Hey Mama's I desparatley need help!We live in Florida and these vines are suffocating our trees,house,a/c unit,fence,ect. We keep pulling them down all the time,but it is impossible. We can't even find the roots because who knows where they come from....Weed killer is a joke and a waste of money. I didn't like using it in the first place,but especially don't want to now after reading about Asia:( . We are from NJ where I used to love the vines climbing up the old brick houses,but this is scary! Please help if you can! Thanks!

In the Midwest we get bindweed, and when I did the research, I found out that herbicides don't even help. All you can do it keep pulling it down. If I leave it for a week, it will strangle my plants. It is a pain, and I wish I had a magic potion for you.

Oh no, the vines!

My parents live in the country and every summer, we (my siblings and our spouses) are called there to help... they would choke my parents' trees, plants, everything...

They're in Hawaii for a month, so that must be why we haven't been called in :lol: but I imagine when they return, we'll be helping them out!

Sorry, no advice for you.... I'll be watching this thread closely!

Elizabeth---HI:)
Those sound like Air Potato vines. In order to kill them you have to dig up the "potato". You know those brown things you see on the ground? They eventually take root (like a flower bulb) and grow into those vines. They are a mess to get rid of, I keep digging them up and throwing the potatoes away, but they seem to love my fence and trees,
The reason they are such a problem here in FL is that they kill the tree over time.

Here is an article about them
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/02/24/SouthPinellas/Air_potatoes_reduced_.shtml

http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/diobul.html

HTH

Could be Kudzu, too. Otherwise known as the vine that ate Georgia. Here's an article about it:

http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/nathis/exotic/vegman/fifteen.htm

hth,
Rebecca

Ack! They do sound like Air Potato vines! Thanks Mamas! Hi Michele,one of these days we'll get around to meeting!LOL!I told dh and he said yeah,there are brown things all over the ground when he mows the lawn! :( When we moved in the yard was like a jungle,so we just never used it.Now that dd is older,we cleared it out and got her a swing set. Looks like we ar going to have alot of work to do! Thanks again!:D

Their really pretty... I wish they were not such a pain for you! :( But man they are a pretty plant with those big heart shaped leaves. We have bind weed in my parents garden... they got it from buying dirt.... UGH! We pull it out all the time, and finally have got it under control. :) Good luck!

Love Val

Just got in from cleaning up some potatoes:D .Yes,the vines are beautiful if you can keep them under control! We just mulched in the wooded section of our yard a few months ago(spend ALOT of our tax $ too,just to find out that we have to dig it all up:( . At first we thought that weeds were growing through he mulch,but then we realized it was the vines growing tree to tree(to fence too) right over the mulch.They are even going over our lawn ang geting tangled in the mower:eek: .We will probrobly have to dig up our whole yard! I also noticed Fire Ants eating them. Maybe that is why we have sooooo many Fire Ant mounds! Plenty of food for them!

You could cut them off at the base along the ground and then dig up the bulbs... that is what I have done with my English Ivy.. although it sounds like you have way more of them then I do. But it was just an idea I came up with. :)

Love Val