OK... so I have an acre that is largely woodland and groundcover. In front, it's a mixed bag with a lot of "invasives" (vinca, LOTV, sweet woodruff, ajuga, etc), but nothing too difficult to control save for the minor pain in the butt of removing ivy climbers off the tree trunks once or twice each year.
The back is nearly all woodland, but the previous owners established a thick layer of pure english ivy in about the first 1/3 of it. Again, we routinely remove the ivy from the trees--I think it looks untidy and I know if can harm the trees. It's not a huge deal and I rather like the look of my ivy carpet ;) For better or worse, English ivy is very popular out here on the island and pretty much every home on my street (very wooded street with all old acre lots) is full of it. Honestly, it doesn't grow THAT fast... certainly not nearly as fast as my sedum Angelina!!! I find it pretty easy to keep up with.
In any event, there's a "chicken wire"-esque fence separating my property from my neighbors' to the north. I've been here 3 years now. I noticed a while back that there was a vine growing on the fence... didn't think about it much, as it's a decent way back into the woods... but in the last year (maybe due to our warm winter) it has gone gangbusters. It's easily made its way down another 15 feet of fence (toward my house) and it now completely drapes at least 4 of my neighbors trees as well as half of their shed. I've identified it as akebia--chocolate vine. I'm sure of it. Now that I know what it is, I can also see many, many rogue vines of it poking up through my ivy throughout the back woods. It was completely blanketing a forsythia I had back there; I removed all that.
Let me preface by saying I AM A NEUROTIC FREAK. ;) I'm also from NC, where the scourge of kudzu was everywhere... and man, does that stuff give me the willies. I've read that akebia can grow 40' in a season so I'm having kudzu flashbacks. I'm now OBSESSED with this stuff and the notion that it's going to take over my ivy, my woods, and... eventually... my whole house. :) I kid, I kid... kind of.
What do I do? I don't know the neighbors that well, but any attempt at elimination would have to be a coordinated effort, as it's ALL OVER their adjacent property. Should I be stressing this to this extreme? Or will a proper winter--with actual FREEZING TEMPS--knock this guy down a peg and make him more manageable? To what degree should I be freaking out over this? Honestly, there's so many random sprigs of this throughout my back woods that I'm fairly certain I could never get it all. Ugh. What to do?
WWYD: akebia takeover!
Sorry....have never had any vine problems....I would eliminate your vines...Roundup?...and see what happens....if problem is as severe next year, maybe talk to neighbors about it....
Well it just so happens that I have an akebia vine which I erroneously thought would be nice to have. I do manage to keep it trimmed back and have dug up most of it. However it is one of those plants that if you leave any root at all it's going to return. You can actually sit and watch this plant grow (Very much like cudzu). Like I said before I just keep it trimmed back hard.
According to one vendor "Akebia has the potential to be invasive in some regions, please check with your local county extension agent before planting."
but funny how I read all positive comments on it in Plantfiles
Other vendors say yearly pruning will keep in under control
SO I guess if they are just left to freely do their own thing they will take over but if you prune it all the way back it should be very controllable