Smilax and goats
Smilax -- nothing to smile about. A vine I've identified as a type of smilax is running rampant in a little patch of woods near my garden. It is forming a dense mat under the soil--impossible to pull up by hand-- as well as sending up voracious stalks with huge stickers that wind around all the younger trees. Does anyone have this vine invading their property and what can I do about it. Someone suggested goats. I like that idea, but would it kill off the vine.
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Any plant that you deprive of (post #16036, reply #1 of 8)
Any plant that you deprive of access to sunlight, keep the green leaves cut down, will eventually die out. How long that might take will depend on how much energy the roots have stored. Having goats go in and eat that vine would be a good way to go.
The sign of a good gardener is brown knees, not a green thumb.
Unfortunately, it'll just (post #16036, reply #2 of 8)
Unfortunately, it'll just grow back after the goats leave, though.
North Carolina - zone 7
If you put the goats out (post #16036, reply #3 of 8)
If you put the goats out there only once, yes it will. The goats need to stay out there until it stops growing, until the roots have no more energy to send up new growth.
The sign of a good gardener is brown knees, not a green thumb.
I wonder how long that would (post #16036, reply #4 of 8)
I wonder how long that would take. You'd have to feed all those goats something additional in the meantime since at some point there would only be stubs of vegetation for nutrition. I know they've looked into this some in land management, but I've not seen any long term studies with permanent eradication. My husband used to want goats but I thought they'd be too much trouble for me and would most likely end up eating things I wanted to keep. http://stephenville.tamu.edu/~jmuir/SARE/north_central.html
North Carolina - zone 7
We use goats in Oregon in a (post #16036, reply #5 of 8)
We use goats in Oregon in a vain attempt to control the growth of Himalayan Blackberry, a grossly invasive non-native. They are fairly effective at it, the failure comes from an unending rain of new seeds from birds in the late summer. To prevent the goats decimating wanted things, most people tether them in a given area until its done in and then move them. In California they are running goats in the more fire prone brushlands in an attempt, fairly successful I understand, to help reduce the fire danger.
Marty
"The plants have been good to us." Lester Hawkins
"In California they are (post #16036, reply #6 of 8)
"In California they are running goats in the more fire prone brushlands in an attempt, fairly successful I understand, to help reduce the fire danger."
What a great idea. I'm glad there's something that is effective, at least partially.
Northern Virginia, Zone 7A.
The only way to really get (post #16036, reply #7 of 8)
The only way to really get rid of Smilax is to dig all the the tubor. Sometimes the tubor grows under host bush or tree and it is nearly impossible to get to. As long as the tubor is under ground this plant will continue to grow.
Goats are as indiscriminate (post #16036, reply #8 of 8)
Goats are as indiscriminate in their diet as deer.
Tom