Killing LARGE Vines

[jay3534]

I have some LARGE vines up to 3 inch in diameter (some kudzu, some ivy and some unknown) . Plan to cut them off near the ground and spray when they start to green up. The question is if I pull the vines from the trees will any pieces that break and fall off take root?

 

[HillStreet]

I live in Maine so I don't have the same vine problem as you in North Carolina. I have an apple orchard that has lots of vines, up to 2.5 inches. I use the tractor bucket to uproot the root ball, then give it a month or so to die. Then you can pull it, cut it and chip it. No regrowth but I do mow under the trees where the roots were.

 

[shaeff]

When my wife and I purchased our 4.5 acre vacant land, it had been abandoned for over ten years. It had likely been neglected for longer than that. We had vines, mostly poison ivy and some other woody vine that is strong as steel cable up to 3.5" thick. I cut them all off at the base, leaving about 5" sticking out of the ground. Used our loader with some chains to carefully drag them out of all the trees (they were being smothered), and waited a few weeks.

Once cut off, especially the poison ivy, it would flourish at ground level. I'd then take poison ivy spray and spray it like crazy every day. In two summers I had all the large poison ivy vines wiped out. They take in vast amounts of sunlight through their leaves. If you spray every leaf they have, once the sun comes out, it's pretty much over for them. I had a very good Roundup brand killer and I was very happy with it, though I heard they changed the formula now.

I didn't have any issues with pieces falling from trees and re-rooting. It's really a matter of cutting the vine off, then it re-sprouts like wildfire around the main original vine.

 

[newbury]

I have some LARGE vines up to 3 inch in diameter (some kudzu, some ivy and some unknown) . Plan to cut them off near the ground and spray when they start to green up. The question is if I pull the vines from the trees will any pieces that break and fall off take root?

I'm pretty sure kudzu pieces will sprout in mid air and form a root ball as they fall

I've a lot of ivy around the house (both poison ivy and English ivy) and that forms roots on the house and trees, I'm sure if they fall in the right environment (moisture/water available, soil to penetrate) they will root.

My method is to cut them off and let them hang for a year before I pull them off.

And spray the remains on the ground.

 

[aarolar]

I'm pretty sure kudzu pieces will sprout in mid air and form a root ball as they fall

I've a lot of ivy around the house (both poison ivy and English ivy) and that forms roots on the house and trees, I'm sure if they fall in the right environment (moisture/water available, soil to penetrate) they will root.

My method is to cut them off and let them hang for a year before I pull them off.

And spray the remains on the ground.

This is my preference as well cut about a foot wide section out of the vine and leave the remaining in the tree to dry out and die then herbicide the remaining every chance you get for the next year. The hardest thing to kill is a bamboo brier the root ball on them can be enormous and getting enough sestemic herbicide to the root to kill it is tricky.

 

[Ford850]

I do the same as these last two replies ^^
On really tough ones, I recut a little off the stump section before reapplying the herbicide every month or two.

 

[murph1]

I do the same as these last two replies ^^
On really tough ones, I recut a little off the stump section before reapplying the herbicide every month or two.

This^ I use pathfinder II on the cuts. The vine will dry up and fall off the tree.

 

[teg]

The other vine might be wild grape vine they'll get really thick, I got a couple 4" think... I would cut the vines and wait until they die and get brittle.

View attachment 496298

 

[oosik]

Would you believe, on 80 acres, I only had one big vine that needed to be removed. It was some type of Ivy - not poison Ivy. I cut the main trunk - leaving about two feet above ground and spent an un-Godly amount of time pulling it out of two trees. I soaked a shop rag in RoundUp and wrapped it around the exposed top of the stump. I put a plastic bag over the rag/stump and sealed it tight around the stump with a nylon pull-tie. This prevented the RoundUp from drying out. The next summer I pulled the dead stump. There never were any new sprouts that grew from the stump.

My dad used a product called Toxaphene to kill sumac - that was around 45 years ago. However, its now banned in the USA and also globally.

 

[jeff9366]

My method is to cut them off and let them hang for a year before I pull them off.

I have wild grapes. If you pull vines out of trees with a tractor, about one in fifteen times the crown of the tree will snap before the vines release.

Any that pull out easily, I remove. Tough ones I leave to rot, which generally takes 2-1/2 years.

I use 2-4,D herbicide on vines that try to climb again from ground level.

I have never had a vine, pulled from a tree, propagate.