What is this and how do I kill it? [In reverse order of importance.] It is a subterranean vine, woody and tough but flexible. I've been trying to get rid of it for two years since it started menacing my garage. It has a tendency to mingle with my herbs [although it does not choke them] and by the time it's finally visible the base is already woody and thick enough to be difficult to cut.
It does not seem to be a common weed, per se. I place the blame squarely on my idiotic neighbors who I hate.
- Z
I believe you need to hammer a bunch of copper nails into it. Someone told me that after we got rid of our.
No, not sumac, although we've had that before too. Yeah you can't really see it from these pictures but the leaves are pointy and red-tinged. The woodiness is more like a grapevine than a tree.
I think I'm going to have to remove most or all of the herb garden, which has been heavily colonized by all kinds of other weeds and sheaves of dead sweet peas, and start over again. Hopefully I could save the raspberries that volunteered from my idiot neighbors' yard and the Alpine strawberries, everything else is hearty or easily replaced.
- Z
hard to tell from the pics, but looks like it may be a sumac. if so, it will come back until you have eradicated it down to the tiniest root nubbin. They have a tendency to break instead of allowing themselves to be pulled out, which makes them very difficult to remove. Often you'll need a shovel and need to dig down at least a foot. I have managed to get them almost out of my yard, but thanks to empty lots and others who don't recognize this menace, new saplings are a continual problem. Once you learn to recognize them, they should be pulled at once!