Pulling on the Vine....
...or vines as the case may be. I have a retaining wall in the backyard that is covered in various vines. Mostly trumpet vines, honeysuckle, a clematis, and some other wild weed-like vines. I also have an oak tree that is in close proximity to this wall and over the years it has gotten big enough so that the branches are very close to this wall.
The other night, I was kickin' it in the hot tub and I noticed that the vines had climbed into the oak tree. I couldn't see it very well at night, but just figured I'd cut them out when I had a moment. Today, I had a spare moment and I get around to looking at it and they have just about taken over my tree. This isn't a huge tree, but it is definitely not small either.
First, I cut the vines back to the fence to break them free of the tree and their roots. Then I start pulling them out of the tree. Fortunately, for the most part, they pulled out with some effort and didn't damage the tree. Not that it didn't take some effort. I could literally hang by some of these vines they were wrapped up in the tree so well. Some of them went all the way to the top of the tree, but I'd get a hold of one and start yanking it out. Literally, 40+ feet at a time. I figure I pulled close to 200 feet of vines out of my tree!!!
That's about 2+ years of growth, but I am really glad I got them out. That couldn't be good for the poor tree come springtime when it wants to bud out and start growing. I was just surprised there was that much up in there.
....and I bet you thought this was going to be a dirty post.
2 comments:
I just did that last month. A building inspector told me that the three different vines growing on my cottage were bad for the house and siding. She told me if I wanted to keep my house nice I should pull off the vines. I had vines growing 3 feet thick over my screen door. It looked cool but it was hard to find the door knob. Like you said it was hell. It took hours to get thoses suckers off the house. I got blisters on my fingers from hacking through the vines and all scratched up from the rose thorns hidden among them. I thought I lost an earring, but Devil Dog found it a few days later. I filled up all my neighbors' recycling bins too.
Those vines will destroy your house. You have to keep them off of it.
I need to go cut mine way back once the weather becomes a little more accommodating.
See, Devil Dog is good for something after all!
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