Question about bad plants...

[W_HAMILTON]

I've been cleaning up my backyard lately, and there are two types of "vines" that are just a nuisance. One type has a an almost-rope like root, and has leaves that grow from it. They can grow very high up in the trees and wrap around them, or grow in the ground. The ones I had found in the ground, have a nodule every few feet or so, and from that nodule has smaller roots, making it almost impossible to pull them up. The second type of "vine" can grow very high as well; it doesn't have many leaves growing from it, but it is thorny, and when you dig them up, they have big, potato-like bulbs that are white on the outside, and pinkish on the inside.

How the hell do I get rid of these for good? They are all over the yard. The thorny vines with bulbs, I dig up, but that seems to be the ONLY way to get rid of them; and they're so widespread, even if I dig them up in one area, sure enough, in a few weeks I'll see another sprout pop up. The bushy vine with rope-like roots, I have sprayed some sort of killer on it I got from someone, and while it does kill the leafy part, it doesn't kill down to the root, so in a month or so, it grows back as well.

Any clue on what these plants are, and how I can go about getting rid of them for good?

[LaurenG]

1. Some of those vines are a pain

I just pull then out by the roots when they are small and dig then up if they get too big. I know of nothing that I'd use to get rid of them so I just pull them off the tree. When we first moved here there was one stuck to a tree and it was as think as the fat end of a bat. We sawed it off on two ends. I wonder if you have the same vine I have. Does your's look like this? Mine isn't kudzu though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu#Culinary

[W_HAMILTON]

2. No, I don't think it's like that

If I had the world to dig up, sure, then I probably could get rid of them. But we have a fence, and there's basically a forest right behind it, so it's hard to get back there and dig up EVERYTHING. The best I have done so far is to dig up with I can, and cut them back from the fence. But eventually they still start to overgrow the fence again. It's a darn nuisance.

It sounds like the type of root I had may be similar to your's. The root can grow very thick, even though the main problems I have now are ones that just grow very long, into my yard from outside around the forest. I've done a pretty good job of getting the yard cleaned up, but unless there is something I can spray or something that can skill those things, it's going to be a non-stop battle to keep the vines from overtaking my yard again :(

You wouldn't happen to know a good resource where to look up vines, do you? The main reason I started cutting them back is because last year, I was out and about in the backyard and caught some sort of rash which lasted about a month, and even after it cleared up, caused generalized itching for months. I don't know what it was, since the plants back there didn't look like any pictures of poison ivy or poison oak that I had seen. I wouldn't mind looking them all up, just to find out what they are.

[LaurenG]

3. I'm trying to find them online

I also pm'ed someone who may know what it is or a good resource. I think I'll take a piece to the nursery to see if they know what it is and how to contol it.

I'll let you know what I find out.

[bettyellen]

4. look up you local "county extention agent"

they will know exactly what it is and the best way to deal with it.
and they'll tell you, for free.

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Check out this site...you may have bindweed (many other weeds at site)

http://www.bayeradvanced.com/lawn/problem-solver/weeds.cfm

Also take a look here:

http://www.garden.org/weedlibrary/index.php?keyword=Woody%20and%20Vining%20Weeds

[Suich]

6. The first one sounds like morning glory.

I've never gotten rid of it.

Whatever it is, good luck!

:hi:

[W_HAMILTON]

8. Maybe I'm using the wrong term for it

The rope-like one, has much more emphasis on the rope-like thing (which I call a root, even though it can grow way up into the trees) than the green, leafy part of the plant. When I google "ivy" or "vines" (or check for pictures of what you guys have suggested), it usually comes up with pretty green plants, some of them with flowers and berries, etc. This thing isn't really like that. It's mainly a brown, rope-like "root," and in some areas it sprouts leaves. If it's along the ground, every few feet there will be one knob-like noduel, that goes into the ground maybe 8 inches, and is almost impossible to pull up because of how well-anchored it is. Usually I just end up sticking the cutter down into the ground a few inches and cutting the nodule off.

I was afraid it may be poison ivy (because of the reaction I had to it that one time), but it usually have five leaves instead of three, and I didn't break out in the characteristic blisters that can accompany poison ivy.

I really wish I could identify this stuff, especially this specific type since I *think* it is what caused me to have a pretty severe reaction to the stuff about a year ago.

Thanks for all the responses though, and I'll try some of the brands and see if that will kill them into the root so they die for good :p

[erinlough]

10. when it climbs on a tree trunk do little hair-like roots

go into the tree bark, like for nourishment. Poison Ivy does this and will hurt your tree eventually. Some woody stemed plants wind up the tree but do not go into the bark. Also the poison ivy has clusters of three leaves and each leaf has an indentation on one side. The stems of the leaves have a red coloring and the leaves get to be a beautiful red color in the fall. Good luck removing it.

I try to find it when it's little and put a plastic bag over my hand and pull it roots and all. Then I invert the plastic bag around it and throw it in the garbage. Never burn it as the smoke can infect you badly if you breathe it. Like I said, good luck.

[W_HAMILTON]

14. I don't believe so

Usually the rope-like root just wraps itself around the tree. Sometimes they can wrap VERY tightly too. One in particular climbed up maybe 20 ft on one tree, and I cut it off at the base, and every day I would tug at it to try and get it down. It finally loosened up today to the point where I could pull it down (after 2-3 weeks of being cut off from the base).

I should try to get a camera and take some pictures so I could show them, as I said, everywhere I've looked, I've seen nothing that quite matches it. Even on the sites some people have posted, most of them look more leafy and bushy, whereas this thing seems to have more of an emphasis on the rope-like root.

[erinlough]

11. google poison oak

if that is what you have be very careful, it is the worst stuff I've ever been around, but maybe I'm more allergic to it.

[pitohui]

28. quick heads up

with five leaves it may be virginia creeper and there is a bit of poison oak/poison ivy in there with it that you're not seeing to cause the reaction -- my vines include these and also include trumpet honeycreeper -- vines don't take an agreement to stake out territories, they often intermingle, in my yard anyway -- i honestly believe poison oak has a "deal" with virginia creeper to hang out together so people will think it's just old virginia creeper and let it slide...

be that as it may (and okay i believe this almost CERTAINLY to be the case) do not even consider burning your lawn debris

smoke inhalation of poison ivy is serious, it nearly killed my stupid neighbor who decided he would burn it instead of bagging it

[femmocrat]

7. If you can find it, Ortho makes a very good product called

"Brush B Gone." It is the only thing I have found that actually kills poison ivy. It really works.

[sendero]

9. Id' try RoundUp..

.. or more specifically a cheaper generic equivalent glysophate.

More than likely it will work. If it doesn't, then you can consider the more powerful herbicides, but be careful - if you get it on or even in the dirt of plants you want to keep - you might kill them too.

[pitohui]

27. i would too

in my experience, chop what you can above ground and immediately apply roundup to the cut of the nuisance vine (or nuisance tree)

plus it has a great LD50 for song birds which no other herbicide is really safe

sara stein, author of noah's garden, also recommends glysophate

[Blue Diadem]

12. I think one with thorns might be Smilax

I've googled around and come up with other names like catbriar for it.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/31746/index.html

[erinlough]

13. I googled "invasive vines" and the first site gave me the

information I needed. They have plant pictures making it easy to identify your plant. On the right side there is a listing of whether it is a vine or shrub etc. The web site was "invasive.org".

[W_HAMILTON]

15. Oooh

Well, there are a bunch of pictures, and while it doesn't seem to quite match exactly what I have, something called "Chinese wysteria" seems to most closely match what I'm talking about.

Some of them have "pods" like these (I didn't mention them before because I wasn't sure how to describe them):


I have seen it wrap in a rope shape like this:


And this is how parts of it looks when it's just growing along and thru the fence or something:


Yep. The more and more I look at the pictures, it definitely seems like it is this. Of course, there are tons of types, so I could be wrong. But in looking for information and pictures off and on for awhile now, I've never seen something come this close to matching it. The only thing is, I haven't seen the purple flowers that are supposed to be associated with it yet. But otherwise, it seems like almost a dead-ringer.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. I've had wisteria grow through my windows from time to time.

It's nasty stuff, and really needs to be round-upped, much as I hate to use that stuff.
The vines are horribly invasive, and choke large tracts of forest along the highways near where I live. In the spring, they bloom with a lovely purple flower that smells heavenly.

I had a landlady who trained hers to grow like a tree; but it required an immense amount of work; and she had to prune it immediately after it bloomed, to keep the seed pods from growing.

I agree with OurVotesCount that the thorny vine sounds like smilax, sometimes called greenbriar.
Does it look like this?

[W_HAMILTON]

19. A little bit

But they can grow to be much thicker than that. I've had some grow probably 15-18ft in the air. I'm going to read up on them and see if I can find anything about the type of bulb they have (assuming they have one). That's probably the main characteristic for that one. It's leaves are usually waxy, it can grow to be pretty thick and long; it has thorns, and it has these nasty bulbs that are white on the outside, and pinkish on the inside.

[W_HAMILTON]

21. Bingo!

Did some quick research, and yep, I think that's it. The more I read about it, the more it sounded like it. Then I happened to find a picture of some huge, ugly smilax bulbs, and that pretty much confirmed it for me:

[Jamastiene]

23. You have wysteria then.

Definitely wysteria. It may not be the chinese version, but plain ol' wysteria. Nudge nudge. If you find the "cure" whisper it to me here on DU in hopes that I can perform a sneak attack on my hideous overgrown triffad jungle too.

Edited to add a link to some info and pictures:

http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/northcarolina/initiatives/art12749.html
http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/wist1.htm

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. A combination of drugs and therapy should take care of it.

:evilgrin:

[Jamastiene]

16. It may be sumac.

That's poisonous to some people like poison ivy or oak. I'm not allergic to it, but at my old home, it was a nuisance. I'd love to go back that being my only nuisance. Where I live now, I have literally tons of wysteria vines, some of it bigger in diameter than me. :wow: And my yard isn't really a yard, but more like a thick jungle and it's uphill in every direction. It is impossible to find a downhill in this triffad patch where I live now. One day though, to the moon wysteria, to the moon. Eventually, I will either win or wake up with a wysteria around my neck choking me. I'll just grab it and choke back.

Never give up. Sooner or later, you may be able to rid yourself of the pesky vines. Years ago, I dug the single wysteria at the old place deep down to the roots (about 2 feet below the surface), stabbed the big root dozens of times saying "Die Jessie Helms, die." with a hunting knife and poured gasoline on it. I then lit it and all the vines I had pulled off the ground in that area while singing "Burn Baby Burn." That worked. It was the ONLY thing I ever found that worked too. I must have instinctively learned a good spell somewhere along the way for the vines. Too bad it didn't rid the world of hateful old Helms. :(

[W_HAMILTON]

18. Hah

Yeah :( I haven't gotten quite to that point yet, but it stinks checking on a part of the yard I "completely" cleaned up a few weeks ago, only to see new sprouts of the crap. I ended up reading more about Chinese wisteria, and I'm actually pretty sure that this is the rope-like vine I was talking about. It sounds almost exactly like it, and it is found in the part of the USA I live in. I read that it is really difficult to get rid of, but I also read you can try to cut into the rope part of it, and spray the killer directly onto the root, and that sometimes helps. I haven't tried that yet, I basically had just sprayed it on the leaves and hoped that it would kill it all.

Unfortunately, we have a very large one (probably slightly less thick than the fattest end of a baseball bat) growing waaaaaaaaay high up a pine tree of mine in the front yard; I left it alone, because well, it's huge, it's grown so high up, and it actually looked kinda nice the way it wrapped around the tree, and grew small sprouts of leaves off it. Back to the unfortunate part -- I read that if it gets to be this big, it can literally strangle a tree to death, and I wouldn't want that thing falling on the house. So I'm gonna have to try to do something about it. Maybe just cut it off at the base and hope it will eventually dry out at the higher parts of the tree.

[ComerPerro]

20. This is a BAD plant

It gets scary big, really fast...

[W_HAMILTON]

22. Chinese Wisteria + Smilax: the "bad plants"

The two previously unnamed "bad plants" have been found out :)

Thanks for all the help everybody.

I guess the next question would be, has anyone had any experience in getting rid of these two types of plants? Unfortunately, from what I've read, they both seem like pains in the butt to get rid of.

It makes me wonder though, because I was sure that when I had the skin rash last year, that it was caused by the plant I now know to be "Chinese wisteria," but I haven't read that it causes many skin rashses like that. So I'm not sure. Of course, there was so much bush in that area that it could have been something else I had gotten into.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

25. Put some table salt on the remaining roots

after you pull them up. A spoonful or so should do the trick. (You don't want to burn out the grass)

[Jamastiene]

26. I have never had that work for me before.

Wysteria roots are immune to everything but fire in my experience and I've been fighting it for years.