Grape vine and trees, advice needed

14 years ago

On the rear of my 1.2 acres I have two wildish areas. Over the last 7 years I've reduced the honeysuckle in one and virtually eliminated the a series of vines with trunks as thick as my arms which were causing problems for the walnut trees during wind storms.

My goal isn't the golf course manicured look for my yard, just think the honeysuckle and vine mix was boring and find my ability to grow a dozen different bushes or small trees in its place more interesting.

Just wondering if I've correctly identified the vine as one of the wild grape varieties? Any better tricks for getting rid of it than keep cutting and applying Round-up to both ends?

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Comments (4)

shortleaf2002
14 years ago
Thats what it looks like to me, is the dastardly wild grape-vines. I remember a few years ago
I was trying to identify it too. I always suspected it was wild grapes too. I have an Aunt
who makes grape jelly out of Wild Grapes and it makes jelly as good as Smuckers, well I thought it was
good. I severed some big vines that were going up in trees and noticeably weighing them down.
Those vines would have water running out of them when I cut them, water glasses could be fillled up.
I think they help trees collapse in storms. I know we had a big ice storm in early 02' and the trees
with vines up in them were all over the ground.
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Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
Original Author
14 years ago
That sure does look like the "trunks" I've been cutting up.

Maybe fire controls the vines in the wild but it sure tries to take over my yard. Figure no matter how hard I try I won't be able to get rid of it entirely.
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brandon7 TN_zone7
14 years ago
I cut these off at about 4' or 5' so that I can easily bend the cut end back down to the ground. Then, while the cut is still very fresh, I dunk it into a small glass filled with 18% glyphosate ("regular" Roundup without water). Most of the time, that eliminates that vine, but these things can be almost magically persistent and require a second treatment. Time of year does make a difference in how easy they are to kill. One source online says to apply in "early March (or) mid-September, but not in mid-August".
wisconsitom
14 years ago
I've got wild grape growing up into some of my conifers in my woods. Can't be allowed to happen as they will grow so profusely as to shade out the underlying tree. So yes, cut and apply herbicide. If you are able to acquire the herbicide Garlon, that is a little more effective for this application than is Roundup. But......Roundup-style herbicides will do the trick. Are you making a strong solution? In the case of professional strength glyphosate (Roundup active ingredient) materials that I've used, the recommendation for this application is to mix the full-strength concentrate 50/50 with water.

BTW, I think this problem is on the increase. My theory is that there have been some drought years, and that nothing, not even severe drought stops these vines. Hence, the poor growing conditions of recent years have given the wild grape a bit of an advantage. Not sure, just speculating.

+oM