Weeds in Lawn (Vines)

[pigraf]

I have bought a newly built home and have vines growing throughout my lawn. I have been pulling them, but I never can get the roots very good. Vinegar is slowly working but they pop up somewhere else. Anybody have any other Ideas?

[Gar]

The way I got rid of my vines was to keep mowing them. THey will eventually give up and die. It took me one growing season to finally kill them all. The next season they did not come back.

[pigraf]

Thanks, I thought that was the case.

[Mr. Clean]

Since you don't mention what types of vines you have, I'll mention my problem...Virgina Creeper. Where it is present in the lawn, mowing has had no effect other than to keep it short. Maybe your vine is less tenacious.

[northwesterner]

I have a mix of greenbriar and Virginia creeper. I think the creeper was planted intentionally by the previous owner of this house. I've mowed and chopped and trimmed and it keeps coming back.

Thing is, I keep chopping it because I'm trying to change the look of the yard and the house (from benign neglect to a planned but natural-looking yard with native plants and xeriscape). The front of the house is stone and the creeper does look pretty growing on it. It's the greenbriar mixed with it that makes this an all or nothing proposition--I don't think I can get rid of one without getting rid of the other. Isn't the smilax the plant that has some huge mother-lode of a tuber somewhere underground? I've never found any of them or maybe I'd have solved this problem. Maybe I should keep digging. :)

Other than act as an annoyance, I've heard pro and con stories about letting vines grow on bricks and stone. I grew up in Seattle where the ivys are cultivated but also act like weeds and grow on houses and trees and as groundcover, etc. I was told they are destructive of the mortar between the bricks. I don't know if this is accurate, but wonder if this the same concern exists with the vines here in Texas?

Northwesterner

[ajsw]

Dear Northwesterner,
First, why are you here?! Vines do exactly what you have been told. They will destry the mortar. As a Pest Control company we recommend that our clients have no trees, plants or shrubs touching the house. Vines clinging to a house become a superhighway for wood destrying insects!
AJSouthwest All-Natural Pest Control

[northwesterner]

Why am I here? Seems like a silly question.

The vines are native, my house isn't, but my house and the vines have to co-exist. The house can experience plenty of destructive bugs WITHOUT having vines on it, so that doesn't seem to be enough of a reason to keep or destroy vines. There are organic ways to deal with the bugs. But what will the plants themselves do to the mortar or the siding?

The no-trees-touching-the-house advice seems to counter some that Howard gives regarding planting trees near the house. His advice has to do with foundations (trees aren't as bad as they are reputed to be), but I wonder what his thoughts are on this "bug conduit" theory?

Interesting shift in the conversation.

Northwesterner

[Tony M]

AJSW-

I could ask you the same question, why are you here?

We are all here to learn, including Howard and the moderators. If someone is doing something you don't agree with or advise, give him or her your professional opinion and your supporting reasons.

All of us provide feedback and information. It is up to the receiver to accept it or reject it. We shouldn't question why someone is here or what they choose to do with our advice. Even if someone doesn't like or agree with our conclusions, there may be dozens of others that read the same information and found it valuable.

Tony M

[Tree Dude]

Northwesterner,

Good thing you are here and you are welcome! It is warmer here!!

I went to Seattle to see some of my relatives.It was beautiful there (and cold) It was after MT. Saint Helen blew her top! We went to see it ,and a man was talking all about it there. It was a strange sight-- mile after mile of down trees as far as my eyes could see. Where you there when it happened?

Southerner :wink: Tree Dude

[northwesterner]

I was a National Park Service ranger for a number of years, and as it happens I left for a job in New York City a couple of months earlier than that initial eruption. I can't say I would have chosen Texas on my own (it was a spouse that brought me here) but you get used to the place after a while. I do miss the NW climate and the trees!

I studied forestry and geology for a couple of years before switching to recreation and interpretation. The Pacific Northwest and other northern areas have experienced some huge events that have taken out hundreds of thousands of acres of trees at a time. Forest fires (1930s Tillamook Burn--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillamook_Burn and the 1871 Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire, for example) and eruptions (Mt. Lassen, Mt. St. Helens) happen. It's human nature to view the results negatively, yet the change can be amazing and the regrowth in those areas is exciting to watch. I turned down an interpretive job offer at Mt. St. Helens when they were first opening the Visitor Center--it would have been a great job, but life on the domestic side trumped it. Too bad!

It's the naturalist in me that wants a xeriscape yard that rolls with the weather punches, that encourages wildlife residency or visitation, and that understands that one can nudge nature to embellish the oddities that human home builders leave behind. :) My house was built by someone who was apparently cutting corners. It has a lovely limestone rock facing on the front, but the sides and back are dark brown brick. It's what an architect friend calls "Queen Anne in front and Maryann in back." I'd love to cover those bricks in some way that doesn't tear them down eventually.

Northwesterner