Vines growning from within bushes?

[micky]

I have vines growing up in the middle of my bushes. What to do?

They look bad.

At least once a year, I rip or cut out parts I can see, but that still leaves the stems and they grown back.

Some have grown 20 feet up the trees that are in the middle of the bushes.

How can I now use, or have used herbicide, without killing the evergreen bushes that surround them?

What did I do wrong in the first place?

There are also two trees, some kind of fir and an arbor vitae in the midst of the bushes, which have a picket fence on the far side. About once a year, I crawl under the bushes and remove litter that blows from up to 100 yards upwind and gets stuck under the bushes. Sometimes I've cut off the vines near the earth when I'm there, but that doesn't remove the roots or a couple inches of stem. Could I have done more?

(Mostly litter that escapes from the garbage cans when being emptied into the garbage truck. At least the litter can't be seen (except a little from the yard next door, if they bend down) and it doesn't grow.)

First step after ripping or cutting out the vines is to throw them on the ground. Can I just leave them to be cut up by the lawn mower or can more vines sprout from the chopped up stems and leaves?

A small part is English ivy. That doesn't look so bad, but .... Does ivy kill the trees it grows on, or do dying trees attract ivy? So far these two trees look okay, except one has snow damage, but another tree that I didn't care about** had both a lot of ivy and death. Coincidence? **Heavily snow damaged, and a tulip tree had sprouted 12 feet away that is 20 feet tall already.

[Dan Espen]

Ivy is one of the worst. Kill it whenever you see it. I used to think it was attractive so I let a patch grow near my garage. A year later I see ivy leaves inside the garage. It came right through the wall.

For your evergreens, remove the lower branches so you can see the trunk(s). Then a weed whacker or just pulling is much easier. Plus it's easier to keep clean.

[micky]

Thianks for the answers.

If I get the vine trimming doen today, this is today's problem:

[Dan Espen]

In a normal temperate climate they'll die. I understand Kudzu in a stream will sprout but most vines give up the ghost unless buried back into soil.

Here in NJ I'm battling Virginia Creeper, Honey Suckle, Poison Ivy, Ivy. I find the Honey Suckle hardest to conquer.5cc

[Joshua Snow]

I cut the vines back as you have done and apply neat Roundup to the cut top of what remains in the ground.

Works fine.

Didn't pull the vines out when they were still very small.

Yep, apply neat Roundup to the stubs.

Yes the cut up stems can do in theory. Not the leaves tho.

[gfretwell]

It is tedious work but if you cut them off at the ground and paint the stems with Brush B Gone/Garlon, they will die. Just use a small artist paint brush. If these are pines, I bet you can find a selective herbicide that won't hurt them. Personally I would kill the pines but maybe that is just me. We have better ornamentals that are not as dirty.

[Joshua Snow]

Normally used diluted,

[Dan Espen]

Can only guess about what the poster meant using the term "neat Roundup". I went through a few weeks of applying Roundup on a sponge to vines growing around the yard. I finally gave up.

Ir may have killed some vines but my yard is large and it just took too long. My primary weapon now is the weed whacker. I can take out vines down to the ground in a few seconds. When they poke up through the pachysandra I just take the tops off. If I was dealing with a smaller area I could hand pull them or try topical application.

[micky]

Thanks.

Interesting. I never heard of neat Roundup, and no one sells it, but there are pages that refer to it.

Roundup itself says iit is Roundup PowerMAX Concentrate or Roundup Tough Concentrate

But these are hard to get in one-family size. What do you recommend?

One seems only for sale in 2.5 gallons for $80. . The closest thing I found is Roundup Tough Ultra Cconcentrate 500ml. I guess ultra means even more concentrated, and it says 500ml makes enough for "1500m2, equivalent to 6 tennis courts." I think I need about one square meter.

I suppose I could spray the rest on the yard, but the yard is doing okay except for a little creeping charlie. I think I killed most of that with someething else, and will kill the rest next spring. And I'd have to buy a sprayer, when I'm trying to get rid of things, unless the sprayer that attaches to the garden hose would work. Darn.

Suggestions?

Haha.

Probably if they're buried, not just sitting on top of the grass, the cut grass, and maybe the dirt.

[micky]

Thanks. The closest I cuold find was a different brand, BioAdvanced Brush Killer

The trees will have to stay where they are.

[micky]

The term is used on the web, and even in a Roundup page.

These vines grow from under the bushes, and the bushes are ground level.

When I crawl in behind them, I can see where the weeds start, and there might be under 6 places, but I can't get any leverage to pull them out. I can barely get my arm in to pull out a piece of litter. I think I can paint the stems though.

AHA, A MUCH BETTER QUESTION: Next month or next spring when the vines I broke off have grown longer again and I can see them,., can I paint the stems with the brush killer at a point 3 feet above the ground?

That would be a lot easier than crawling under the bushes and trees and stretching one arm out to the vines.

[Ralph Mowery]

I would not cut the vines back too much. Trim them some and then use a brush to paint the leaves of what you want to kill off. It may take a week or so for the vines to die.

Instead of just looking for Roundup look for anything that has Glyphosate in it. That is mostly what Roundup is. Be caeful about getting it on anything you want to live as it kills off most everything it touches. It is absorbed by the leaves and goes down to kill off the roots.

[dpb]

...

Like whiskey "neat" -- no ice.

He's saying don't cut the concentrate to paint the stems.

[Dan Espen]

Somewhere else I recommended removing the lower branches so you can get at the base. That's what I've done. Works with most bushes unless you're growing the bush as a hedge.

[micky]

One of the two products I listed I found for sale, but at a bunch of places in the UK, nowhere else. I'll look for the ingredient gly-something, like Ralph said

[micky]

Turns out this doesn't have glyphosphate or if it does, it doesn't say so.

[Joshua Snow]

But did you apply NEAT undiluted Roundup to the stump at ground level after you had cut the vine back to just the stub in the ground ?

Neat Roundup applied to the stump avoids having to keep doing that.

And that last is what I was suggesting, of NEAT Roundup, not diluted.

[Joshua Snow]

Its readily available here, but it is a rural town whose main industry is irrigated agriculture.

Yeah, it isnt cheap, but you should be able to buy some with others etc.

When you apply it undiluted to the stubs in the ground after cutting the vine off, that area covered doesn't apply.

Sell the excess to one of the neighbours with the same problem you have.

[Joshua Snow]

In my experience it works much better to apply neat roundup to the cut stem at ground level.

Presumably because it gets inside the stem much better.

Guess you could try cutting the top off at the 3' level and applying the neat roundup to the cut surface. Nothing to lose by trying that and then cutting it back at ground level if that doesn't work and applying the neat roundup there.

[Joshua Snow]

It’s a synonym for undiluted.

Nope.