🌸🌸🌸🌸 Learn about some native vines that are great for pollinators and that hummingbirds love in this video: ruclips.net/video/dBNr6bNcqSQ/видео.html 🌸🌸🌸🌸
Popularizing natives for their beauty is my method. I’ve seen too many people’s eyes glaze over when they hear about the biology of the ecosystems and then brighten up when they actually see a blooming native Columbine. I am experimenting with growing native flowering plants in pots and forcing them to bloom in the winter to use to excite people about the amazing beauty of many natives.
You may already be aware but Ohio passed regulation at the beginning of 2023 banning the sale of Bradford pears. Not a vine, but a very invasive problem. Unfortunately, without regulation, I don’t think invasive plant trade will stop.
Yes, and I am hoping more states will follow suit. Getting the invasives on the noxious weed list is also a good step as in most places noxious weeds cannot be sold. It will take some doing for sure and a good dose of education along with it so people understand why it had to be done. The Callery pears are starting to bloom here in south central KY and I will soon be heading out with the chainsaw and a squirt bottle to take care of all that I can get to. We have fields full of them.
These vines are the devil! I thought I had the English ivy in my front garden under control by fighting it for 10 years. Nope. Just found a new batch going crazy. Autumn Clematis is absolutely all over my backyard gardens. I spend a lot of time pulling it out. I think most people probably don't know any better when at the garden center ND just buy what "looks pretty". The big box stores especially need to stop selling this crap. They would sell just as much if they sold the non invasive versions. I wish I had a good answer to the problem. Education is the key. If people don't buy these, they will stop selling them. I really think this channel is making a difference. I encourage people to share this with as many people as possible!
Thank you! I agree that education is the main way to fight it. Some of these plants are listed as noxious weeds in many states so they are no longer allowed to be sold which is also a plus. The vines are some of the toughest invasives to control. Very time consuming and labor intensive.
What are the qualities of an "invasive" vine that make them dangerous? Do the native species not propagate and thrive like these invasive species? Why have the nations that these species come from not been eaten alive by these plants?
5:10 Invasive plants are still sold because people interested in landscaping are usually not interested in horticulture or ecology. It's like how show dog breeders continue to produce unhealthy dogs because they have "desirable" traits.
Landscapers plant these invasive species because they want to use plants that are "bulletproof" in terms of hardiness and disease resistance. Native pests often don't eat introduced species, the result being that the invasives spread out of control. Unfortunately, the landscapers' customers often don't care and just want something that looks nice and won't die. They don't care about the problems caused by invasives. However, even trained horticulturalists are guilty of introducing lots of non-native species.
Yup, this. People (especially those living with HOAs, which are notoriously hostile to natural or native landscaping) are primed to value plants as unassailable decorations to add property value rather than contributors to a local ecosystem. I like to quote Dave Wagner, author of the Princeton guide to North American caterpillars...he once said in a talk that we should look at a yard full of munched-up leaves (assuming they're munched by native species) as a badge of honor. I think of it as a five-star Yelp review from the local fauna.
I bought an American Bittersweet vine from a well known mail order catalog when it grew and flowered, I discovered that it was in fact an Asian bittersweet. My husband and sons pulled it up and got rid of it. It’s been 3 years and I am still finding new shoots in the area we pulled it out. Unbelievably tenacious vine!!
I always check local botanical gardens or universities before I go to unknown sources. Many of them have native plant programs and will share or sell seeds and extra plants.
English ivy surrounds my old home..... I saved the old oak from it, need to remove the rest from the fence etc! its EVERYWHERE along the fence lines of the neighbors for blocks
I find it is easier to deal with when its climbing, the ivy that is acting as a ground cover is a nightmare to remove. Every little broken off piece seems to sprout right back. Keep at it and keep it beat back and eventually you will win!
That stuff! When I was young and innocent I loved the look of it. I even intentionally planted it in one yard. We have some that came with our current house, we have been mostly able to keep it at bay, but it requires much work. It has a few advantages for us, it does cover an area where we couldn’t get grass established, and our dog who is very private about his potty habits uses one section for that, so he never goes on the grass. I wish our daughter’s dog did the same. And he has another section that he likes to use to nap in on summer days, it is nice and cool. But just last summer I found a patch trying to grow under the blackberries ( another menace) and overtake a beautiful fir tree. It requires constant attention.
A suggestion, if you haven't already done so... Do a piece on growing NATIVE PLANTS UNDER WALNUT TREES... Walnut trees are known to "not get along" with many plants, and people have told me, "You can't grow anything under walnut trees!" ( I wonder if many invasive vines are grown because they will grow under tough conditions such as under walnut trees ...) I have found that many native plants, such as Virginia bluebells, Woodland phlox, woodland geranium and others are happy under walnuts... I think many people whose property includes walnut trees would be pleased to hear whatever you have to say about native plants to grow under walnut trees. 😊
Most native plants that have ranges that include black walnut grow fine with walnut trees. They are well adapted to being around them. I may work it into a video somewhere along the line. Thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks for including an image @4:09 of American Bittersweet. Those distinctive berries caused me to pause while lost in Asian Bittersweet eradication mode the other day.
I think most people don't think about invasives and just need to be educated. I'm that busybody at the Lowes telling people picking up ivy that it's invasive and they shouldn't buy it. We have some native nurseries so I mostly get my plants there - but if I'm at one of the big corporate stores and I see any natives - I try to buy them there too. I look at the big box stores as an algorithm like everything else these days - if people buy more native plants from them - they will stock more of them.
Periwinkle is a huge problem and I will probably do a video on it in the future. The reason I didn't have it in this video is it is a trailing groundcover and not an actual vine - although its growth form is very vine-like.
While fire is an excellent option for controlling some invasive species, it can cause others like stiltgrass to have a positive response. It is also not on option on most small properties and in certain states it is not an option at all. When tree climbing vines are involved it can be problematic as fire can be laddered into the canopy. Like most management practices the use of prescribed fire depends on a combination of factors. @@thomasjcorson7502
OH NO! Thank goodness I saw your comment & looked it up. This is the pretty groundcover under the pines that I wanted to spread! Now I have to try to get it out? oh noooo.... Thanks...& the ecology here thanks you as well (my back doesn't lol)
@@echognomecal6742 Periwinkle is a problem just about everyplace that has had a house on it. If it is contained to a small area you can wipe it out with persistent pulling. Glad you caught it!
My children's Sunday school teacher has them sprout morning glory and instructed them to go home and plant it. I returned it to the Sunday school teacher and told her that we would be happy to plant it in HER yard.
Great channel. The Picard Facepalm Scale is reason enough to subscribe. I was laughing so hard (except for the fact of invasive, non-native species). I noticed that your maps stop on the Mississippi River. Do you ever show information between there and the US west coast? This is a great list so thanks for it. I’m in Seattle learning to identify the invasives that grow out here. (in the US, “clematis is pronounced “kluh-MAT-tus” but in Britain it’s pronounced “KLEM-uh-tis.” I was hearing the latter said so fast, it nearly sounded like “clitoris” to me.) Funny but not nearly as hilarious as the Picard Facepalm Scale.
Thanks! I only cover the eastern US since that is where I live and am familiar with the plants and animals that live there. The western US is so different and so varied it would be hard to cover with a single channel.
10 minutes in and I was about to comment about kudzu :-) I live in East Tennessee and it is all over the place, but somehow not on my property (I do have plenty of invasive vines).
Getting rid of all traces of the Asian bittersweet the birds planted in my forsythia (and many other places- #1 invasive vine in my yard) and the chocolate vine the former home owner planted NEXT TO THEIR BLUEBERY BUSH as soon as I retire this year. We cut the chocolate vine back, but that wasn't good enough; need to grind the stump or something (suggestions?). I didn't know the porcelain berry vine, but have seen one or two so I'll get those too. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this overview of invasive vines! Great content, even though it's really scary (horrifying?) to look at the pictures and depressing to think that these plants are still being sold and planted on purpose! 😍😍😍😍 I'm working on a big project now trying to clear privet from the woods below my house. I've been cutting them and treating the stump with glyphosate. But I'm seeing lots of Japanese Honeysuckle (and native briars) that needs to be removed as well. On some of the larger honeysuckle vines, I've tried cutting them near the base and treating the stump. But I'm not sure how to control the ones that are creeping along under the leaves...should I just try to pull them, even if that causes them to break off? I'd love a deeper dive into the best methods of controlling that vine if you have time to cover that!
On big honeysuckle vines I cut them where they come out of the ground and treat the stump. Pulling smaller vines works, but it will be an ongoing task as they will resprout if enough root is left in the ground. There are more vine videos in the works!
Just in case it isn't doing this in your area, trumpet vine is extremely invasive and persistent. The previous owner of my southern Michigan house had tried to kill off a trumpet vine 20 years ago. My neighbor and I left some of it for the hummingbirds. Every year we get out and cut it back to the 4-inch diameter stems. It throws up shoots 20 feet from those main stems. It defies most herbicides.
Trumpet creeper isn't native to Michigan and is considered invasive there. While it can get rowdy in the south it tends to be kept in check by other things. It will go crazy if there is nothing to compete with it. I do know many people that grow it for the hummingbirds and keep it in check by cutting it back every fall. Like most vines though, if it is in an area it isn't native to it can really cover some ground and trees - and is tough to knock out.
When we moved into our house the backyard was like a secret garden full of vine climbing up on everthing we got rid of most but return they will. 1 has leaves that remind me of strawberry leaves but is much bigger but no berries,and the I'm assuming is somekind of milkweed because it has the pods. This stuff just likes to pop up,just like the neighbors ornamental bush.
Not sure what that would be. The milkweed like pods could be several vines, but none of them have strawberry like leaves. Keeping invasives out of yards can be tough due to what the neighbors are growing.
I just bought an acre, very overgrown, and have alot of vineage to remove. A few on the list, plus, Virginia creeper, poison ivy. How do you distinguish the one at end of video from wild grape?
Kudzu has palmately compound leaves with three leaflets, wild grape has one big leaf. Virginia creeper and poison ivy are both native and used by a wide variety of pollinators and wildlife. While poison ivy near a house is not a good thing, I leave it in areas where people won't come into contact with it.
I was waiting on Kudzu. My house backs up to a wooded area with Kudzu everywhere and it also brings the Kudzu bug. It's such a pain in the butt. Only good thing about it is my bunny loves it dried.
Kudzu is a great forage - which is one of the reasons it was brought here. Unfortunately livestock has a hard time keeping up with it and it gets out of control to say the least. I saved it for last in the video as it is the poster plant for why invasive species are bad.
Controlled burns are part of the solution, but can't be used everywhere, and some invasives are actually quite fire adapted so they have to be controlled with other means.
Persicaria perfoliata is known here as "mile-a-minute vine", and with good reason. I've noticed it spreading here in Virginia over the past decade or so. My family's term for Porcelain Berry is "evilvine". Because it's evil. Establishes quickly, very hard to uproot, and with an instinct for finding any available substrate for climbing. I'd mention another native alternative--Fox Grape, Vitis labrusca--which has the added benefit of edible fruits. Thank you for the great content!
If only knowledge about these plants spread as easily as the plants. Here in Maine, the Asian bittersweet is the main culprit, but we also are dealing with a couple of vines that you didn’t mention. We have kiwi fruit vines, and black swallowtail vine.
The info is getting out there faster than it was, but still not fast enough. No kiwi vines here in the southeast, or black swallow wort. I think it is a little to hot and humid for them - at least I hope they can't survive down here!
Virginia creeper is an important native that is used by pollinators and wildlife. While it can trees and cover them with time, it is generally a little easier to control if needed than many of the invasive vines. Vinca will be getting its own video in the future - even though it is vine like, it isn't a true vine so it wasn't included in this video.
@@BackyardEcologyNative or not... it outcompetes everything. My yard when I bought my house had english ivy swarming one side and virginia creeper on the other and japanese honeysuckle and a couple of the other asian creepers on the third and fourth sides... everywhere they hit each other, Virginia creeper overwhelms the other and wins out.... what it doesn't do is climb as aggressively as the invasives.... but I spend ten times as much time ripping it off my plants as all the others combined. second worst is japanese honeysuckle... wish they were all as easy to deal with as the ivy.
@@iansammons2730 Virginia creeper seems to be a bigger problem when planted without proper competition from the native species it adapted along with. In the woods it tend to be well behaved. It will take advantage of disturbance, but rarely is it engulfing things like invasive vines. In a woodland setting English ivy is a nightmare to control.
I definitely have some bittersweet in my yard and I would like to get rid of it without herbicides if possible however taking up the road to so hard is there any tips on how to kill it off
Most of the invasive vines are going to require herbicide if there is much of it, or if it is very well established. They can be cut where it comes out of the ground and the stump can be treated with herbicide. Very low volume application.
You’re missing one of the worst ones Trumpet Vine I planted it in my city backyard and it escaped and has taken over cement alleys coming up everywhere on the block can’t get rid of it because it’s in other peoples yards now too!
Trumpet creeper, Campsis radicans, is a native vine and an important part of many native plant communities. While it can get out of hand if not planted in a proper location it is an excellent addition in the proper place and with proper planning. As a native species it can not be considered invasive if planted in its native range, aggressive is the proper term to use. There is an Asian trumpet creeper, Campsis grandiflora that is often sold that should not be planted anytime as it can easily escape cultivation. It isn't a huge problem in our natural areas - yet.
We had porcelain berry growing along the chainlink between us and our neighbors house, growing up. It wasn't a problem and never left the fence. You can eat the berries. Kudzu is edible too. There's another odd plant that's been in my momw backyard. It kinda looks like that Winter Creeper, but seems to grow as a bush if it has nothing to grow on. A house a few blocks away has them planted as bushes, but in my moms backyard, it grows among the trees and fence, and has been climbing the Pauliana. I swear it's the same plant.
Porcelain berry was likely spread to other places by birds - often you don't see the invasive spreading where it is planted. Wintercreeper can sometimes resemble a shrub, and there are many invasive species of Euonymus that are shrubs.
The main antagonists here in Eastern Massachusetts are Asian bittersweet and dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum), though the latter is easy to pull up. We have tons of brambles (Rubus spp.) too, but I'm not sure if they're native. I'm reading that the scientific study of brambles is called "batology".
Luckily we don't have much Asian bittersweet in this area yet, and no dog-strangle vine that I am aware of. I have seen Asian bittersweet farther west in the KY so I am certain it is only a matter of time before it shows up here.
The Asian Trumpet Creeper, often sold under the name Hummingbird vine, is very invasive. Infact it turned out to be the most invasive flowering plant in my yard and I had to destroy it , but it was wasn't easy I chop off the main plant and then ripped up every off shoot as soon as I saw them some as far as 20 feet from the main plant it took 7 years. Is every invasive plant from Asia that seems to be true for fish and amphibians .
Asian trumpet creeper does have the ability to become invasive, but as of now it isn't as big a problem as the vines in the video. I would never recommend planting it though. There are invasive species from places other than Asia, and many of our species are actually invasive in Asia.
A common problem with invasive plants is that it may take a few years before they become invasive, and then prohibiting their sale does not have much effect anymore because there are already established populations in the wild that are impossible to eradicate.
Once invasives are out in the wild they are tough to deal with, but with time and concentrated effort they can be removed or reduced to a very low level. But it takes a big effort and people have to be on board with it.
I am now sure my Wisteria is the American species, I was a bit concerned. When I bought it I did not know some were invasive. It is the opposite, I have had it for I believe six years. It hated where it was first planted, so I finally moved it. It is happier now, but has never produced a single bloom.
We moved to our new home five years ago and very quickly noticed a problematic vine we had never come across before, turns out it was chocolate vine, we have been fighting a losing battle ever since. I have never seen a vine that grows so quickly and is so strong, it’s devastating to the environment and wildlife. All we can do is keep cutting it back as much as we can and unfortunately we have no choice but to spray the regrowth with herbicide, I don’t like doing this but in this case it’s our only choice or we face losing the entire garden. It grow up to ten metres a year and especially like going up trees .
@BackyardEcology Are you located in Maine? I live in Eagle Lake, ME. Northern Maine, I am wondering how I can find someone to come help me identify my backyard plants. 1.7arce nice little creek in the back. I want to do a perma culture native food forest. But I need someone to come and show me the best way to develope, and transform it into a kinda homesteadish property, but with out damaging beneficial native plants. Hopeing u see this.
We're in Kentucky. So, coming to personally identify what you have probably isn't realistic. (Although northern Maine has always sounded like a beautiful place to visit.) However, we do have a Backyard Ecology Community where we help our members transform their properties into thriving ecosystems by guiding them as they prioritize and set realistic goals, and by answering questions (like "What is this plant I found growing in my yard?" or "How do I do this 'thing' that I want to do?") that come up as they work towards those goals. All of this is done online using a combination of live, virtual meetings and a private forum, which means distance is no obstacle. Here's the link to more info about the Community if you're interested: www.backyardecology.net/community/
My son says the large vines we have hanging is grape. told me not to cut it. How do I tell if it's grape...no leaves...just see the large vine hanging but not attached to trunk of tree.
The easiest way to ID wild grape is when it has fruit on it. It can resemble several different invasive vines. A good pair of binoculars will give you a view of what is going on up in the canopy. Grape also has a distinctive look to the bark and the way it tends to grow.
Purple passionvine, Passiflora incarnata, is a native plant and by definition cannot be an invasive species inside its native range. It can be aggressive in certain circumstances but I know many people who have it in there pollinator gardens with no problems. I have not seen it being a problem in native plant communities.
@@dominichix5728 There are several species of passion vine, most are native to the tropics and can't survive the winter in most of the US. We have two native species in eastern NA - purple and yellow. The natives are controllable when planted - but it has to be managed from the start or it can get out of hand in some cases.
You forgot Vinca, both major and minor, which is another decorative perennial. It goes by the common name of periwinkle and can be evergreen. Periwinkle is a nightmare and some of it invaded a local park to me. It also has taken over my yard and the only things that kill it will kill everything else as well. Even mowing it hasn't killed it. Though at least it's killed the crabgrass. And all of the rest of the grass. And anything that's shorter than two feet tall. I wish more people realized how horrid the plant is.
Vinca isn't a vine but a perennial that spreads by runners. Looks kind of vine-like but not a true vine which is why it isn't in the video. I will likely do a video all about it in the future.
Ah. Considering I've seen it's runners trying to loop over the branches of our maple tree near eight feet up, you can understand why I tag it a vine, yes? It's acting like the Virginia creeper, honestly.
No. I would take poison ivy over any of these invasive species any day. Poison ivy is native, a host plant, and used by a ton of wildlife. We are one of the few mammals it has any effect on - and it is an allergic reaction - the plants sap is not actually a defense mechanism, more like a liquid bandage for the plant.
@1:00 in, W. frutescens sometimes has white flowers. (Side note: You bouncing with every syllable is *slightly* distracting. I know, Aspies stim, but when on camera, maybe try to not? I like your content and presentation.) @7:47, I have A. cordata in my arbor. The fruit tastes AWFUL!!! But hey, I have it smothering a cluster of crepe myrtle in one corner of my yard, so there's that. It makes GORGEOUS, thick vines, thick enough to sit on, as they bend down, and will often make a cluster of thick vines that create abstract sculptures in the air. @9:50, now I am kinda p*ssed at a former Botany teacher. On a field trip, he pointed out this vine, and said it was Native, so I brought some bulbils home and spread them. They took, and today, almost 20 years later, they are doing quite well. Too well. I might have suspected, but I was told wrong. Now, I need to go remove some things.... ugh. Kudzu is pronounced, "KOOd-zoo," not, "KUd-zoo." It's Japanese. Technically, it would be, KuDuZu, three characters in Hiragana or Katakana. where the middle u is silenced, or nearly so, almost like an apostrophe was there, KuD'Zu, for a pause. It's young leaves are great to eat as a tender green, cooked as anyone would. We had some growing on the South Beach southern staircase in South Haven, Michigan, where its growth WAS controlled by the bitter winter cold from Lake Michigan winds. It's flowers smell strangely like those old erasers they used to make that they claimed smelled like grapes. A weird, artificial grape aroma. Anyway, most of the plant is edible, and goats are the best way to eradicate it, as has been done in parts of the south, where I now live.
Here in CT, I'm fighting wintercreeper and asiatic bittersweet every single year planted by the previous home owners. They are nightmares, but not even close to the most invasive other species around: autumn olive, japanese barberry, and japanese knotweed, yikes!
Wintercreeper keeps me up at night. A beautiful 300 acre park I grew up with near me in Cincinnati is completely covered and smothered. Evil humans eventually die, but Wintercreeper is never going to stop. Most people, and park managers, don't give a crap.
Blackberries aren't vines, they are brambles - semi woody plants that spread by rhizomes - which is why they didn't make it into the video. This channel also doesn't cover the western US as it is too varied and different from the east where I live. Here in the east almost all of our bramble species are native and are super important to pollinators and wildlife. The Himalayan blackberry that is a huge problem on the west coast is not as well established in the east - yet.
@@Mother-Goose-Homestead Wineberry and the few other introduced brambles in the eastern US may get a video in the future. Wineberry is mainly on the east coast and down the Blueridge - for now.
The same things that control our native vines here - insects and other critters, other plant competition, the local conditions. There are plants from North America that are invasive problems on other continents too.
When my husband bought this house there was English Ivy already here. A ravine behind the house hid it for a long time. I battle it from getting in the yard but it's taken over the trees behind the house in and at the edge of the drop off (where he doesn't own the land.) We've lost 2 trees to that mess. Nothing we've tried kills it. We had a tree guy remove a much as possible from a couple trees but it's a war we can't win.
English ivy is a nightmare to control even when you can get to all of the plants. Without being able to get to the plants it is spreading from about all you can do is keep it knocked back off of your property.
A week or two ago, my friend and I noticed wisteria had crept into the woods behind the yard while we were battling the bamboo back there. At first we sighed and said, "Let them fight". Then we noticed a bunch of it had taken over the neighbours' chicken coop. So when I caught the guy out building a [frankly ugly and impractical] retaining wall in his front yard (who *leaves* the iron form mesh on the *outside* of the stones???), we thought to be neighbourly and warned him about it. "We liked the look of it, he said. He must've seen my face, so he added, "I know it's invasive." Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm certain none of you would convict me had I strangled this man then and there, as surely as those vines will strangle the trees. **His retaining wall would still be ugly even if he wasn't so unutterably stupid.
You forgot kudzu. My understanding here is that, if a property is infested with kudzu, the property value drops. And you may not be able to sell that property at all. There seems to be no getting rid of it. Terrible.
@@BackyardEcology Oh I didn’t see that. I’ll rewatch. I know what you mean a high dollar activity. Most people here will not buy property with kudzu growing on it. And honestly myself, I’m not sure how to kill it, burn it or smother it, but I don’t think that works. A permanent herd of goats or sheep? Idk.
@@joydavis4087 To deal with it in a somewhat quick manner requires herbicide. Goats will eat it, but it takes a long time for them to exhaust the roots, plus they will also eat any native plants that try to come back once the kudzu gets knocked back, so they have to be monitored and moved often.
English ivy has made its way into nearly every square ft of my property in maryland so removal is just a fight against time. It turns out they root DEEP in clay soil
As long as there is a demand, there will be people supplying. The only real solution to invasives being sold is to educated more people and "encourage" plant sellers to put up warnings about invasive plants they're selling.
I just discovered your channel. Have you done a show on using grazing goats to get rid of invasives? There's a business opportunity there. People would pay to have someone feed their goats.
Simple - I live in the eastern US and am familiar with what grows here. Things out west are quite different, and cover a ton of ecosystems. It would take more than one channel just to cover the western US and do it well.
It is a vine in the milkweed family that is native to Europe. Invasive in several states, mainly in the northern U.S. I don't see it here in KY thankfully! There is a native vine in the same genus that grows wild in my area. Not near the problem its invasive cousin is!
Bindweed is bad, but it tends to be mostly found in disturbed areas like ag fields and yards which is why it didn't make the list. I may do a video on it and its morning glory cousins.
@@mbuhtz It can be tough to dispose of huge amounts of removed invasive plants. Many have to be bagged and sent out with the trash, some can be burned. Composting runs the risk of any seeds surviving and just getting spread back on the landscape. Some counties will aid with the disposal so check with your local extension office to see if that is an option.
None of those things will go wild here in mid Arizona. 🤷. I don't even think you could get kudzu to go nuts here..... But I sure don't want to test it! 🙄
Technically not a vine, but a perennial that spreads by runners - looks very vine like though. It is a huge problem and I will likely do a video on it in the future.
I didn’t realize that Japanese hops was growing through my cucumber plants. I had gloves on but had touched my neck to move my hair and a day later I had a bad rash on my neck like poison ivy. I still have it as it’s been only a week. I’m using calamine lotion, benedryl and cool cloths. It’s miserable. It was wound all around my cucumber stems.
@@BackyardEcologyI hope it clears up too. It’s worse today. The plant had actually caught on my clothing too. No idea where it came from but it almost destroyed my cucumbers
I live in Albuquerquie, New Mexico, where there has been a draught since the sixties??! So the westside of town was all built and landscaped with "drought resistant" trees and plants. They are invasive weeds. My apartment complex is covered in all kinds of these vines. The grass is full of dangerous grasses that can really hurt your dog, like goatheads, burrs, and fox tails. It's ugly and awful, and all corporate caused. My beautiful state has been rap*d by greed.
English Ivy can be turned into liquid cleanser, it contains saponins, so don't feel bad about cutting it back and boiling it. Seen the euonymous winter creeper growing in my neighborhood on the wall of a neighborhood funeral home. A funeral home who's director doesn't understand why I make disparaging remarks about the lawn of his establishment. It is, after all, perfectly uniform, well saturated in herbicide and the gardens vigorously clipped. >.< The fact that it has thorns made me fall out of love with it quickly. Asian bittersweet, I've seen it choking power lines in my town. But besides that, I saw a youtube video of a maryland couple making bittersweet into lawn ornaments. If I find chocolate vine, its getting uprooted and put in my stomach. Can Japanese hops be used in making beer or sedating tea? I've seen the resemblance between porcelain berry and wild grapes. I found them while hunting for wild grapes, growing near them. I remember my consternation that here was another unknown lookalike for a favorite fall ambition, wild grape jelly. Haven't seen tearthumb. I would like to eat an invading chinese yam. nomnomnom. how's it taste? Kudzu I have never seen, but I've heard of it being used for baskets. And I've also heard of the roots being used for cooking starch. I wouldn't mind cutting some up Kudzu vines in the name of fiber art! pretty pretty please?
English ivy is a highly invasive vine that is causing a ton of problems in our North American ecosystem. It has zero benefit to our pollinators, wildlife, or native plants.
Unfortunately there's not currently much we can do beyond education at this time. Perhaps with enough support some sort of regulation could happen, in general though the companies will follow the money.
The tide is turning though, slowly but it is. There will always be those that don't care and will plant whatever they feel like, but there is a growing group that is trying to do the right thing.
Wild grapes are native and an important part of the North American ecosystem. They are used by a wide variety of birds, mammals, and pollinators. They can be a problem when managing a stand for timber, but otherwise I don't really worry about them unless there are a ton of them. I've never seen grapevines cover a stand of trees here in KY like porcelain berry or kudzu does.
@@pamelah6431 Covering a tree is one thing, covering a whole forest is an entirely different matter. Grapevine will cover a tree down here too, if not managing for timber its not a problem. If its a tree next to a house I see it as a problem as the tree will eventually fall.
@@BackyardEcology I have seen massive amounts of grape eating tons of other trees. One of my professors referred to "native undesirables," and that's one of them if there ever was one. Not to mention that being "native" doesn't mean to the whole continent. I don't know where its ideal home is, but the way it coats and kills trees up here is not helpful. Between choking out daylight and weighing the trees down, I've nothing good to say about it. Even natives can be over-agressive and weedy.
@@pamelah6431 There are several species of Vitis native to that area. If they are overtaking things then something is not right with that plant community - something is out of whack. Humans try to just label everything as good or bad - and it is never that simple. If those species are native there they were held in check by something in the past or they would be the only thing left. A component of that ecosystem is missing, like fire, or large herbivores, or some other type of disturbance. Have I seen native species out of control, sure, but there was always some underlying reason for it.
I find your videos interesting and concerning. When I watch airport customs videos and see people being arrested for bringing foods in from foreign countries, I wonder why our government is not doing more to eradicate these invasive species. The fact that some are being sold in consumer nurseries kind of blows my mind. I must ask why our government is not taking more decisive and aggressive action on these issues. Either they are willfully ignorant of the damage being caused, or the damage is not as severe as you are reporting. Please let us know what political actions are being taken to address this area and what are the agricultural colleges doing to bring light and a cure to these issues? I plan to contact Texas A&M and my county extension agent to see what they have to say about the extent and complexity of this issue. Thank-you for raising the issue. I had no clue! If I go to a local nursery and buy a plant, I assume it is safe and useful to use in my yard.
Things are slowly coming around. Some species like the Bradford pear have been banned from sale in a few states and that type of legislation seems to be gaining momentum. Even with them being banned from sale though it will be a long process to clear areas of them as they are literally everywhere.
Native vines are a vital part of a functional ecosystem. They do not cause problems in a functioning native plant community. If you are strictly managing for timber income then the native vines are often looked at as a problem.
Just ID'd porcelain vine for me. Found a sample on the way to visiting Mom, thought it was utterly gorgeous (still do) but it's like the apple handed to Snow White. No thanks...& thank goodness I found out!
🌸🌸🌸🌸 Learn about some native vines that are great for pollinators and that hummingbirds love in this video: ruclips.net/video/dBNr6bNcqSQ/видео.html 🌸🌸🌸🌸
Popularizing natives for their beauty is my method. I’ve seen too many people’s eyes glaze over when they hear about the biology of the ecosystems and then brighten up when they actually see a blooming native Columbine. I am experimenting with growing native flowering plants in pots and forcing them to bloom in the winter to use to excite people about the amazing beauty of many natives.
Exposer to how beautiful native plants can be is definitely a step in the process!
Cool idea. I'm doing something similar. But, with different plants.
You may already be aware but Ohio passed regulation at the beginning of 2023 banning the sale of Bradford pears. Not a vine, but a very invasive problem. Unfortunately, without regulation, I don’t think invasive plant trade will stop.
Yes, and I am hoping more states will follow suit. Getting the invasives on the noxious weed list is also a good step as in most places noxious weeds cannot be sold. It will take some doing for sure and a good dose of education along with it so people understand why it had to be done. The Callery pears are starting to bloom here in south central KY and I will soon be heading out with the chainsaw and a squirt bottle to take care of all that I can get to. We have fields full of them.
Bradford pear is my favorite
Bradford Pear is a frankensteins monster.
😂🙏🏼💜
It’s a great pear rootstock
This should be a must to watch to every home owner that has a garden or piece of land.
Thank you!
These vines are the devil! I thought I had the English ivy in my front garden under control by fighting it for 10 years. Nope. Just found a new batch going crazy. Autumn Clematis is absolutely all over my backyard gardens. I spend a lot of time pulling it out. I think most people probably don't know any better when at the garden center ND just buy what "looks pretty". The big box stores especially need to stop selling this crap. They would sell just as much if they sold the non invasive versions. I wish I had a good answer to the problem. Education is the key. If people don't buy these, they will stop selling them. I really think this channel is making a difference. I encourage people to share this with as many people as possible!
Thank you! I agree that education is the main way to fight it. Some of these plants are listed as noxious weeds in many states so they are no longer allowed to be sold which is also a plus. The vines are some of the toughest invasives to control. Very time consuming and labor intensive.
If a store sells it, most people would believe it’s ok. Blame the Dept of Ag and the stores who answer to shareholders. Money money money.
What are the qualities of an "invasive" vine that make them dangerous? Do the native species not propagate and thrive like these invasive species? Why have the nations that these species come from not been eaten alive by these plants?
5:10 Invasive plants are still sold because people interested in landscaping are usually not interested in horticulture or ecology. It's like how show dog breeders continue to produce unhealthy dogs because they have "desirable" traits.
Landscapers plant these invasive species because they want to use plants that are "bulletproof" in terms of hardiness and disease resistance. Native pests often don't eat introduced species, the result being that the invasives spread out of control. Unfortunately, the landscapers' customers often don't care and just want something that looks nice and won't die. They don't care about the problems caused by invasives.
However, even trained horticulturalists are guilty of introducing lots of non-native species.
Yup, this. People (especially those living with HOAs, which are notoriously hostile to natural or native landscaping) are primed to value plants as unassailable decorations to add property value rather than contributors to a local ecosystem.
I like to quote Dave Wagner, author of the Princeton guide to North American caterpillars...he once said in a talk that we should look at a yard full of munched-up leaves (assuming they're munched by native species) as a badge of honor. I think of it as a five-star Yelp review from the local fauna.
Very true!
I bought an American Bittersweet vine from a well known mail order catalog when it grew and flowered, I discovered that it was in fact an Asian bittersweet. My husband and sons pulled it up and got rid of it. It’s been 3 years and I am still finding new shoots in the area we pulled it out. Unbelievably tenacious vine!!
It is a tough one to get rid of. Unfortunately this isn't the first time I have heard of a misidentified plant being sold.
I always check local botanical gardens or universities before I go to unknown sources. Many of them have native plant programs and will share or sell seeds and extra plants.
Oh man Asian bittersweet gross like crazy around here. Other than maybe honeysuckle, it's the most problematic invasive species we have
English ivy surrounds my old home..... I saved the old oak from it, need to remove the rest from the fence etc! its EVERYWHERE along the fence lines of the neighbors for blocks
I find it is easier to deal with when its climbing, the ivy that is acting as a ground cover is a nightmare to remove. Every little broken off piece seems to sprout right back. Keep at it and keep it beat back and eventually you will win!
yes definitely easier to remove it when climbing a tree. the problem comes when it’s woven through chainlink fences and basically merged with it!
That stuff! When I was young and innocent I loved the look of it. I even intentionally planted it in one yard. We have some that came with our current house, we have been mostly able to keep it at bay, but it requires much work. It has a few advantages for us, it does cover an area where we couldn’t get grass established, and our dog who is very private about his potty habits uses one section for that, so he never goes on the grass. I wish our daughter’s dog did the same. And he has another section that he likes to use to nap in on summer days, it is nice and cool. But just last summer I found a patch trying to grow under the blackberries ( another menace) and overtake a beautiful fir tree. It requires constant attention.
@@lilolmecjit’s horrible! constantly trying to climb my brick home as well. hope to remove a majority of it this season. God bless.
@@JC-nl3nh 💕
A suggestion, if you haven't already done so...
Do a piece on growing NATIVE PLANTS UNDER WALNUT TREES...
Walnut trees are known to "not get along" with many plants, and people have told me, "You can't grow anything under walnut trees!"
( I wonder if many invasive vines are grown because they will grow under tough conditions such as under walnut trees ...)
I have found that many native plants, such as Virginia bluebells, Woodland phlox, woodland geranium and others are happy under walnuts...
I think many people whose property includes walnut trees would be pleased to hear whatever you have to say about native plants to grow under walnut trees. 😊
Most native plants that have ranges that include black walnut grow fine with walnut trees. They are well adapted to being around them. I may work it into a video somewhere along the line. Thanks for the suggestion!
Another gem!!!
Thank you A.
Thank you for another fantastic video! 🥰
Thanks for watching!
my yard has wintercreeper all over. it’s even rooted itself to our wooden fence… thank goodness we were planning on replacing that fence anyway 😅
Wow! It is one horrible vine!
Thanks for including an image @4:09 of American Bittersweet. Those distinctive berries caused me to pause while lost in Asian Bittersweet eradication mode the other day.
I think most people don't think about invasives and just need to be educated. I'm that busybody at the Lowes telling people picking up ivy that it's invasive and they shouldn't buy it. We have some native nurseries so I mostly get my plants there - but if I'm at one of the big corporate stores and I see any natives - I try to buy them there too. I look at the big box stores as an algorithm like everything else these days - if people buy more native plants from them - they will stock more of them.
Education is a huge part of it!
Common Periwinkle (Vinca minor) is also terrible and smothers the forest floor around old homesteads.
Periwinkle is a huge problem and I will probably do a video on it in the future. The reason I didn't have it in this video is it is a trailing groundcover and not an actual vine - although its growth form is very vine-like.
A controlled burn will kill invasives just gotta know how to have a safe burn
While fire is an excellent option for controlling some invasive species, it can cause others like stiltgrass to have a positive response. It is also not on option on most small properties and in certain states it is not an option at all. When tree climbing vines are involved it can be problematic as fire can be laddered into the canopy. Like most management practices the use of prescribed fire depends on a combination of factors. @@thomasjcorson7502
OH NO! Thank goodness I saw your comment & looked it up. This is the pretty groundcover under the pines that I wanted to spread! Now I have to try to get it out? oh noooo....
Thanks...& the ecology here thanks you as well (my back doesn't lol)
@@echognomecal6742 Periwinkle is a problem just about everyplace that has had a house on it. If it is contained to a small area you can wipe it out with persistent pulling. Glad you caught it!
You could do a video on all the different kinds of vines, weeds, and how to rid yourself of them, just from MY yard.
I think this is true for most of us, unfortunately.
My children's Sunday school teacher has them sprout morning glory and instructed them to go home and plant it. I returned it to the Sunday school teacher and told her that we would be happy to plant it in HER yard.
Wow, just discovered you! Nice work. Thank you.
Great channel. The Picard Facepalm Scale is reason enough to subscribe. I was laughing so hard (except for the fact of invasive, non-native species). I noticed that your maps stop on the Mississippi River. Do you ever show information between there and the US west coast? This is a great list so thanks for it. I’m in Seattle learning to identify the invasives that grow out here. (in the US, “clematis is pronounced “kluh-MAT-tus” but in Britain it’s pronounced “KLEM-uh-tis.” I was hearing the latter said so fast, it nearly sounded like “clitoris” to me.) Funny but not nearly as hilarious as the Picard Facepalm Scale.
Thanks! I only cover the eastern US since that is where I live and am familiar with the plants and animals that live there. The western US is so different and so varied it would be hard to cover with a single channel.
10 minutes in and I was about to comment about kudzu :-) I live in East Tennessee and it is all over the place, but somehow not on my property (I do have plenty of invasive vines).
Thanks for sharing your knowledge
You are welcome! Thanks for watching!
Getting rid of all traces of the Asian bittersweet the birds planted in my forsythia (and many other places- #1 invasive vine in my yard) and the chocolate vine the former home owner planted NEXT TO THEIR BLUEBERY BUSH as soon as I retire this year. We cut the chocolate vine back, but that wasn't good enough; need to grind the stump or something (suggestions?). I didn't know the porcelain berry vine, but have seen one or two so I'll get those too. Thanks!
No actually the channel wouldn't be possible without you! Before you had one subscriber you created it.
Weird. We have some invasive vines in my area of Western Massachusetts that are different from all the vines you covered in this video.
There are dozens of invasive vine species in North America - I only covered the ones that are a major problem over larger areas.
Thanks so much for this overview of invasive vines! Great content, even though it's really scary (horrifying?) to look at the pictures and depressing to think that these plants are still being sold and planted on purpose! 😍😍😍😍 I'm working on a big project now trying to clear privet from the woods below my house. I've been cutting them and treating the stump with glyphosate. But I'm seeing lots of Japanese Honeysuckle (and native briars) that needs to be removed as well. On some of the larger honeysuckle vines, I've tried cutting them near the base and treating the stump. But I'm not sure how to control the ones that are creeping along under the leaves...should I just try to pull them, even if that causes them to break off? I'd love a deeper dive into the best methods of controlling that vine if you have time to cover that!
On big honeysuckle vines I cut them where they come out of the ground and treat the stump. Pulling smaller vines works, but it will be an ongoing task as they will resprout if enough root is left in the ground. There are more vine videos in the works!
Thank you! Looking forward to learning more! @@BackyardEcology
Thanks!
Thank you!
Glad I saw this video. Just last night, I was online considering getting chocolate vine and porcelain vine. Now I am not. Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
Just in case it isn't doing this in your area, trumpet vine is extremely invasive and persistent. The previous owner of my southern Michigan house had tried to kill off a trumpet vine 20 years ago. My neighbor and I left some of it for the hummingbirds. Every year we get out and cut it back to the 4-inch diameter stems. It throws up shoots 20 feet from those main stems. It defies most herbicides.
Trumpet creeper isn't native to Michigan and is considered invasive there. While it can get rowdy in the south it tends to be kept in check by other things. It will go crazy if there is nothing to compete with it. I do know many people that grow it for the hummingbirds and keep it in check by cutting it back every fall. Like most vines though, if it is in an area it isn't native to it can really cover some ground and trees - and is tough to knock out.
When we moved into our house the backyard was like a secret garden full of vine climbing up on everthing we got rid of most but return they will. 1 has leaves that remind me of strawberry leaves but is much bigger but no berries,and the I'm assuming is somekind of milkweed because it has the pods. This stuff just likes to pop up,just like the neighbors ornamental bush.
Not sure what that would be. The milkweed like pods could be several vines, but none of them have strawberry like leaves. Keeping invasives out of yards can be tough due to what the neighbors are growing.
I just bought an acre, very overgrown, and have alot of vineage to remove. A few on the list, plus, Virginia creeper, poison ivy. How do you distinguish the one at end of video from wild grape?
Kudzu has palmately compound leaves with three leaflets, wild grape has one big leaf. Virginia creeper and poison ivy are both native and used by a wide variety of pollinators and wildlife. While poison ivy near a house is not a good thing, I leave it in areas where people won't come into contact with it.
@BackyardEcology sorry, I was actually talking about porcelain berry. Is in middle of clip.
@@TaneKarnes They look very similar as they as closely related. The most foolproof way is by the fruit.
Oh joy... I've been thinking I had wild muscadine growing all over the place. Thanks for the info!
@@ColRubyDimplesManacha It is a common misidentification.
Asian Bittersweet is my personal nemesis. I have taken it out multiple times and it keeps comback.
I was waiting on Kudzu. My house backs up to a wooded area with Kudzu everywhere and it also brings the Kudzu bug. It's such a pain in the butt. Only good thing about it is my bunny loves it dried.
Kudzu is a great forage - which is one of the reasons it was brought here. Unfortunately livestock has a hard time keeping up with it and it gets out of control to say the least. I saved it for last in the video as it is the poster plant for why invasive species are bad.
Cool beans. Thanks!
That’s why control burns in the forest are important
Controlled burns are part of the solution, but can't be used everywhere, and some invasives are actually quite fire adapted so they have to be controlled with other means.
Persicaria perfoliata is known here as "mile-a-minute vine", and with good reason. I've noticed it spreading here in Virginia over the past decade or so.
My family's term for Porcelain Berry is "evilvine". Because it's evil. Establishes quickly, very hard to uproot, and with an instinct for finding any available substrate for climbing. I'd mention another native alternative--Fox Grape, Vitis labrusca--which has the added benefit of edible fruits.
Thank you for the great content!
The native grapes are going to get their own video - I get a ton of comments about them. Glad you are enjoying the channel!
Thanks for the info about vines that appear in my yard, and the photos of how they can suppress the forest, in my case urban forest.
If only knowledge about these plants spread as easily as the plants. Here in Maine, the Asian bittersweet is the main culprit, but we also are dealing with a couple of vines that you didn’t mention. We have kiwi fruit vines, and black swallowtail vine.
The info is getting out there faster than it was, but still not fast enough. No kiwi vines here in the southeast, or black swallow wort. I think it is a little to hot and humid for them - at least I hope they can't survive down here!
I have a problem with Virginia Creeper climbing trees and spreading everywhere . I didn’t plant it or the Vinca that is just as bad.
Virginia creeper is an important native that is used by pollinators and wildlife. While it can trees and cover them with time, it is generally a little easier to control if needed than many of the invasive vines. Vinca will be getting its own video in the future - even though it is vine like, it isn't a true vine so it wasn't included in this video.
@@BackyardEcologyNative or not... it outcompetes everything. My yard when I bought my house had english ivy swarming one side and virginia creeper on the other and japanese honeysuckle and a couple of the other asian creepers on the third and fourth sides... everywhere they hit each other, Virginia creeper overwhelms the other and wins out.... what it doesn't do is climb as aggressively as the invasives.... but I spend ten times as much time ripping it off my plants as all the others combined.
second worst is japanese honeysuckle... wish they were all as easy to deal with as the ivy.
@@iansammons2730 Virginia creeper seems to be a bigger problem when planted without proper competition from the native species it adapted along with. In the woods it tend to be well behaved. It will take advantage of disturbance, but rarely is it engulfing things like invasive vines. In a woodland setting English ivy is a nightmare to control.
I'll let Virginia creeper take over Poison Ivy 😉
Is this the sweet potato plant/vine which is used as an annual in flower pots mostly I’ve seen it?
I think those are just varieties of the sweet potatoes that are commonly grown for food.
Ugh. Wisteria. Ive won that battle here! 😄😊
Nice! It can be a tough one.
Can you do a video on vine look-alikes for muscadine vines?
Great idea! I'll add it to the ID video to do list.
@@BackyardEcology Thanks!❤️🍄
I definitely have some bittersweet in my yard and I would like to get rid of it without herbicides if possible however taking up the road to so hard is there any tips on how to kill it off
Most of the invasive vines are going to require herbicide if there is much of it, or if it is very well established. They can be cut where it comes out of the ground and the stump can be treated with herbicide. Very low volume application.
Having participated in doing invasive plant removal in parts of New Zealand I figured that's the route I was going to have to go with thank you
@@kateflanagan9355 The vines are just tough to deal with.
You’re missing one of the worst ones Trumpet Vine I planted it in my city backyard and it escaped and has taken over cement alleys coming up everywhere on the block can’t get rid of it because it’s in other peoples yards now too!
Trumpet creeper, Campsis radicans, is a native vine and an important part of many native plant communities. While it can get out of hand if not planted in a proper location it is an excellent addition in the proper place and with proper planning. As a native species it can not be considered invasive if planted in its native range, aggressive is the proper term to use. There is an Asian trumpet creeper, Campsis grandiflora that is often sold that should not be planted anytime as it can easily escape cultivation. It isn't a huge problem in our natural areas - yet.
We had porcelain berry growing along the chainlink between us and our neighbors house, growing up. It wasn't a problem and never left the fence. You can eat the berries. Kudzu is edible too.
There's another odd plant that's been in my momw backyard. It kinda looks like that Winter Creeper, but seems to grow as a bush if it has nothing to grow on. A house a few blocks away has them planted as bushes, but in my moms backyard, it grows among the trees and fence, and has been climbing the Pauliana. I swear it's the same plant.
Porcelain berry was likely spread to other places by birds - often you don't see the invasive spreading where it is planted. Wintercreeper can sometimes resemble a shrub, and there are many invasive species of Euonymus that are shrubs.
The main antagonists here in Eastern Massachusetts are Asian bittersweet and dog-strangling vine (Vincetoxicum rossicum), though the latter is easy to pull up. We have tons of brambles (Rubus spp.) too, but I'm not sure if they're native. I'm reading that the scientific study of brambles is called "batology".
Luckily we don't have much Asian bittersweet in this area yet, and no dog-strangle vine that I am aware of. I have seen Asian bittersweet farther west in the KY so I am certain it is only a matter of time before it shows up here.
The Asian Trumpet Creeper, often sold under the name Hummingbird vine, is very invasive. Infact it turned out to be the most invasive flowering plant in my yard and I had to destroy it , but it was wasn't easy I chop off the main plant and then ripped up every off shoot as soon as I saw them some as far as 20 feet from the main plant it took 7 years. Is every invasive plant from Asia that seems to be true for fish and amphibians .
Asian trumpet creeper does have the ability to become invasive, but as of now it isn't as big a problem as the vines in the video. I would never recommend planting it though. There are invasive species from places other than Asia, and many of our species are actually invasive in Asia.
Thank you for your quick response .I find your site interesting I may add it to my list of subscribers do you have any videos about wild mint.
@@danielfegley2735 No videos on wild mints yet, but will likely have one coming out in the late summer when they tend to bloom.
A common problem with invasive plants is that it may take a few years before they become invasive, and then prohibiting their sale does not have much effect anymore because there are already established populations in the wild that are impossible to eradicate.
Once invasives are out in the wild they are tough to deal with, but with time and concentrated effort they can be removed or reduced to a very low level. But it takes a big effort and people have to be on board with it.
I am now sure my Wisteria is the American species, I was a bit concerned. When I bought it I did not know some were invasive. It is the opposite, I have had it for I believe six years. It hated where it was first planted, so I finally moved it. It is happier now, but has never produced a single bloom.
We moved to our new home five years ago and very quickly noticed a problematic vine we had never come across before, turns out it was chocolate vine, we have been fighting a losing battle ever since.
I have never seen a vine that grows so quickly and is so strong, it’s devastating to the environment and wildlife.
All we can do is keep cutting it back as much as we can and unfortunately we have no choice but to spray the regrowth with herbicide, I don’t like doing this but in this case it’s our only choice or we face losing the entire garden.
It grow up to ten metres a year and especially like going up trees .
I’m looking for your information on the Tree of Heaven. I can’t tell this one from Black Walnut or Ash.
I have a video on TOH vs black walnut. You can view it here: ruclips.net/video/UqDwaqpI-44/видео.html
I thought it looked like Sumac..
@@garybrinker4522 It does look a lot like sumac. I made a video about how to tell them apart: ruclips.net/video/UfbSbN2sBgQ/видео.html
@BackyardEcology Are you located in Maine? I live in Eagle Lake, ME. Northern Maine, I am wondering how I can find someone to come help me identify my backyard plants. 1.7arce nice little creek in the back. I want to do a perma culture native food forest. But I need someone to come and show me the best way to develope, and transform it into a kinda homesteadish property, but with out damaging beneficial native plants. Hopeing u see this.
We're in Kentucky. So, coming to personally identify what you have probably isn't realistic. (Although northern Maine has always sounded like a beautiful place to visit.) However, we do have a Backyard Ecology Community where we help our members transform their properties into thriving ecosystems by guiding them as they prioritize and set realistic goals, and by answering questions (like "What is this plant I found growing in my yard?" or "How do I do this 'thing' that I want to do?") that come up as they work towards those goals. All of this is done online using a combination of live, virtual meetings and a private forum, which means distance is no obstacle. Here's the link to more info about the Community if you're interested: www.backyardecology.net/community/
My son says the large vines we have hanging is grape. told me not to cut it. How do I tell if it's grape...no leaves...just see the large vine hanging but not attached to trunk of tree.
The easiest way to ID wild grape is when it has fruit on it. It can resemble several different invasive vines. A good pair of binoculars will give you a view of what is going on up in the canopy. Grape also has a distinctive look to the bark and the way it tends to grow.
I'd like to add the Passion Flower vine to your list!
Purple passionvine, Passiflora incarnata, is a native plant and by definition cannot be an invasive species inside its native range. It can be aggressive in certain circumstances but I know many people who have it in there pollinator gardens with no problems. I have not seen it being a problem in native plant communities.
@@BackyardEcologyI thought they were native to the tropics. Even still, it's taking over my yard and tries to choke my other plants.
@@dominichix5728 There are several species of passion vine, most are native to the tropics and can't survive the winter in most of the US. We have two native species in eastern NA - purple and yellow. The natives are controllable when planted - but it has to be managed from the start or it can get out of hand in some cases.
You forgot Vinca, both major and minor, which is another decorative perennial. It goes by the common name of periwinkle and can be evergreen. Periwinkle is a nightmare and some of it invaded a local park to me. It also has taken over my yard and the only things that kill it will kill everything else as well. Even mowing it hasn't killed it. Though at least it's killed the crabgrass. And all of the rest of the grass. And anything that's shorter than two feet tall. I wish more people realized how horrid the plant is.
Vinca isn't a vine but a perennial that spreads by runners. Looks kind of vine-like but not a true vine which is why it isn't in the video. I will likely do a video all about it in the future.
Ah. Considering I've seen it's runners trying to loop over the branches of our maple tree near eight feet up, you can understand why I tag it a vine, yes? It's acting like the Virginia creeper, honestly.
Would any of those mentioned, smother poison ivy?
No. I would take poison ivy over any of these invasive species any day. Poison ivy is native, a host plant, and used by a ton of wildlife. We are one of the few mammals it has any effect on - and it is an allergic reaction - the plants sap is not actually a defense mechanism, more like a liquid bandage for the plant.
Oooh, Star Track! 😂👽👾
@1:00 in, W. frutescens sometimes has white flowers.
(Side note: You bouncing with every syllable is *slightly* distracting. I know, Aspies stim, but when on camera, maybe try to not? I like your content and presentation.)
@7:47, I have A. cordata in my arbor. The fruit tastes AWFUL!!! But hey, I have it smothering a cluster of crepe myrtle in one corner of my yard, so there's that. It makes GORGEOUS, thick vines, thick enough to sit on, as they bend down, and will often make a cluster of thick vines that create abstract sculptures in the air.
@9:50, now I am kinda p*ssed at a former Botany teacher. On a field trip, he pointed out this vine, and said it was Native, so I brought some bulbils home and spread them. They took, and today, almost 20 years later, they are doing quite well. Too well. I might have suspected, but I was told wrong. Now, I need to go remove some things.... ugh.
Kudzu is pronounced, "KOOd-zoo," not, "KUd-zoo." It's Japanese. Technically, it would be, KuDuZu, three characters in Hiragana or Katakana. where the middle u is silenced, or nearly so, almost like an apostrophe was there, KuD'Zu, for a pause. It's young leaves are great to eat as a tender green, cooked as anyone would. We had some growing on the South Beach southern staircase in South Haven, Michigan, where its growth WAS controlled by the bitter winter cold from Lake Michigan winds. It's flowers smell strangely like those old erasers they used to make that they claimed smelled like grapes. A weird, artificial grape aroma. Anyway, most of the plant is edible, and goats are the best way to eradicate it, as has been done in parts of the south, where I now live.
I wish my wisteria would invade its fence. Oh well. Honeysuckle is a big pain!!!! Good video. Kudzu???
Thanks! Give it time and it will. Kudzu was the last vine I covered in the video.
Kudzu is smothering the south
Yes it is!
Can you tell us how to get rid of these?
There will be more information coming in the future about invasive species control!
How do you tell the difference between Oriental and American Bittersweet?
I am planning a video on how to do it. Much easier to show it in pictures.
Here in CT, I'm fighting wintercreeper and asiatic bittersweet every single year planted by the previous home owners. They are nightmares, but not even close to the most invasive other species around: autumn olive, japanese barberry, and japanese knotweed, yikes!
Japanese knotweed is one of the toughest plants to eradicate. It seems like it is indestructible.
I personally hate hedge, kudzu, and honeysuckle but do enjoy doing a good rip out
Awesome.
Thanks!
Wintercreeper keeps me up at night. A beautiful 300 acre park I grew up with near me in Cincinnati is completely covered and smothered. Evil humans eventually die, but Wintercreeper is never going to stop. Most people, and park managers, don't give a crap.
Exact same problem with several of the parks in this area too.
Blackberry vines are probably the most overwhelming here on the best coast. Surprised it wasn’t even an honorable mention.
Blackberries aren't vines, they are brambles - semi woody plants that spread by rhizomes - which is why they didn't make it into the video. This channel also doesn't cover the western US as it is too varied and different from the east where I live. Here in the east almost all of our bramble species are native and are super important to pollinators and wildlife. The Himalayan blackberry that is a huge problem on the west coast is not as well established in the east - yet.
@@BackyardEcology However, wineberries! Nonnative bramble is everywhere in MD.
@@Mother-Goose-Homestead Wineberry and the few other introduced brambles in the eastern US may get a video in the future. Wineberry is mainly on the east coast and down the Blueridge - for now.
You didn't mention Bridal Creeper, well established on the West Coast, as I can testify. Spreads by both seeds and rhyzomes.
Not one we have in the eastern US. The focus of the channel is from the Mississippi River valley east.
What controls these vines in their native habitat?
The same things that control our native vines here - insects and other critters, other plant competition, the local conditions. There are plants from North America that are invasive problems on other continents too.
When my husband bought this house there was English Ivy already here. A ravine behind the house hid it for a long time. I battle it from getting in the yard but it's taken over the trees behind the house in and at the edge of the drop off (where he doesn't own the land.) We've lost 2 trees to that mess. Nothing we've tried kills it. We had a tree guy remove a much as possible from a couple trees but it's a war we can't win.
English ivy is a nightmare to control even when you can get to all of the plants. Without being able to get to the plants it is spreading from about all you can do is keep it knocked back off of your property.
It's probably not a surprise, but porcelain berry is definitely in South Carolina, although it isn't shown on the map.
They can't update the maps fast enough with some of these invasives.
A week or two ago, my friend and I noticed wisteria had crept into the woods behind the yard while we were battling the bamboo back there. At first we sighed and said, "Let them fight". Then we noticed a bunch of it had taken over the neighbours' chicken coop.
So when I caught the guy out building a [frankly ugly and impractical] retaining wall in his front yard (who *leaves* the iron form mesh on the *outside* of the stones???), we thought to be neighbourly and warned him about it.
"We liked the look of it, he said. He must've seen my face, so he added, "I know it's invasive."
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm certain none of you would convict me had I strangled this man then and there, as surely as those vines will strangle the trees.
**His retaining wall would still be ugly even if he wasn't so unutterably stupid.
A huge problem with many of the invasives is they are great looking plants so people continue to plant them regardless of the ecological costs.
You forgot kudzu. My understanding here is that, if a property is infested with kudzu, the property value drops. And you may not be able to sell that property at all. There seems to be no getting rid of it. Terrible.
It is the final vine on the video. Kudzu can be controlled, but it is a long term and high $$$ activity.
@@BackyardEcology Oh I didn’t see that. I’ll rewatch. I know what you mean a high dollar activity. Most people here will not buy property with kudzu growing on it. And honestly myself, I’m not sure how to kill it, burn it or smother it, but I don’t think that works. A permanent herd of goats or sheep? Idk.
@@joydavis4087 To deal with it in a somewhat quick manner requires herbicide. Goats will eat it, but it takes a long time for them to exhaust the roots, plus they will also eat any native plants that try to come back once the kudzu gets knocked back, so they have to be monitored and moved often.
Watch till the end. He saved the worst for last
English ivy has made its way into nearly every square ft of my property in maryland so removal is just a fight against time. It turns out they root DEEP in clay soil
It is one of the toughest vines to fully eliminate from a property. Every little bit of root sprouts back.
As long as there is a demand, there will be people supplying. The only real solution to invasives being sold is to educated more people and "encourage" plant sellers to put up warnings about invasive plants they're selling.
There's also Wisteria macrostachya.
Wisteria macrostachya is no longer a species and is considered a variety of Wisteria frutescens.
I just discovered your channel. Have you done a show on using grazing goats to get rid of invasives? There's a business opportunity there. People would pay to have someone feed their goats.
No video on goats for invasive control, though I may do one in the future.
I don't live in Eastern US, and am wondering why you didn't include the entire country on this otherwise very useful video.
Simple - I live in the eastern US and am familiar with what grows here. Things out west are quite different, and cover a ton of ecosystems. It would take more than one channel just to cover the western US and do it well.
What can you tell about Black Swallow wart? That thing is mean!
It is a vine in the milkweed family that is native to Europe. Invasive in several states, mainly in the northern U.S. I don't see it here in KY thankfully! There is a native vine in the same genus that grows wild in my area. Not near the problem its invasive cousin is!
@@BackyardEcology
I've worked in nurseries and garden centers for several years, and I will never understand why English ivy and vinca vine are even propagated.
Me either. There is a long list of plants that should not be sold but still are.
What about cattails
Cattails are actually in danger of being outcompeted by invasive reed canarygrass
How about bind weed , can't get ride of it , it grew over from my neighbors yard .
Bindweed is bad, but it tends to be mostly found in disturbed areas like ag fields and yards which is why it didn't make the list. I may do a video on it and its morning glory cousins.
Our yard in MA is absolutely overrun with asian bittersweet and its a nightmare to get rid of. We're valiantly fighting a losing battle 😭
Keep up the battle! Asian bittersweet is one tough vine to get rid of - but it can be done. It just takes a few years and a ton of work.
@@BackyardEcology How do you dispose of the vines? You can't chip them, and we end up with SO much waste material!
@@mbuhtz It can be tough to dispose of huge amounts of removed invasive plants. Many have to be bagged and sent out with the trash, some can be burned. Composting runs the risk of any seeds surviving and just getting spread back on the landscape. Some counties will aid with the disposal so check with your local extension office to see if that is an option.
None of those things will go wild here in mid Arizona. 🤷. I don't even think you could get kudzu to go nuts here..... But I sure don't want to test it! 🙄
Very true! None of these vines are adapted to an arid climate, but why chance it!
Vinca Major!
Technically not a vine, but a perennial that spreads by runners - looks very vine like though. It is a huge problem and I will likely do a video on it in the future.
I didn’t realize that Japanese hops was growing through my cucumber plants. I had gloves on but had touched my neck to move my hair and a day later I had a bad rash on my neck like poison ivy. I still have it as it’s been only a week. I’m using calamine lotion, benedryl and cool cloths. It’s miserable. It was wound all around my cucumber stems.
Ouch! The bristles on Japanese hop stems and leaves can cause a rash in some people. Hopefully it clears up quickly for you.
@@BackyardEcologyI hope it clears up too. It’s worse today. The plant had actually caught on my clothing too. No idea where it came from but it almost destroyed my cucumbers
@@rousiecat4615 It is a super aggressive vine.
What would happen if you planted all these vines in the same area? Which one would win?
I would hate to see that piece of ground, but kudzu can outgrow them all.
Wisteria smells so good tho
It does! At least there is a native species of it.
I'm having a huge problem with morning glories taking over my flower garden
Morning glories can be a huge problem in the right conditions.
I thought Japanese honeysuckle was a bush honeysuckle not a vine honeysuckle.
Nope. The vine is Japanese honeysuckle, there are several invasive bush honeysuckles - but none of them go by the common name Japanese honeysuckle.
I live in Albuquerquie, New Mexico, where there has been a draught since the sixties??! So the westside of town was all built and landscaped with "drought resistant" trees and plants. They are invasive weeds. My apartment complex is covered in all kinds of these vines. The grass is full of dangerous grasses that can really hurt your dog, like goatheads, burrs, and fox tails. It's ugly and awful, and all corporate caused. My beautiful state has been rap*d by greed.
@@markdavis3539 , Oh, excuse my typo. I do know how to spell, thank you.
English Ivy can be turned into liquid cleanser, it contains saponins, so don't feel bad about cutting it back and boiling it.
Seen the euonymous winter creeper growing in my neighborhood on the wall of a neighborhood funeral home. A funeral home who's director doesn't understand why I make disparaging remarks about the lawn of his establishment. It is, after all, perfectly uniform, well saturated in herbicide and the gardens vigorously clipped. >.< The fact that it has thorns made me fall out of love with it quickly.
Asian bittersweet, I've seen it choking power lines in my town. But besides that, I saw a youtube video of a maryland couple making bittersweet into lawn ornaments.
If I find chocolate vine, its getting uprooted and put in my stomach.
Can Japanese hops be used in making beer or sedating tea?
I've seen the resemblance between porcelain berry and wild grapes. I found them while hunting for wild grapes, growing near them. I remember my consternation that here was another unknown lookalike for a favorite fall ambition, wild grape jelly.
Haven't seen tearthumb.
I would like to eat an invading chinese yam. nomnomnom. how's it taste?
Kudzu I have never seen, but I've heard of it being used for baskets. And I've also heard of the roots being used for cooking starch. I wouldn't mind cutting some up Kudzu vines in the name of fiber art! pretty pretty please?
Winter Creeper has thorns? Kudzu can be eaten, but I don't know what parts, Porcelain berries can be eaten, too.
@@ItsDaJax Yes but you need to be 100% sure enough to the point where you're willing to risk your life. Are you willing to risk your life on that?
@@AnimeShinigami13 Google both. Porcelain berries are edible.
oh, ivy too?
English ivy is a highly invasive vine that is causing a ton of problems in our North American ecosystem. It has zero benefit to our pollinators, wildlife, or native plants.
Unfortunately there's not currently much we can do beyond education at this time. Perhaps with enough support some sort of regulation could happen, in general though the companies will follow the money.
The tide is turning though, slowly but it is. There will always be those that don't care and will plant whatever they feel like, but there is a growing group that is trying to do the right thing.
Where is Japanese climbing fern?
Not an actual vine, but a fern that is somewhat vine-like, which is why it isn't in the video. I will likely cover it in it's own video.
Wild grape. Eats everything alive in N IL/S WI. 😫
Wild grapes are native and an important part of the North American ecosystem. They are used by a wide variety of birds, mammals, and pollinators. They can be a problem when managing a stand for timber, but otherwise I don't really worry about them unless there are a ton of them. I've never seen grapevines cover a stand of trees here in KY like porcelain berry or kudzu does.
@@BackyardEcology they clobber whole trees up here. Not all natives are solidly beneficial.
@@pamelah6431 Covering a tree is one thing, covering a whole forest is an entirely different matter. Grapevine will cover a tree down here too, if not managing for timber its not a problem. If its a tree next to a house I see it as a problem as the tree will eventually fall.
@@BackyardEcology I have seen massive amounts of grape eating tons of other trees. One of my professors referred to "native undesirables," and that's one of them if there ever was one. Not to mention that being "native" doesn't mean to the whole continent. I don't know where its ideal home is, but the way it coats and kills trees up here is not helpful. Between choking out daylight and weighing the trees down, I've nothing good to say about it. Even natives can be over-agressive and weedy.
@@pamelah6431 There are several species of Vitis native to that area. If they are overtaking things then something is not right with that plant community - something is out of whack. Humans try to just label everything as good or bad - and it is never that simple. If those species are native there they were held in check by something in the past or they would be the only thing left. A component of that ecosystem is missing, like fire, or large herbivores, or some other type of disturbance. Have I seen native species out of control, sure, but there was always some underlying reason for it.
I find your videos interesting and concerning. When I watch airport customs videos and see people being arrested for bringing foods in from foreign countries, I wonder why our government is not doing more to eradicate these invasive species. The fact that some are being sold in consumer nurseries kind of blows my mind. I must ask why our government is not taking more decisive and aggressive action on these issues. Either they are willfully ignorant of the damage being caused, or the damage is not as severe as you are reporting. Please let us know what political actions are being taken to address this area and what are the agricultural colleges doing to bring light and a cure to these issues? I plan to contact Texas A&M and my county extension agent to see what they have to say about the extent and complexity of this issue. Thank-you for raising the issue. I had no clue! If I go to a local nursery and buy a plant, I assume it is safe and useful to use in my yard.
Things are slowly coming around. Some species like the Bradford pear have been banned from sale in a few states and that type of legislation seems to be gaining momentum. Even with them being banned from sale though it will be a long process to clear areas of them as they are literally everywhere.
@7:50 You shaved and put the same shirt back on!
All vines seem to be evasive. I pull vines up every year by my creek. They will strangle every thing.
Native vines are a vital part of a functional ecosystem. They do not cause problems in a functioning native plant community. If you are strictly managing for timber income then the native vines are often looked at as a problem.
I have so many invasive vines. I hate English ivy and oriental bittersweet and honeysuckle.
Invasive vines are some of the toughest invasives to control. They are just generally super hardy and so fast growing.
Just ID'd porcelain vine for me. Found a sample on the way to visiting Mom, thought it was utterly gorgeous (still do) but it's like the apple handed to Snow White. No thanks...& thank goodness I found out!
It is super easy to spot once you know what to look for - and you will see it all over the place unfortunately.