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hel604

By Hel604

United Kingdom Gb

I have a large Russian vine growing up my fence. The roots go down between two walls but I can get to its base. I'm starting an allotment at the bottom of one of the walls, approx 1m20 below the main root and want to kill it. I want to grow a blackberry vine up the fence but it will be swamped and killed in no time if I leave the Russian one up. If I use a killer such as Roundup will it contaminate the plants at a lower level? We dug up quite a few lower roots when clearing at ground level, will these roots start sprouting another vine? Help! Helen




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Round up won't work I'm afraid - it might check the topgrowth, but it won't kill the roots, and yes, any roots present will grow. Round up does not persist in the soil, (though there's some argument about that currently) but any which gets onto leaves of other plants will kill those too. It's not clear to me from your question whether or not you're able to get good access to the main roots at the base of the plant - if you can, then some heavy duty, persistent and rigorous digging out is called for. If you find a main, very woody large root, that can be treated with a different product to kill it off, but this plant usually spreads through the ground, with roots covering a large area.

28 Mar, 2011

 

Try what Bamboo has said: if that fails you could try and suffocate the Russian Vine.

Get some newspapers and thickly cover the area around the vine and soak it with a hose. When you have a mushy surface lay some cardboard on top of that and soak again. Leave it re-soaking it as it dries for 4-6 weeks (you may need to hose it 2-3 daily). This will suffocate everything under the newspaper/cardboard. You can work it into the soil or remove it, removing any roots not rotted.

28 Mar, 2011

How do I say thanks?

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