I am hoping that someone can help me. My friends have this weed in their yard. They both developed very red itchey rashes when they tried to remove it. They live in a zone 5/zone 6 area near pittsburgh. They don't know what it is or how to try to get rid of it. Does anyone know what this may be or how to get rid of it? Any help anyone can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,
Hi Gardengal, I agree with Ron. It's Campsis. You might want to share this with your friends, but they will have to do this in the spring when the vine is in active growth. When I moved into this house 18 years ago as a renter, I inherited a trumpet vine - campsis radicans. Here's my horror story and what I've learned about this vine. Over time the vine began to bloom and pop up everywhere in the yard. I would pull the sprouts only to find more year after year. After 13 years we purchased the house and had to cut down 5 trees and regrade the land due to overplanting and flooding. When we dug up the stumps from the trees and regraded we discovered roots of the vine 3' to 4' deep in the soil, up to 30' from the parent plant and as large around as my wrist! We dug and dug and, well you get the point. A year later we still had sprouts coming up from bits of roots that we'd missed. Here is how I've learned you can get rid of it. Now, up until this point I had NEVER used herbicides or pesticides in the garden. Here's what I did and you can do to get rid of it. Put about an inch of Round Up Weed and Grass Killer Super Concentrate (you could also use Brush B Gone) in a clear plastic container with a tight fitting lid like you might get at the deli with potato salad. Cut a slit in the lid and insert the tips of the vine in the solution when in active growth (has leaves on it and the leaves need to be in the solution). Leave the vines in the solution for 48 hours and then cut the vines near the lid. To remove the vine from the lid, be sure and take the container to a safe place so that no solution splashes on anything precious. You can reuse the solution until it is all absorbed. Everytime I find a new sprout I do this same procedure. So far there have been no sprouts from areas that were treated this way. Newt
Wow, Newt, that's some story. I've just been cured of any desire to plant Campsis! It seems to me there are more than a few of these plants in cultivation that are horrors-in-waiting. My story is of flowering quince, and of course there's the old morning glory marching in from next door, so I'm making a note of your technique for using herbicide, which I'm also finally being driven to using for the first time - never thought I'd see the day.
