How to kill invasive vines without using herbicides
Fast-spreading vines like wisteria can quickly take over a garden and kill existing trees. Gardeners often lose the battle to control them because they avoid using herbicides to protect pollinators and local wildlife. Without chemical intervention, however, these invasive plants simply come back with a vengeance and continue spreading.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to kill invasive vines without using herbicides
- 1Refusing to plant them in future yardsDid this help you?
- 2Fighting and cutting them back for yearsDid this help you?
- 3Planting native or more manageable varieties insteadDid this help you?
- 4Pulling weeds manuallyDid this help you?
- 5Heavy mulching or smothering with cardboardDid this help you?
- 6Planting native species to outcompete the weedsDid this help you?
- 7Solarization using clear plasticDid this help you?
- 8Applying horticultural vinegar or outdoor bleachDid this help you?
- 9Applying targeted herbicides like glyphosate when native plants are dormantDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The wild wisteria in my backyard is like an invasive alien. It’s insane how far and quickly the root vines spread. They’ve killed a few trees and I can’t keep up. Legit will make sure that wisteria isn’t in the yard for the next house.”source ↗
“Beautiful! I could never have wisteria because we had some at one of our houses & it had taken over the garden! My husband had to fight it for years!”source ↗
“I'm now trying to figure out how to best get this under control while doing the least damage to pollinators and other beneficial insects (not to mention the many wild rabbits and squirrels).”source ↗
“Honestly I lose my battle with weeds pretty frequently because I'm like you and I feel like weeds are less harmful than herbicides.”source ↗
“I try to avoid herbicide in general, but you are correct. I don't think I'm going to be able to control this without herbicide, so I'm putting leaves in places it's not growing this fall.”source ↗
“Yeah, I've tried that. It just comes back with a vengeance. 😒 This patch is the biggest it's ever been (and it's spreading into other areas now)”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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