Smilax – Soak in Herbicide

Q: I have an evil force at work under my yard. There is a network of sticker vines which grow along a seemingly endless root system.

I’m ready to try just about anything short of a full out nuclear attack! Please help me KILL THE EVIL ALIEN STICKER VINES!!!

A: I hear your frustration! Tough vines like wisteria, English ivy and kudzu are a headache to eradicate.

My guess is that you have smilax, also called green briar, deer thorn and “that *^!!( %* !! sticker vine”.

Smilax has a deep tap root that allows it to re-sprout no matter how many times you chop it down. Weed chemicals don’t easily penetrate its glossy leaves. Short of calling in a bulldozer, how can you control the vine or get an effective herbicide down to the root system?

Here’s an idea to try one warm spring day: Use the systemic herbicide Roundup ™ to make three gallons of diluted solution in a five gallon plastic bucket.

Find the sticker vines in your yard that have grown several feet long. Pull them off the ground and drape as much vine as you can into the bucket. Let each vine soak in the solution for fifteen minutes or so. In this way you’ll let the vine soak up the maximum amount of poison.

Once all the vines have soaked, you’ll need to dispose of the surplus pesticide. Roundup has a good environmental safety record and is inactivated when it touches the soil.

Dig a shallow hole in a spot where there are no plants growing nearby and pour the leftover chemical there. You could also use it to spray on other weeds if you can strain the trash out of the solution.