A small cherry in the center was pulled almost to the ground by numerous small vines.
It is early winter and snowless. Skiers will bemoan the conditions but not those of us who like to tend to trees. The landscape now offers a perfect window in which to deal with vines. The invasive Asian Honeysuckle have finally dropped their leaves and berries, giving access to the large roots of woodland vines that establish themselves under their cover, a nasty synergy.
Small trees are easily bent by just a few small vines. A few more and they will be broken and overtaken.
Eventually the thick ones reach up high in the crowns of large trees
and together with winter storms, cause the mighty ones to fall, like this huge Red Maple.
The killer vines are largely the grape type, although Wisteria is prevalent as well.
The means to deal a blow to these relentless tree killers are as simple as can be, pruning shears and a folding knife.
While it would be ideal after cutting the vines to take extra steps such as smothering the base of the roots with a plastic cover, the amount of material involved is prohibitive. Cutting them, pulling them down from the trees and releasing stressed branches and pruning nearby branches that they can climb on is as much as can be accomplished for now.
The row of trees along the right edge of lawn, Hickories, Maples, Cherries, and Oaks all had extensive vines in their crowns.
When planting stands of young trees you need to maintain a mowed corridor between the edge of an existing wooded area and the stand to prevent vines from crossing over. They still do, but are far more easily managed.
SOURCE: – Read entire story here.