Smilax

I know this vine may be native, but I hate it. I think it must grow 3ft per day. The thorns hurt like heck and the roots look like extra large turnips or something that are impossible to dig up. Does anyone have a method for killing it? I have even drilled holes in the root (turnip thing) and poured roundup in it. It still didn't die.

Try cutting to the gorund and then when it starts resprouting...spray with a concentrated solution of either roundup or brush killer.

Here's a picture of the roots and sprouts. You can see where I have cut, drilled, and beat on these. LOL

Go to a stronger herbicide. Garlon should work.

Smilax...the smilax with the knife. Greenbrier and relatives. It's native here. It's like organic barbed wire with leaves. If anyone can figure how those thin vines can be so incredibly tough and strong, there's probably a fortune there in materials-science applications. I can't believe that anything short of steel cable is that strong, certainly not any synthetic organic fiber.

Me, I just use 12 to 16 ounces of Roundup Pro in my sprayer...I think it's 4 gallons. Spray every single leaf you can see. Both sides if you can. Sometimes it works. Roundup works best through the leaves.

I think wildlife likes the berries, so the vines end up everywhere. Probably a bird crap thing.

Mark., a northern friend claims that Florida is just a little closer to Hell, and she has a point

Who is Mark?

Hysterical! Loved that description. I grow Smilax ecirrhata and leave it be. Smilax ecirrhata isn't that bad but many Smilax spp. are pretty tough cookies. There is a reason why it is called the Carrion Flower though.

Newly signed up, posting way too heavily my first couple days here. I live on 36 acres between Gainesville and Hawthorne, Florida -- north Florida about where the peninsula starts peninsuling, roughly in the center. Zone 8b near 9a, but I'm on a low ridge and the microclimate might be colder in places. Disused farmland taken over by sweetgum, wild blackberry, and other nominally native weeds.

These catbrier/greenbrier/whatever species of Smilax have lovely mottled sorta heart-shaped leaves. They are pretty...seem to prefer shade, seem to be native...you learn to lift your feet when walking in woody areas or you get grabbed 'round the ankle; if you have shorts on, you can end up bleeding a lot. Even these species could be bred to produce some attractive if formidably armed ornamentals, but...