Vines...

[IHDiesel73L]

I brush hogged along our 1/4 mile long lane and got rid of a bunch of invasive brush. Now I'm doing cleanup of all of the slash, etc...and coming across vines growing up the trees that line the lane that I was not able to remove with the machine. The vines range from about 1/4" to 4" thick-grape vine, poison ivy, etc...other than the poison ivy of course, as I would cut them at the base with the chainsaw I would pull on them, sometimes pulling them out of the tree, but oftentimes not. Now that they are cut and deprived of water and nutrients, how long before they weaken enough to be pulled out of the tree or to fall out? Obviously its better for the tree to get rid of them and in my opinion they make our property look crappy and overgrown, so I'd like to get rid of them completely. Anything else I can do to hasten their demise?

 

[BoylermanCT]

We have grape vines and bittersweet that take over trees in CT. Once you cut out the bottom of the vine, they will dry up and die pretty quickly, but that makes them harder to remove as they will break easier and then you can't reach the higher vines. Can you pull them off with the tractor? Wrap it around the hooks on your bucket it you have them, or use a Grubber tool on a short chain.

 

[ruffdog]

I had lots of vines here too. The ones that pulled out of the evergreens easy I did so. The ones that I worried that the host tree would be damaged, I did not pull out. The vines dry up and fall out fairly quickly. Keep at it as the roots will keep growing for many years.

 

[oldballs]

I had lots of vines here too. The ones that pulled out of the evergreens easy I did so. The ones that I worried that the host tree would be damaged, I did not pull out. The vines dry up and fall out fairly quickly. Keep at it as the roots will keep growing for many years.

What he said.....

I just finished cleaning out the lower dead Cedar limbs of about 1000 feet of hedge. The undergrowth included Poison Ivy, Virginia Creeper, Grape and Greenbrier ...along with various bushes Poke Plant etc. Now I can get in there to cut down the regrowth with the Stihl Brush Cutter. It's a lot of work, but I'm still able to get 'er done. A call to the manufacturer of a herbicide recommended that I not use such chemicals to "kill" the stuff. He said it might also kill the Cedars.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[homesteader13]

Here in Eastern Nebraska, we have pretty much the same issue, We cut the bases in the summer and then pull them out late fall or winter after all the leaves are off everything and they have dried out, but still green enough to be able to pull them out without them breaking.

The smaller stuff we pull by hand and the bigger stuff with a choker attached to the tractor bucket.

 

[Diggin It]

I just nip it off a bit above ground. The vines die and the leaves turn brown and fall off in a few days. I can't see bothering with the dead vines 20' up.

It's the remaining live bits at the ground you want to deal with. The creeper and PI don't seem to grow back real fast. But I cut some Hummingbird Vine (tulip vine or whatever it's called) a couple of months back and I'm seeing 4-5' or more regrowth already. Honeysuckle is pretty aggressive too, but I leave some of that for the bees.

 

[RickB]

I just nip it off a bit above ground. The vines die and the leaves turn brown and fall off in a few days. I can't see bothering with the dead vines 20' up.

It's the remaining live bits at the ground you want to deal with.

^^^ What he said.

 

[murphy1244]

Make sure you spray the root half with diesel, round up or whatever killer juice you serve. I use pathfinder 2.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ Problem there is trying to kill the weed and not the tree. You can 'paint' the stub with concentrate if you feel the need to. I snipped one vine that bled for days -- active juice foaming out of it, so spraying or brushing concentrate on it wouldn't have done a lot of good.

 

[murphy1244]

^^ Problem there is trying to kill the weed and not the tree. You can 'paint' the stub with concentrate if you feel the need to. I snipped one vine that bled for days -- active juice foaming out of it, so spraying or brushing concentrate on it wouldn't have done a lot of good.

That is why you do it in the fall when the root system is gathering in the nutrients.

 

[k0ua]

I use my grapple attachment "grabber" I made to pull them out of the trees.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums...d-grapple-bush-grabber.html?highlight=grapple

Post 33 has some grape vine pictures.

 

[IHDiesel73L]

We have grape vines and bittersweet that take over trees in CT. Once you cut out the bottom of the vine, they will dry up and die pretty quickly, but that makes them harder to remove as they will break easier and then you can't reach the higher vines. Can you pull them off with the tractor? Wrap it around the hooks on your bucket it you have them, or use a Grubber tool on a short chain.

I use my grapple attachment "grabber" I made to pull them out of the trees.

Not sure what the vines are like in your area but pulling the vines green that I have with the tractor could easily result in snapping the crown right out of the tree if not pulling the whole darn thing down. In addition to grapevine and poison ivy I've got some kind of nasty stuff that will actually braid and spiral around itself as well as trees and other vines-kind of looks like wisteria minus the pretty flowers. It averages anywhere from 2-4" thick and the bigger stuff you could darn near cut to length and split for firewood. From what I've been reading you have to find the "sweet spot" where the vines are green enough to not to just break a few feet from where you grab them but dead enough to lose their grip higher up. I'm going to try to get everything cut over the next two weeks or so and then start yanking in October/November and see what happens.