Removing invasive vines ???

[FarmerKat]

We bought our property in December when the vines were not obvious but we have several spots where the vine is growing (it is very obvious now). I have not been able to identify the actual vine. I thought it was kudzu but the vine only has 1 leaf (not 3). However, the 1 leaf is shaped just like the middle leaf in pictures of kudzu. (Does anyone know what this could be? We are in TN.) The vine is growing on a steep hillside where it is very difficult to get to.

I was able to remove a bunch in one area (on lower branches) but there was no way to remove it from the top of mature poplar trees. I cut the vines that I could see and the leaves in the tree top are dying now. I have read that one has to find the rhizome and dig it up. I found one vine growing from the ground that was about 5 inches thick and dug around trying to get it out - but I just could not get anywhere with the digging.

I have read that Roundup should be used to kill the roots ... is there anything else that would kill it? I just hate the idea of poisoning our soil with round up.

I have also read that goats and pigs help control it but would they do anything if all the leaves are a hundred feet off the ground in the top of a tree?

I would appreciate any tips in dealing with this before it gets completely out of control.
Thanks.

[ChristieAcres]

In order to help identify the vines, it will help if you post pics. I don't envy you that work, sorry to hear about the invasive vines.

Here is a great example why invasive species shouldn't be planted. If it isn't a problem now, it may become one in the future, and neighboring property owners shouldn't have to deal with it.

[wogglebug]

It's kudzu.

You can't poison ground with Round-up. It only gets absorbed by leaves (don't waste it on ground or bare stalks). Obviously, no poison is desirable, even if only because it costs money, and particularly if it's labelled "Monsanto", but straight glyphosate (that is correct spelling) with no additives is about as innocuous as a herbicide can get. It's absorbed by the plant, works slowly, but breaks down rapidly if it hasn't got into a plant.

What you're doing (cutting off whatever kudzu stalks you can, particularly those that are climbing) is a good first step, but it's not a long-term solution. Goats help LOTS, but they'll only eat leaves and small green stalks - not if they're 5" thick. Chasing the stalks back into the ground and rooting out the rhizomes helps, and if they're chopped and not put somewhere they'll gow then they make decent fodder for goats, pigs and cattle. I'd imagine if you put them through a wood-chipper and cut them into small lumps they'd be good poultry or rabbit food as well.

They are a legume. Get young leaves or flowers and they're quite edible and nutritious. Plenty of recipes around. The rhizomes or tubers are too woody to be decent people food, but you can extract the starch from them and use it for about anything you'd use arrowroot flour for.

[FarmerKat]

Originally Posted by lorichristie

In order to help identify the vines, it will help if you post pics. I don't envy you that work, sorry to hear about the invasive vines.

Here is a great example why invasive species shouldn't be planted. If it isn't a problem now, it may become one in the future, and neighboring property owners shouldn't have to deal with it.

Here are the pictures. I did not think about posting pics last night.

Originally Posted by wogglebug

It's kudzu.

You can't poison ground with Round-up. It only gets absorbed by leaves (don't waste it on ground or bare stalks). Obviously, no poison is desirable, even if only because it costs money, and particularly if it's labelled "Monsanto", but straight glyphosate (that is correct spelling) with no additives is about as innocuous as a herbicide can get. It's absorbed by the plant, works slowly, but breaks down rapidly if it hasn't got into a plant.

What you're doing (cutting off whatever kudzu stalks you can, particularly those that are climbing) is a good first step, but it's not a long-term solution. Goats help LOTS, but they'll only eat leaves and small green stalks - not if they're 5" thick. Chasing the stalks back into the ground and rooting out the rhizomes helps, and if they're chopped and not put somewhere they'll gow then they make decent fodder for goats, pigs and cattle. I'd imagine if you put them through a wood-chipper and cut them into small lumps they'd be good poultry or rabbit food as well.

They are a legume. Get young leaves or flowers and they're quite edible and nutritious. Plenty of recipes around. The rhizomes or tubers are too woody to be decent people food, but you can extract the starch from them and use it for about anything you'd use arrowroot flour for.

Thank you for your input, it was very helpful. I have been reluctant to eat it as I am not 100% sure it is kudzu. I posted pics based on lorichristie's recommendation.

It is helpful to understand how goats can help control it. The area where it is growing is not fenced right now and will not be for some time (it is a steep hill and investing in a fence is just not on a priority list for this area) but it seems that if we keep cutting it down for now, anything coming back could be cleaned up by the goats when we get to fencing it in.

We have been trying our best not to put our money into Monsanto's pockets and the idea of buying Round-up drives me nuts. But I would do it if that was the only way to get rid of the vine. I will look up plain glyphosate.

[fishhead]

Don't worry about what's growing in the trees. Once you cut the vine near the ground anything above it starves for nutrients and water.

Those leaves look like grapes to me.

[littlebitfarm]

That is a grape vine!

[1shotwade]

Looks like possum grape to me also. Traditionally they are hard to kill completely out. The old saying is "for grapes to die,cut'm in July!"
Good luck!

Wade

[Tricky Grama]

We had so many undesirable vines on our 20 ac, invading trees, etc. We mowed what we could, & mowed&mowed&mowed. Clipped BY HAND most of the rest where mowers wouldn't go. Controlled a lot of poison ivy, grapevine-like yours-honeysuckle, green briar-this is the WORST! VA creeper too.
We'd walk the property everytime we went up there, w/clippers in hand, big job.

[AuntKitty]

If you don't want to spray Roundup, put some in a lidded container like a margarine tub, cut a slit in the lid. Then slide a green vine tip into the slit & put the lid on the tub with the vine tip down in the Roundup. The vine will take up the liquid & carry it to the root. Since the vine is so big you will have to do this more than once. For the lower vines if you can train them and keep them pruned off of the slope, you can make wreaths, trellises & alot of other useful things out of them. Good luck!

Kitty

[Fla Gal]

I agree with littlebitfarm, it's grapes. I'm not sure of which type of grape, probably Muscadine or Scuppernongs. From the little bit of reading I did Scuppernongs are bronze or golden and Muscadines are purple or black.

If you like grapes of a small variety the Muscadines are deliciously sweet when ripe. They grow wild here and I scarf them up every chance I get. I've never tasted the Scuppernongs.

Here's a link to a duckduckgo search I did for scuppernong muscadine vines:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=scuppernong+muscadine+vines

Hope this helps.

[1shotwade]

Another good option,especially for larger vines is to go to a tractor supply type place and get a quart of tordon. It should be about $13 and goes a long ways. Anything you want dead,cut it below the lowest green,apply tordon and walk away. It's a done deal. We have had to take out trees growing on the pond dam,many that were 12-14 inches diameter.I just take a hatchet and slice into the tree in 3 places about 3 feet up off the ground and apply tordon to the cuts and in a month they are dead.Then I can come back and drop them later in the year when the weeds and briers are in the winter kill.

Wade

[dizzy]

While I don't know which grape it is, one way you can tell it's grape is by the tendrils. They're different than those on other types of vines.

[FarmerKat]

Thanks for all of the replies. I have been looking online to determine what type of grape vine it is. I am not sure I found the answer but it seems that many are native to the area. So I wonder if I should be attempting to kill them instead of simply slowing them down (i.e. cutting the vines best but not killing the roots with herbicides). On the other hand, they are HUGE and are covering large mature trees (one tree is half dead, the others are not affected to that degree yet).

If we try to attempt to kill them, I was wondering if vinegar would work. I was thinking about drilling a hole in the root to place a funnel in it full of vinegar (or dipping the cut off end in it for the thinner, more flexible vines).

[Alice In TX/MO]

That isn't how vinegar is used to kill vegetation. It's used as a foliar spray also.

Just cut the vines that you see.

[highlands]

Livestock is my preferred method of controlling plants. What little they won't eat I easily take care of. Our pigs will eat all the vines we have as well as thistles, burdock, briars, etc. Some of the only thing they and the sheep don't take down are goldenrod, milkweed and they tend to avoid cherry although they'll sometimes take those. Mob grazing works to take all of these down because they'll trample it. Cherry is toxic when wilted and in high doses but not a problem in the levels we see.

-Walter

[Forcast]

I use that kind of vine to make wreaths and to wind in between fence slats. it make nive baskets as well.

[Ozarks Tom]

I agree with Wade, Tordon will kill not only that stump, but also any other vines connected to it underground. Cut the vine low, and "paint" the stump rather than spray.

We had locust trees sprouting everywhere when we moved here. I found the "mother tree", and like Wade cut into it in 3 places. Within a couple months every sprout/tree connected to it was dead.

[wogglebug]

Sorry. It's not kudzu. The rest I said was right, and you can still eat grape leaves (or use them to flavour sugar syrup, and then make folly wine ("folly"="foliage")).

[luvrulz]

Take them to your extension agent in your county and he can help you identify them and the easiest and best way to get a handle on them if they're worth keeping around or for total eradication - they can help with that....

[kilgrosh]

I have those same grape vines growing all over my trees. I moved into my house back in April and have been busy cutting the vines at the root. My neighbors won't do anything about them (the vines are on the back overgrown portion of their backyards) so I'm cutting every root I see. After a few weeks, I start pulling all the vines out of the trees. Most of my trees had branches that were weighed down by the vines, but now the branches are free and happy.

Come late fall when the vegetation dies but before the ground freezes, I will go and dig up all the roots. I know its a slow method but if I use a herbicide and kill off some of my neighbor's plants that they wanted to keep, I'm in deep doo-doo.

After the vines die but are still in the tree canopy, will they hurt the tree? Eventually just fall to the ground?