Spring rains awaken woods, weeds

A relatively moist spring has brought the woods and weeds to life.

The oaks are shaking off their shaggy coats, and the pollen is making a mess out of house, car, yard, driveway and anything that has a surface, regardless of the shape.

I'm amazed the spiders bother to spin webs with all the thick yellow crud flying around. It sticks to everything and fouls webs, wherever they are.

The flowers enjoy the rain, including the timid ones that grow deep in the shadow of the trees.

That means the wild grape vines, Virginia creeper, honeysuckle and poison ivy are thriving. They race along the ground and up tree trunks like squirrels running from a fox. I wonder at the speed with which these vines grow.

The creeper, honeysuckle and wild grape are simply nuisances. I'm not sure that one plant is really a wild grape, but it resembles real grape vines. I don't care to know what they're called. I just want them gone.

They're tough customers. They'll grow a little, then sink in more roots, branch out and keep moving. They'll take on anything that resembles a tree.

Pulling them out of the ground is an arduous, time-consuming business. It's really a waste of time if this vine gets a head start.

You can try mowing them. That works for a little while, but they just come back.

I yank them off trees and saplings, cut them back with a mower - raising a storm of leaf bits in the process - and dose them with herbicide when they try to regenerate.

Still, it's hard to keep pace.

You can do the same thing with Virginia creeper and honeysuckle, but I often leave them alone unless they're threatening flowers or shrubbery.

The creeper tends to break apart, so it's not a good candidate for the tedious task of uprooting. And honeybees like honeysuckle, so I don't bother with it unless it becomes over-invasive.

Besides, honeysuckle can work a bit of woodsy art as it grows. When honeysuckle entwines around small saplings, it restricts trunk growth. As the tree grows, it bulges around the honeysuckle.

The result is a sapling fit for a walking stick.

You've seen those gnarled canes in country stores? Some are carved by human hands. Many are naturally made by honeysuckle.

When I see the vine spiraling around a small sapling, I am careful to keep the honeysuckle from overwhelming the tree.

I may have a couple of saplings ready this summer.

Right now, I'm watching over about a dozen honeysuckle-constricted trees. I did have more, but the drought, the choking and the competition for nutrition made some the young saplings give up.

The vine to worry most about is poison ivy. Most people don't react well to poison ivy. It's the sap that causes the rash. It can bleed through the leaves, but breaking a stem makes it virtually gush.

The sap will irritate the skin before it blisters, so you'll automatically scratch. Then scratch somewhere else, then another place. Pretty soon, you're eat up with that awful poison ivy rash.

The best thing to do is avoid it. Remember: "Leaves of three, let it be."

Don't confuse poison ivy with Virginia creeper. Creeper has five narrow leaves. Poison ivy has three broader leaves, and they're notched.

The main stem of poison ivy also has many rootlets for hanging onto the side of a tree. A stem looks like a long, tan-colored millipede. As a vine gets older, it gets fatter and shaggy. The shaggy "hair" turns dark brown.

Here's what you do if you just have to get rid of it. Take a long, sharp knife or machete (my favorite) and cut the poison ivy near the base of the tree. Be careful it's not running along the ground before you go tromping around the vine. I don't wear shorts or short sleeves or go sockless when messing with poison ivy.

And wear eye protection. Use vinyl or rubber gloves.

Draw the blade firmly across the main stem. Don't hack at it. That makes the sap splatter. You won't unduly damage the tree bark, either.

When the stem is severed, cut the vine again, a few inches above or below the first cut. Then gently pry the cut section off the tree. Make sure all the tendrils (those "millipede feet"), are cut and removed.

Everything above the gap will die. Sap will drain from the wound, so be careful.

Then use a topical, not systemic, herbicide on the lower part of the plant and anything running along the ground.

As long as you don't spray their leaves, the trees and shrubs will be OK. That's why you don't want to gouge the bark. It protects against the herbicide.

Then wash everything, including yourself, with really soapy water. Not too hot! Hot water opens the pores of your skin. You don't want the herbicide or the poison ivy sap trapped in an open pore. Rinse well.

I don't like using herbicides, but sometimes there is no other choice.

You can't burn poison ivy, either. The smoke it produces is caustic to eyes, nasal passages and your insides.

Let it die, let it dry, then rake it to an out-of-the-way place where it will rot.

Ah, the spring showers have been so refreshing. But they do make a little work when the rain encourages the vines to race through the woods.

Larry Clark is a staff writer for the Hickory Daily Record. Reach him at lclark@hickoryrecord.com.