com...

We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik

wrote in message
ups.com...

We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Yeah, hire me to remove the vines.

Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.




Thanks in advance!
Kartik

wrote:
We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik


Goats.

--

Travis in Shoreline Washington

Travis wrote:
wrote:
We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik


Goats.


i don't know....goats may work for a while, until they discover all the
areas that you don't want them at.....

lol
rae

On Jul 24, 10:52?am, beecrofter wrote:
On Jul 23, 10:48 pm, wrote:





We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik

Well , you don't say where you are but I will remind you that some
vines are poison ivy so be sure you know what you are looking at
before you dive in. Most vines (bittersweet,poison ivy,english ivy)
can be tamed by working with a partner one severs the vine as close to
the ground as possible and the other applies brush killer to the stump
straight from the can or bottle with a brush. (Brush B Gone). After
the foliage dies you can unthred them easier. Try to disturb the soil
near the stream as little as possible lest you cause silting and bank
erosion.
This is really a job to take a little at a time with hand tools,
loppers, pruners, bill hook etc and do a small section at a time well.
A buffer strip (undisturbed) of a good 10 feet from stream bank in is
a good way to help maintain the streams health. Until you can identify
the underbrush please don't try to just cut it all down as you have
plants that are adapted to their surroundings and you could carefully
select the better ones.

Grab a lawn chair and just sit and observe what wildlife comes and
goes and then consider what they need for food and shelter.

Agreed. And it's a good idea to check with local government agencies
before hacking down vegetation on property abuting water, there may
very well be riparian issues... a stream can be a tremendous benefit
or a curse, depending on ones point of view.

Personally I'd clean up the trash, then leave the area undisturbed
except for any trees threatened by choking vines (I'd not kill or
remove the vines, just prune them back and periodically manage them,
you need those roots). You definitely do not want to denude the area,
and being there only recently you've no idea about flooding and
erosion during periods of spring thaw and heavy rain. What's a little
meandering stream during mid summer can turn into a raging white water
torrent come spring. That underbrush is very likely what's holding
the soil over the entire area and keeping that stream's banks from
washing away. My advice is to take nothing but pictures and leave
nothing but footsteps, and go very stingy on the footsteps. Rather
than eliminate vegetation I'd suggest installing a raised narrow
wooden walkway to the stream, keep it rustic an unobtrusive. Live
there a few years, speak to the old timers who abut that stream. Once
you clear that land you may never be able to put it back how it was...
and it doesn't take much clearing to start an erosion point, then it
spreads rapidly like a highly invasive cancer... when the rains come
what you see will definitely scare the bejeesis out out of you... that
thick underbrush could well be what's keeping your house from washing
away. Been there, have scary pictures... Mother Nature can be an
angel and a bitch.

Why wouldn't you want to kill or remove the vines? Not sure I
understand why you need the vines' roots... aren't vines an invasive
plant?

On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 08:17:08 -0400, rachael simpson
wrote:

snip
i don't know....goats may work for a while, until they discover all the
areas that you don't want them at.....

lol
rae

That sounds like people. Is there a difference? (grin)

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

On Jul 25, 9:29 am, Sheldon wrote:
On Jul 24, 10:52?am, beecrofter wrote:



On Jul 23, 10:48 pm, wrote:

We recently moved into a newly constructed home that borders a stream.
Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines. Also there is just a tremendous amount of
underbrush in the area that makes the entire area unwalkable and
unusable. People have also been using the area as a littering ground
until we moved in. It's quite a large area that I wish to clean up,
and I just can start pulling weeds etc by hand to start out with.

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to clean up an area such as
this? are they any power equipment that can be used (like a tiller
etc)? What is the best season for doing it?

Also, any suggestions on the best way to get rid of the vines from the
trees? Should I just chop them at the bottom?

Thanks in advance!
Kartik

Well , you don't say where you are but I will remind you that some
vines are poison ivy so be sure you know what you are looking at
before you dive in. Most vines (bittersweet,poison ivy,english ivy)
can be tamed by working with a partner one severs the vine as close to
the ground as possible and the other applies brush killer to the stump
straight from the can or bottle with a brush. (Brush B Gone). After
the foliage dies you can unthred them easier. Try to disturb the soil
near the stream as little as possible lest you cause silting and bank
erosion.
This is really a job to take a little at a time with hand tools,
loppers, pruners, bill hook etc and do a small section at a time well.
A buffer strip (undisturbed) of a good 10 feet from stream bank in is
a good way to help maintain the streams health. Until you can identify
the underbrush please don't try to just cut it all down as you have
plants that are adapted to their surroundings and you could carefully
select the better ones.

Grab a lawn chair and just sit and observe what wildlife comes and
goes and then consider what they need for food and shelter.

Agreed. And it's a good idea to check with local government agencies
before hacking down vegetation on property abuting water, there may
very well be riparian issues... a stream can be a tremendous benefit
or a curse, depending on ones point of view.

Personally I'd clean up the trash, then leave the area undisturbed
except for any trees threatened by choking vines (I'd not kill or
remove the vines, just prune them back and periodically manage them,
you need those roots). You definitely do not want to denude the area,
and being there only recently you've no idea about flooding and
erosion during periods of spring thaw and heavy rain. What's a little
meandering stream during mid summer can turn into a raging white water
torrent come spring. That underbrush is very likely what's holding
the soil over the entire area and keeping that stream's banks from
washing away. My advice is to take nothing but pictures and leave
nothing but footsteps, and go very stingy on the footsteps. Rather
than eliminate vegetation I'd suggest installing a raised narrow
wooden walkway to the stream, keep it rustic an unobtrusive. Live
there a few years, speak to the old timers who abut that stream. Once
you clear that land you may never be able to put it back how it was...
and it doesn't take much clearing to start an erosion point, then it
spreads rapidly like a highly invasive cancer... when the rains come
what you see will definitely scare the bejeesis out out of you... that
thick underbrush could well be what's keeping your house from washing
away. Been there, have scary pictures... Mother Nature can be an
angel and a bitch.

Agree completely. You must see the area in each season to get an idea
of what happens there. Once you have some ideas, contact the
extension folks. They have been a boon to me.
Let me add my voice to the danger of starting an erosion path. It's
like being a little bit pregnant.

Good luck

oz

Around the stream are some beautiful trees, but unfortunately they're
being chocked by vines.

Chopping these at the base of the trees is fine. They can grow back
if it turns out you really wanted them. Before I went too far I'd
identify your vines. English Ivy is probably the most common here
(Washington, DC), as well as porcelainberry, grape, poison ivy,
virginia creeper, and some others. Some of these will really take
over, but others are much more benign and maybe just need to be
trimmed back a bit if they are in the way.

Also there is just a tremendous amount of underbrush in the area that
makes the entire area unwalkable and unusable.

Again, identifying the plants might help. Few people will suggest you
would desire to keep something like multiflora rose (because it is
non-native, thorny, not particularly attractive, etc). But amongst
that underbrush might be some plants which aren't really taking over,
and would be quite attractive if not covered in vines (or whatever).

I second the comments of everyone else about treading somewhat
carefully and being careful not to end up destroying the streambank
and ending up with a bunch of mud sliding into the river. But
starting by trimming everything back isn't going to hurt anything.
You can always let them grow back as you figure out which ones are
good and which ones not so good, where you want to put a path, etc.