Horticulture Hotline 08/29/2022

  Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

Vines, vines, everywhere are vines (in the rhythm of Signs – The Five Man Electrical Band 1971).

 

I seem to get vines from air attack (bird droppings) and infantry attack (crawling over from next door). Right now, the vines have the soft new fall growth that is easiest to kill (like the spring growth). The infantry attack is mainly Asiatic Jasmine, English Ivy, and Algerian Ivy. My counter attack has to be swift and effective because once these vine’s leaves harden off, they are very difficult to control (these vines seem to laugh at my vine killing weapons)!

 

The air attack vines are tricky! Smilax, pepper vine, morning glory, and Virginia Creeper are usually my main enemies. Luckily no poison ivy at this point.  As you pull vines, they are designed to break apart.  One common mistake I see when driving around neighborhood is people pulling vines over the top of bushes.  It is very satisfying to pull the vines from the top, but if you really want to get rid of them, you have to get on your hands and knees and find where the vine is coming out of the ground and treat it at the base.   The best thing to do is to go to the base of the plant and pull the vine down through the plant.  If there is room beside the shrub that has the vine in it, do the following:

 

1. Pile the vine next to the plant.  If this is a turf area, lay a plastic leak proof tarp or sheet of plastic down first. You are going to use the vine’s leaves to translocate the control product to the root system.
2. Spray the vine with a combination of Killzall (Gly), Brush Master, Possum’s 80/20 Sticker (help “stick” product to vine), and Possum’s Blue Alert SS Dye (so you can tell where you have treated).  These are systemic control products that will move through the plant and kill it at the root level so you will not have the re-growth.
3. If the vine breaks off and you don’t have any leaves to spray the control product on, you can apply a control product to the fresh green wound where the vine broke off. With a pair of pruners, cut the vine’s stem close to the ground.  Treat the end that is going back into the ground with Brush Killer / Stump Killer. In the old days, we would buy paint brushes to dip into control products for treating targeted areas. VPG has built the paint brush into Brush Killer / Stump Killer so the product is very easy to apply. 
4. Always Read, Follow and Understand the product label and wear proper safety equipment.

 

A few other things going on in the landscape. The nasty rascal – The Chinch Bug is out sucking the life out of the grass now that it has some moisture in it. Worms attacking the turf (look for moths in your turf in the morning and evening) and worms attacking trees. Good guys – tree cattle – spinning their web close to the tree’s limbs and trunks, like a stocking women used to wear, while they clean organic matter off the tree. Those darn mosquitoes. Wasps. With the rain comes the mushrooms – nothing to really worry about. Florida Betony, rattlesnake weed anyone?

 

Main thing to do right now is apply your preemergent product of choice for the winter seeds that drive you crazy in the spring in your beds and turf areas.