What's with these vines?

[IndyIan]

ohsoloco,
We have wild grape in alot of our fence rows and in one spot it has managed to get on top of some 15-20' trees.  I should take those one out sometime.  We do have one 8" dbh vine about 50' into our woods that goes about 50' up a 80' spruce but the vine doesn't seem able to climb any higher and is starting to get shaded out.  

Ola gathered up about 2 bushels of grapes last fall and we have canned grape juice and grape jelly.  The juice I dilute 1:4 with water and you get the nice grape taste without all the sugar from store bought juice.

Ian
  

[redpowerd]

whats that cheatsheet again, larry?
thanks,
jon

[Larry]

Right here...someplace. :-/  When I get it tracked down I'll get ya a copy.

[redpowerd]

thanks, wasnt sure you saw my original request, being on the bottom of the page. sounded interesting.
thanks
jon

[ohsoloco]

All the vines up there are at least 50 feet up, some higher than that.  Not sure how I could get my hands on any of em to make anything with  :-/

[SwampDonkey]

Larry the general term they use here is 'Habitat Features'

There are site specific habitat features like wetlands, rare plants, old growth forest, riparian forest, moose and deer cover.

There are other features such as scattered conifer in hardwood, visa versa, supercanopy trees, veteran trees

This is from the Ontario Tree Marking Guidelines. Here in New Brunswick it's rarely considered on private lands, but I always incorporate it into my Plans, even though most don't care. It's more like where is it, how much is there, and how do I get to it?

[OneWithWood]

Ohso, one thing to keep in mind when cutting vines, if the vine is taught don't sever it completely.  Leave just enough that it will break on its own and then get away from it.  I once cut a taught vine and regretted it.  I had a broken finger from a softball injury that was in a splint.  I could not do much so I decided to take my machete and whack some vines.  I sliced this taught one in a beech tree and as soon as it recoiled up I knew bad things were about to happen.  Sure enough, I looked up to see the dead branch coming straight down at me.  I instinctively put my hands up to shield my head.  That branch hit my finger square on reshaping that splint into an mangled mess, rebreaking my finger in the process.  I learned a new threshold for pain
 DanG, it makes my finger throb just telling about it!  I was lucky to escape with just a boogered finger.  Be careful adn look up before you cut.

[Frickman]

ohsoloco,

I'm sure you're familiar with the Ag Progress Days farm equipment show every August up near you in Rock Springs. They have a demonstration woodlot there where they give guided tours about woodland management. The foresters always take you by a grapevine, and ask what you would do with it. They can tell who is from the western part of the state as we usually recommend cutting it.

It seems though that in the central part of the state, where you're located, that grapevines are not as prevelant. The foresters decided to leave this grapevine alone. As others have already stated, if it is in a valuable crop tree you might want to remove it. If it is in a junk tree consider leaving it for wildlife.

[Frank_Pender]

Here on my place I leave the Poison Oak to grow and make walking sticks as it grows in size.  ;D  Another thing is that I use to have a colony of honey bees and the Poison Oak makes some of the best honey you ever tasted.   The other thing it does for me is to keep unwanted neighbors from walking through my forest.  ;) Some have even spoken to me about removing it so that they would nit get the itch.  My suggestion was to stay away. ;D

[SwampDonkey]

I don't mind anyone walking on my land and because I have no vehicle passible roads, just trails, I don't have to worry to much about anyone walking there. Most around here are lazy as home soldiers. But, I had one person who walked out and started tipping fir without permission and left garbage bags along my path like some kind of delinguent.

[BC_coops]

to remove some large Grape and Virginia Creeper (4" at root, 150' tall not unusual), I drilled a couple or three of 1/2" holes x 4" deep, at an angle, and filled the holes with full strength "Prosecutor." (Prosecutor, by Lesco, is the same as full strength commercial Roundup (not Home Depot Roundup))  Leave the tops of the vines connected to the roots for about 4 weeks.  The Prosecutor will cause the roots to starve themselves to death.  After a month, cut the vine and pull it down while it is still strong.  In 6 months or so, the roots (and any vines you don't pull down) will turn to mush.

If you don't chemically kill the roots to their tips, they will return with vengance.

If you don't use chemicals, then, cut a 2' section out of the stalk, ... if you make a just single cut, the two ends will join.  (There is 6,000 volts of atmosphereic electricity, between the ground roots and the atmosphereic tips, that's the only reason I can imagine a single cut will rejoin itself, so cut out a 2 foot section ... )

Wherever the vine was supported by the tree, that part of the tree should be considered dead.  (owner negligence)  Dead!  They are widow makers.  Absent dropping those branches, that tree is basically a dangerous tree for the owner to walk under, esp in a storm.  (A mean vine like, transplanted by a mean neighbor onto an older tree of a clueless neighbor, is a less than innocent way for a mean neighbor to threaten-diminish the property of his neighbor, and even get someone killed.

Hook the vine to a bull rope and pull her down with a winch, while the vine is still green.  Let the Prosecutor do its stuff on one vine ... give it 4 weeks to kill the roots. Don't wait too long to pull it down, because the stalk will break under the tension, leaving the upper vine on the tree.  This will leave large pieces of dead vine to fall from 80 feet up or whatever, up to a year later.

As to haul volume, don't laugh ... using a full size pickup bed as a measure, a 4" vine, say 100' long, all folded back on itself real neat, and rope (about 100 feet of 3/8 rope - 1/4 rope is not strong enough) and compressed radially, and then cut into 4-6 ft lengths between the ropes with a saw for handling, will require about 10 to 12  loads.  They are not small.  Feed them into a chipper, and die ...

Have Fun!!!

[SwampDonkey]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D