Eco Alley

Living Green with Connie Pumphrey

My brothers and I make New Year’s resolutions every year.  We think it’s healthy to evaluate ourselves annually and attempt positive changes - even modest ones can make a difference. I’ll discuss it next week in detail when I am prepared to declare which of my many environmental flaws I need to tweak.  In the meantime, let’s trash wisteria.
For three week-ends in November, my husband and I worked very hard to eradicate the wisteria that has been consuming our property and taking on nightmare proportions.  Our wisteria isn’t that cute little stuff that winds around the mailbox post;  it is 8-10 inches in diameter and has grown 120’ into trees, bringing down and killing many of them.  We had to use a chain saw to cut it!  There are also hundreds of vines growing horizontally about 2” underground with large shoots running in every direction - and that is what worries me most…what we do not see.  We didn’t plant the wisteria but were left to deal with it and the damage is tragic to the native trees, plants and shrubs over two acres of land.  This photo is of just one of many vines we cut to keep it from killing the tree.
There isn’t much advice out there on killing wisteria in an environmentally sound manner.  Most experts recommend cutting it away from the trees to which it attaches itself, leaving about one foot of the stump above ground.  Rough up the bark of the stump; then, very carefully, spray vine killing poison onto the stump.  The vine will pull the liquid in and spread it far into its roots, slowing or stopping the spreading.  This will ONLY WORK DURING THE LATE FALL AND WINTER MONTHS when the vine is pulling in nutrients. 
If you repeat this process during the winter months for many years, you might eventually get ahead of the problem.  Your best strategy, however, is to NEVER plant the stuff.  Spend some time researching all plants before putting them into your hallowed ground.  It could save you headaches and lost value on your home down the road!  Plant beautiful bulbs to enjoy in the spring - this is the time of year to do it!

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