After spending this past summer working in, around, and on PI, I finally took time to go to web sites concerning PI to seek and share info. Here is what I learned this past summer:
Clorox Ultra (Outdoors) Bleach eliminates small PI vines, with the leaves beginning to turn within 2 - 3 days. It took 5 - 7 days for it to work on the larger vines (some were 7" in dia., *with one 'cluster' of vines grown together to make a vine 14" in dia. which had killed the locust tree and had grown to over 20' high with many branches.)
What started out as a 'small' project, (Helping out at the camp grounds where we camp) began to turn into a very expensive project )for the campground owner) using Roundup PI killer. (It was about 4 - 7 days before the leaves turned) In looking for the least expensive way to do this properly, I mixed some Clorox Outdoor Bleach in the Roundup (ABOUT 50/50) and tried it. (Some of the smaller vines turned within 1 day) When I saw this, I started using the Bleach, full strength, alone (AND much cheaper @ $5.49 a gal +)and within 2 days you could see the leaves turn on any vine that was sprayed.
On the tree growing vines, I would spray the vine leaves themselves as far up as my 2 gal, plastic pump sprayer would reach (approx. 10' - 14" depending on how much it was pumped at the time) then I would "soak" the vine all the way down to the ground. The leaves that were sprayed turned within the 2 days and it took about 7 - 9 days for the rest of the leaves to turn. *(the cluster mentioned above which was 'soaked' again the next day, took 3 weeks for all of the leaves to turn.)
We began this project in May, and ended up killing roughly 5 - 7 acres of PI. The next step (end of June) was to go back and 'cut' the larger (tree) vines about 4' from the ground, using 2 cuts about 3" apart and removing any possible connection with the roots. (we did not cut the 'cluster' vine) Within 4 days of the cuttings, we found, just inside the 'bark' edge of the vines a dark black ring. We are asuming that this was a sign of the root dying ;-) . We again sprayed the root side of the standing vine (and the 'cluster' vine was again soaked to where we could reach) and where we could, pulled as much of the upper part off the trees.
Late Aug & Sept, we again went back and pulled the vines off only this time it was much eaiser. At this time we cut the 'cluster' vine and found that each vine within the cluster had the black ring just inside the bark with the vines on the outside of the cluster having 'thicker' rings. There were no leaves on the 'cluster' vine at all.
Yesterday,(11-27-03) a day we were all very thankful for we took a walk in the rain and couldn't find any sign of living PI anywhere where we sprayedn nor did there appear any sign of tree damage. Grass and other types of ivy along with some wild flowers that picked up some of the over spray have died but some of the earlier sprayed grass started regrowing already.
We will be looking for any new growth next summer.
Of course, right from the beginning we all used the proper precautions (as noted many times in many various postings on this board {Don't people read the postings (especially the ones with the PROPER SUBJECT LINE that pertains to the SUBJECT of the posting itself) on this message board before posting a message themselves?} long sleeve heavy shirts, neoprene gloves over cotton gloves, heavy blue jeans, heavy socks and work boots, safety glasses and at times hats. We also used Clorox Clean-up and lava soap to wash our hands. No smoking while working and when removing gloves, either get help or make sure no 'skin' touched the outside of the other glove you were taking off. Clothes were put into plastic bags and were taken to the owners house to be soaked first (for approx 20 min and then run thru the wash in a full cycle) in Oxy-clean and in one of the many liquid detergents used to remove stains/oils from surfaces (ie..Top Job, Spic N Span, Mr Clean etc). Then they were again run thru a wash using a regular soap (Tide) and Oxy-clean and Spic N Span. The boots were all sprayed with Clorox Clean-up and hosed off. I am very proud to say (I 'sorta' became "The Supervisor" of this whole project right at the beginning) that NO ONE (out of the 14 people) that worked with us received any type of contamination from the PI. (3 people that wanted to work with us were told politely if they didn't have/want to work within the "SAFE" perameters, they couldn't, and didn't)
One more item. 2 weeks ago we cut down a 65', 27" dia., locust tree that had 2 approx 5" vines that were approx 25' tall. We carefully removed the complete vine and then we cut it into 2' logs (to end up being burned in our fire pits) we sprayed each log with a mixture of Mr. Clean and ULTRA CLOROX and hosed them off and then stacked and covered them. We will do the same next summer, restack it and let it dry and then split it. We will then burn it "carefully" in a fire pit and see what happens. (we DID check each log very carefully for any sign of a PI root on the surface (after the bark had been removed).
Ok, thats it, I will give an update next summer concerning any regrowth of the PI, the planting of grass where we killed the PI and if anything happens with the burning of the wood. I hope I have kept "on subject" with my SUBJECT LINE (I DID read the messages ALL the way back to June, at least the ones that had a SUBJECT in the SUBJECT line and pertained to what I wanted to post)and I haven't bored any of you, but I thought some of you would like the information (some if not all) I am posting.
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