That's not Virginia Creeper in my yard. Not even close. Glossy dark-green pointed-oval, smooth-edged leaves with paler veins that grow singly is what I have, and nasty penetrating tendrils on it. But Virgina Creeper has five leaves, each a sawtooth-edged pointed oval, and uses little sticky pads to hang onto the wall or whatever; it's considered relatively harmless, though you can't pull it loose without damaging the surface -- you have to cut the root, and then it will fall off on its own. There's a little of the five-leaved stuff around Roseholme and it's well-behaved, at least compared to the other stuff.
So what's infesting my yard, trees, fences and walls? I don't know for sure.
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
10 comments:
It's TWW! The walkig Weed. TZOMBIE WEED! Kudzu?
C-90
Shot in the dark.
Take a close-up photo, and do a Google image search on it.
Four out of five times, Google will return useless information ("pretty plant pictures") but one out of five times it gets specific enough to be useful.
Let's hope it doesn't start saying "Feed me Seymour..."
Triffids! They are triffids! Protect your eyes when you trim them.
TBG
It's not Kudzu, the leaves are wrong. They're the wrong shape for English Ivy. I have a suspicion that it's what they call "Virginia Creeper" around here, and the real thing has some other name.
I'd almost think this was some version of ficus but the growth pattern doesn't match.
I think we have some of the same stuff you're talking about here. I hate it. I'm about ready use a flame-thrower on the side yard where it's trying to take over. Although I may have to use the flame-thrower on the wild violets in the front yard first.
And as far as I knew it was called Virginia Creeper, but like you, I couldn't find anything called "Virginia Creeper" that looked like it.
I would say one of the euonymus family, but they usually take several years to get out of control. However, there are a lot of them, and a lot of 'helpfully' created hybrid types...ID is hard. They can take over given a few years.
If you're wanting to go to some effort for it, clip a piece and go to the nearest "Extension Agent" (whatever the land-grant school is in your state should have one in each county).
I'm technically a botanist but I don't know some of the horticultural stuff and I have sent people with questions about it to our local extension agent.
And a flame thrower (or better, a Weed Dragon) is a solid way to deal with intractable weeds. I can't use one here because we're at High Fire Danger about 10 months out of 12, but if I lived in a wetter climate I'd totally want one. (You don't actually burn the stuff up; you heat it until it wilts and dies)
The "cut the root and let it die and fall off on it's own" sounds like the vine that loves growing up the Isopole I use for APRS and associated Coax. Finally figured out cutting it at ground level and it does a lot less (as in no) damage when trying to clear the antenna.
Where's a dang Botanist when you need one?
State extension office? Nearby college? Farm Supply store owner? Local state or federal park?
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