Today was a nice winter day to attack some dormant and evergreen vines in the forest. Some of the bases of those vines rival small trees! I think Tarzan would love to swing on some of them. They tangle up into the trees often choking them out or at least preventing growth. I got rid of some. Others I just cut at the base to stop the growth. I try to do this twice a year.

It's not really our forest. It belongs to the City. But the City pays no mind to it for the most part. It's just a little 80 feet or so patch of forest that spans the width of our yard that I get to play in. Sometimes I venture over to play on the neighbors' side because I know they don't do anything back there. There use to be many more trees back there most fell victim to a couple of bad droughts. Now that there is a nice variety of 5, very nice, fully grown trees directly behind us all planted by Mom Nature, I tend to leave the back sprinklers on a little bit longer just to make sure they get a good drink. The smallest tree is a little Water Oak about 10 years old. The vines almost killed it when it was younger. Since I have been keeping the vines under control the little oak tree is able to spread out and catch the sun.

Keep up the good work sometimes Mom Nature needs a little help

Oh how nice to have a patch of forest in your backyard.

Vickie, we bought this home 25-ish years ago because of the forest . Nothing will ever be built there. It is 80-100 ft of protected forest land with a nice quiet trail that runs through the middle of it. Our trail is short and has little "traffic"on it as it leads to nowhere. We have a back fence. But like the forest plants that try to get into our yard, our back yard plants go into the first as well. In fact, I'm a little sorry i planted English Ivy in a back bed. I have to keep it out of the trees.

There is a hunk of vines in a hickory nut tree that I can't reach. I cut them off from the mother plant but the hanging remains and the bolus of dying vines are bothering me. I am sure bothering the tree as it sits on 1/4 of the branches. Am thinking of getting my big ladder and pulling it down.

Any hints as to how to get this soon-to-be-dead clump of vines down out of the tree?

Well, you might try a rope with something tied to the end, (I have a bunch of old trampoline springs) to catch hold and pull it down.

Boy, that's a tough one, both the vine and removing it. Those vines are so strong and so wrapped up in the canopy of the trees, that it would be one heck of a chore (and you better be very strong) to pull it all down. There wouldn't happen to be any power/telephone lines close?

Would a tree saw - a saw-on-a-pole - be long enough to reach up into the big ball and let you cut it into pieces that would fall?

At least it will get lighter when it dies and dries out. It might disintegrate on its own over a few years.

Cheryl,

I do the same thing as you. I live in a subdivision but our lot borders the woods and there are about 400 acres of undeveloped land behind us. Our HOA owns several acres that border the private forest but I love walking around and exploring.

I have found that if you can't pull the vines out of the trees right away the most important thing is cutting them from the ground to stop them from growing. As they die they get very brittle and seem to loose their grip on the trees. I have gone back months later to find them very easy to pull out. If their are several vines hanging down I will try pulling one at a time to see which wants to unwrap first. Sometime they break off and I can't reach them but they eventually just seem to disappear as the tree grows.

Good luck !!