Reference my earlier post on Grape Vines as a Source of Water. Because of this post, a reader wrote to ask how to eradicate Wild Grape Vine; she preferred not to use herbicide.

Because the transition area between my prairie and my woodland has become a bit overrun with Wild Grape Vine (Vitis app) and Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), I thought this was a really excellent topic for me to research.

The surest way to eradicate Wild Grape Vine, or for that matter, any vine, is during the autumn, when they are pulling nutrients back into their roots for their winter nap. Cut the vine at the beginning of the stem and carefully and safely paint the cut end of the remaining stump with herbicide.

If you are averse to using herbicide, then you can smother the stem end after cutting it from the rest of the vine. Wild Grape Vine must have sunshine to grow. Or, you can dig the root out of the ground after having cut the stem at the end. Any of these methods will work for vines growing up into trees and shrubs. No need to remove the vine from the trees and shrubs, since it should decay and fall away on its own.

However, bear in mind none of these methods will kill any of the rest of the vine that is running/growing along the ground. These runners will either have to be pulled up or smothered, or cut where the roots have anchored themselves into the ground and painted with herbicide. This is the situation I in which I find myself in my transition area, and I think I should tackle this task soon.

Grape Vine and CO2

One of the articles I reviewed as I researched this post stated “…CO2 seems to stimulate even more vigor in vines than other plants….” (Extension Ask and Expert) This really piqued my curiosity.

It seems all plants grow faster as CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels rise, but this growth is not typically healthy growth. This increased growth occurs at the cost of decreased nutrition. Loss of iron and zinc in food crops and loss of protein in grains, for example.  This also means as trees grower taller and produce more foliage, they will not be as strong to withstand the ravages of the extreme weather cycles we’ve been experiencing because of global warming. Its a “catch-22” that we need to be taking seriously.

Can evolution react fast enough? Can scientists figure out how to manipulate genes fast enough? Before our Earth is impacted beyond repair? I guess we’ll see….

An easy to read description of this situation can be found in Forbes at Rising CO2 Is Reducing the Nutritional Value Of Our Food.

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As my husband John and I have watched the horror unfolding in the Brazilian Amazon forests, we shudder to think what is happening not only to all the special tropical plants, but also to the wildlife — all the birds, the insects, reptiles, animals, fish, etc. They say this ecosystem is being destroyed all for ranching and farming with little regard for the environmental impact. I believe it is also true, however,  drought caused by climate change is also playing a role, so ranchers and farmers are using this opportunity to their advantage.

Tropical Forests

I’ve always been aware of the tropical forest called the Amazon which is in Latin America. Less so, however, the tropical forests in Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia, and Australia. All these tropical forests, also called rainforests, lie between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Together they cover 10% of the land above sea level, while the Amazon makes up approximately one-third of all the tropical forests. The Amazon rainforest is also considered the greatest freshwater reserve on Earth, maintaining approximately one-fifth of all the freshwater. (School Energy & Environment)

Lungs of the World

Although all plants use photosynthesis to fix carbon dioxide and create oxygen, the tropical forests do so in a much larger scale. That’s why they are so important to the survival of all life on Earth. That’s why they are often referred to as the “lungs of the World.”

Because they are such vast expanses of forests, they play a role in the Earth’s air circulation of water through evapotranspiration. Transpiration is the movement of water from the ground to the pores (stomata) in leaves to the air where it becomes vapor and evaporates into the air. In a dense canopied forest like the tropical forests, more than 80% of the water leaves the ground through transpiration. (School Energy & Environment)

They also play a huge role in reducing the greenhouse effect which is created by excessive carbon dioxide in the air. Their dense growth of vegetation and their old growth trees sequester more carbon dioxide gas than anywhere else in the world, including the northern boreal forests. According to NASA, “tropical forests absorb 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide out of a total global absorption of 2.5 billion.”

Conundrum

My economics-major self tells me Brazil has as much right to develop their land as any other country, but my environmentally-focused self reminds me the Amazon provides much of the carbon sequestration the rest of the world is unable or unwilling to do. This is certainly a conundrum between developed and a not-so-developed countries.

To give you some hope, read The Amazon is on fire: 5 things you need to know.

Here is a link to a really good scientific explanation of why the fires are being set  Why the Amazon is burning: 4 Reasons.

Download the School Energy & Environment’s pdf on Rain Forest Biome.

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