HELP! Passion vine taking over

[TiggerBear]

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KathyS wrote:

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TiggerBear wrote:

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KathyS wrote:

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TiggerBear wrote:

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KathyS wrote:

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Stephanie wrote:

Oh and PS  - I USED to think these flowers were cool-looking.  My daughter calls them Alien-flowers.  I call them heinous life-sucking murderous evil death-to-all-other-vegetation vines. 

DO not put this thing in the ground, no matter where you live. If you must have it, put it in a pot. 

Butterflies love it, by the way.  The caterpillars eat it, but not fast enough for me!

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Okay, time to get serious.  And this problem does sound serious.  Buy a canister of propane, with a torch tip, at your hardware store.  I would honestly take it to the plant and torch it.  I don't mean pour gasoline on the plant...NO.  Just apply the fire to any of these tendrils.  It will spot hit the plant, and won't really hurt anything around it, unless the plant is wraped around another plant.  I'm sure the plant is too green to actually catch fire, but keep a bucket of water handy anyway.

But I'd seriously, try to find the original root.  If that can be killed, it may stop the major growth, or at least hinder the rest from feeding off of this tap root.

Good luck, Stephanie

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Am I the only one who has one of those as a kitchen tool?

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  No!  Every household should have one!  Although, I don't keep mine in the kitchen! Ha!

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So every time you make creme brule and such, you have to get it from the garage? (shaking head) I made my husband get his own.

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Sorry,  I wasn't thinking yummy creme brule, which I don't make....

I use a torch to solder.

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Yes flame throwers are handy spot ons for brule, meringue, tomatoes, corn, ect... 

Haven't solder in years, and always used the big jammers for that task. 

[becke_davis]

Kathy - I just tossed that comment about poison ivy in because I had it on the brain. Poison ivy is the most common invasive I've had to deal with, and it's a real pain in the neck.

[KathyS]

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becke_davis wrote:
Kathy - I just tossed that comment about poison ivy in because I had it on the brain. Poison ivy is the most common invasive I've had to deal with, and it's a real pain in the neck.

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You have it around where you live?  Nasty stuff.  I don't believe it even exists in So. Ca.  How do you deal with it? Can you get rid of it?

I think it was poison oak by dad got mixed up in, but I wouldn't swear to it..one's as bad as the other, I would imagine...he was clearing weeds off of some property they had in Oregon.  He did have a fire permit.  I can't remember if he realized what he was burning, or if he did, he didn't realize what the outcome would be.  He was a mess.  The rash was all over his body.  The doctor told him that stuff goes airborn when burned.....a little late!

[becke_davis]

Chopping it very carefully with long gloves and stuffing it into black plastic garbage bags, for one thing. And, yes, Round-Up.

[Stephanie]

I guess I'll have to look more for the main plant.  I'd torch Kath, except most of it is in the front yard, and there's quite a bit of traffic on my road.  I'd probably get arrested.  Not good for my image!

The Eliminator I used worked a bit on some plants... perhaps I need a stronger, commercial grade herbicide.   Is that available to common folk?  If so, what and where?

[KathyS]

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Stephanie wrote:

I guess I'll have to look more for the main plant.  I'd torch Kath, except most of it is in the front yard, and there's quite a bit of traffic on my road.  I'd probably get arrested.  Not good for my image!

The Eliminator I used worked a bit on some plants... perhaps I need a stronger, commercial grade herbicide.   Is that available to common folk?  If so, what and where?

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If you torch me, it'd be more than your image you'd need to be worried about!

Sounds like you have it in both your front, and your back yard.  Yes, find the source.  You might want to stick a gnome in both front and back yard...they're good at spotting the source...they can see at night.   I'm sure, also, we'd be happy to lend you Arnold!  Oh, sorry, he's the terminator!  Well, that works too!

[becke_davis]

Stephanie -- There are several brands, any total kill herbicide should work.

[becke_davis]

I know you all have this board well in hand whether I'm here or not, but I just wanted to check in. I'm going to a writer's conference from tomorrow afternoon (Friday) through Sunday afternoon. I'm going to try to check in from the hotel, but the internet isn't always reliable so I wanted to give you all a heads up.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

[KathyS]

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becke_davis wrote:

I know you all have this board well in hand whether I'm here or not, but I just wanted to check in. I'm going to a writer's conference from tomorrow afternoon (Friday) through Sunday afternoon. I'm going to try to check in from the hotel, but the internet isn't always reliable so I wanted to give you all a heads up.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

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Becke, have a wonder time at your conference!  Sounds like fun!  Take notes! Ha!

You do know that if you leave us alone too long, we (me) tend to take over like Stephanie's Passion vine!  Although, I don't think I'll need a dose of poison, or whatever else we've all decided she needs, to get rid of it!   

Speaking of "passion"....report back!

Kathy

[Choisya]

From the photographs you posted you appear to be near to a lake/pond/river?  If this is the case you need to be very careful about using any kind of product which could leach into it and perhaps cause the death of fish, birds etc.  Cutting down and burning, as you would corn stubble, might be the favoured method but should be done in the right season and perhaps only at certain times. Could you perhaps contact your local authority's Environmental Health Department (or the American equivalent) and ask for their advice?  They will have this sort of problem on their highways and byways and may be able to recommend a solution.   

Also, at this time of year birds may well be nesting in the vine and it would be best to undertake any work on it until after the nesting season.

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Stephanie wrote:

I guess I'll have to look more for the main plant.  I'd torch Kath, except most of it is in the front yard, and there's quite a bit of traffic on my road.  I'd probably get arrested.  Not good for my image!

The Eliminator I used worked a bit on some plants... perhaps I need a stronger, commercial grade herbicide.   Is that available to common folk?  If so, what and where?

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[becke_davis]

Thanks, Kathy - there will be over 100 authors at this event, plus I get to meet Michelle Buonfiglio from BN.com!

If you all get bored, stop by and cheer up my authors at Mystery -- Marshall Karp celebrated his birthday yesterday, and I couldn't even rouse my lurkers to wish him a happy day! 

[Stephanie]

Choisya,

The pictures are of someone else's yard - I just found them on the 'net and posted for people to get a visual of what this beast is all about.

No nesting birds- our birds here tend to live in my grapefruit tree, or in the palms where nothing can get at them.

[Stephanie]

Just thought I'd let you all know that I think I've got a handle on the passion vine in the front yard. (I can't even begin to discuss the back yard!)  

I eradicated most of it by cementing over it!  We put in a semi-circle driveway, and took out quite a bit of foliage.  The place looks amazing- I love it.  It's also nice to pull in and pull out without backing onto the busy road we live on. 

Basically, the passion vine has nowhere to hide now, and before I put down any new mulch, I am digging into the whole garden (front yard is all garden- no grass) to get out as many roots as possible. Nut grass is a real beast around here too- thin little wires of tangled roots attached to a "nut" of sorts.  The weed also grows a rather nasty burr that, when dry, will embed itself into your skin, given the chance. So I'm also digging that out as I go.  So far I've put in about 20 hours.   Wish me luck!

[TiggerBear]

Oh wow, harsh. Good Luck!

[becke_davis]

Cementing over it? Well, that should do the trick! I considered that once when I had some raspberry vines that were taking over the yard -- remember the old movie Day of the Triffids? It was like that. What a mess.