Wild Grape Vines

joecoin · Nov 30, 2014

I've been in the same house for 30 years. It's about 80 acres in a mostly wooded area, 2nd & 3rd growth timber. Probably 30 acres of it is in a flood plain. I don't own the land but I can do anything I want to it(within reason). This spring, the owners had a lot of walnut trees harvested. Bulldozers were used which has opened up many 12 to 20 foot wide "lanes" that never existed before. I'm cutting up firewood from the tree tops that were left behind (along with a lot of trees that were in the way and were knocked over). It's a mess.

Now that I have easy access to places that were pretty much unpenetrable before, I have declared war on the wild grape vines. I've cut them close to the ground. Now I have a bunch of Tarzan swings that are in the way and just plain ugly.

My dilemma; how to get the dead vines out of the trees without hurting the trees and without dropping a branch on my head. Is there any device that will climb the vine then cut it towards the top?

MikeInEburg · Nov 30, 2014

I've faced the same delimna, and decided to pick my battles and be happy keeping the vines from growing again. The Tarzan swings will fall eventually - removing them would be a huge project.

jeff9366 · Nov 30, 2014

The lower teeth on a Ratchet Rake attached to your bucket works well for pulling grape vines out of trees.

However, so strongly can the vines be entwined with the tree branches that I have had the whole top of large Oaks come down when pulling.

BE CAREFUL.

What are you doing about the roots? After the overdue pruning you have given the tops, the roots will be vigorous in the Spring.

Here are pictures of how I rip out grape vine roots with rippers on my Rollover Box Blade.

DB Pilot · Nov 30, 2014

Joecoin,

Your thinking about this in the wrong way. I have had great success with wild grapevine removal. However results will never be quick.

First any form of cutting, hacking, chopping, etc. seems to encourage the vines and they come back with a vengeance.

ullinghair: Your only hope is herbicides. Round-up as strong as possible but any strength will do I try for about 3%. Second when you cut a vine notice that it starts dripping liquid pretty quickly. But in the late afternoon it will start to suck fluids down into its roots getting ready for night. That is the best time (2:00 pm) to cut a vine and spray BOTH ends. Because a vine will usually have more than one rooting end. I've seen them go over a tree, down the other side and root there also.

Since the vine is fast growing it is a soft wood that when dead, rots quickly. That's the good news. Best for two people one cutting at strategic points and the other with a small spray bottle spraying the ends. It will take a season or two but soon you will look out and not see them anymore.

If you get into the soil in these vine areas you will find long stretches of root systems. Unless you get the herbicides into these roots you will never get rid of the vines.
The alternative is to spend a lot of energy and having a bigger problem next year. Spraying the leaves will not kill the plant. You can pull the vines down when they die and dry out but if you don't get to them they will break up and disappear by themselves.

hope this helps.

zzvyb6 · Nov 30, 2014

To answer the OP's question, there are two possibilities (I now use both). My pine trees were snarled with the vines. One day, I decided it was enough. Cut at the base, pull off what you can. The remaining vine branches will dry out and fracture and fall after about 2 - 3 years. A heavy wind storm completes the deal. Need a faster solution? I rented a JLG towable man-lift crane from Lowes. Its a trailer. You can cover a few trees at the same time. Trim some dead branches if necessary.

I liked it so much I bought a used one that had been hit by lightning and refurbished (sorta). I have plenty of other uses for it, too. 35' max reach (gulp),

BTW: When the cut vines are still green, they will sure plug up and create havoc on my Tomahawk wood chipper. Use the shredder chute, not the chipper side.

leveled · Dec 1, 2014

I have had good luck with cutting and herbicide and then waiting till they die and then pulling them from the tree.

fishheadbob · Dec 1, 2014

DB Pilot said:
Joecoin,

Y

First any form of cutting, hacking, chopping, etc. seems to encourage the vines and they come back with a vengeance. ullinghair: Your only hope is herbicides. Round-up as strong as possible but any strength will do I try for about 3%. Second when you cut a vine notice that it starts dripping liquid pretty quickly. But in the late afternoon it will start to suck fluids down into its roots getting ready for night. That is the best time (2:00 pm) to cut a vine and spray BOTH ends. Because a vine will usually have more than one rooting end. I've seen them go over a tree, down the other side and root there also.

Roundup is good, but for grape vines good old 2-4-d is really deadly, and it's systemic so it will travel through the roots and get most of the various shoots . In grape growing areas of N.Y. there can be restrictions on it because of the havoc it creates in vineyards. I also agree with the poster who said to not be overeager in pulling them out of trees, better to let them fall in a few years. Pulling one down can often bring an unexpected piece of timber along with the vine.

joecoin · Dec 1, 2014

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'm not worried about the vines coming back, they have been/will be poisoned. Pulling the roots with a rig like the box blade won't work, the woods are too tight.

I'm not going to pull on the vines from the ground any time soon, that way lies danger. If I can't cut them out of the trees within a year, I'll just wait until they are weak enough to pull them down without damaging the trees.

What I really want is a way to get a cutting blade up into the trees. The bucket truck would be great, except the woods are very tight in about half the places I need to cut vines.

Maybe I could rent a monkey with a pruner? Maybe a drone with a chainsaw?